Raleigh 29″ers To Get 400mm Posts
February 23rd, 2007 by Guitar TedOne of my main nits with the Raleigh line up of 29″ers has been addressed. I recieved an e-mail from the product designer at Raleigh that informed me of a running change to longer seat posts on the XXIX series of bikes. The 400mm seat posts are going to be an Easton branded product, just like the originally spec’ed 350mm Easton EA 30 post, only in a custom made for Raleigh 400mm length.
This is great news for those considering a Raleigh 29″er as now it will be much easier to fit the bikes to riders with average to long length legs. This is a spec that alot of other 29″er manufacturers should look into since many 29″ers, like the XXIX series, have severely sloping top tubes that make using a 350mm post a limiting factor. Cheers to Raleigh for listening and reacting to this issue.
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does anybody have any updated info on this. I might order a longer thomson just to have so when mine comes in I will be ready to ride. I cant wait!
FYI Got my bike on Thursday. Still has the short post on it. I ordered up a thomson.
I bought a medium XXIX in December ‘06. All my other bikes have medium frames and feel a little small. Everyone’s advice to me has been to rather buy a smaller frame. On my other bikes it’s ok, but I really find the XXIX to be smaller than my other medium sized bikes. I am 5′10” with a 32” inseam, so my legs are pretty long. I have moved the saddle about half an inch higher than what they recommend, and even then it still feels a little low. I am very happy with the bike, but it feels much smaller than a regular medium-sized frame. I would recommend a large for anyone 5′10” and over.
I am 6′3 with a 34″ inseam riding the large. Just put on the thomson 410 post. I took measurment of my road bike for baseline to start and I need 11.25 inches of seatpost exposed to equal my road bike. I kind of wished they had it in a XL. It seems to run small ( large = 20″). I think part of this is because of the low standover on this bike. I may go with a 120 reach and a 15 degree stem and see how that works.
I got my XXIX, size large, on Wednesday May 30th. It came with a 350mm seat post. Strangely, it has a 33 tooth chainring. Has anyone else had different stock gearing than the published 33T ring and 20T cog? As far a sizing goes, I’m 6′1 with 32″ inseam and the large is a good match, but the seatpost is almost maxed out. I test rode a large GF Rig and it felt a bit too big, so I’m very happy with the Raleigh.
The XXIX seems to run a little small. I’m 5′9” with a 31” inseam and a I have medium XXIX. The seatpost is maxed out and I almost feel cramped on the bike. It definitlely feels way smaller than my other medium-framed (18.5 inches) bikes.
Paul M: It might be that you have a XXIX that came over in some of the first shipments, prior to the change. It doesn’t necessarily indicate where in time your bike was assembled by the date it was purchased.
blackbean, (and everyone else, it would seem) I agree, the Raleigh 29″ers run small. It’s a bit frustrating when they have such a short seat tube and head tube for the front-center dimensions that they run. Raleigh was wanting to combat the “29″ers don’t fit small people” rap and also have a wider range of fit for these bikes to help dealers get more people on them. It’s a valid concern, but I don’t necessarily agree with it.
As Matt H laments above, the XXIX needs to be available in the XL size too. Raleigh really should do that for ‘08. The large just doesn’t cut it if you are much above 6′2″ or so.
And while they are at it, the front fork could stand to be made out of some more flexible tubing. With the short blades and oversize tubes, it runs pretty harsh, in my opinion.