I think trends are still dictated by print media in other areas to some degree; however, this forum and others like to it are swiftly taking up the pre eminence that the 90’s era rags had. (That’s a discussion for another post though)

To the point you make: Mountain Bike Action may or may not validate the 29″er in editorial terms, but it doesn’t really matter in the long run what myself or anyone writes about them. As I have always stated since I started riding these big wheeled contraptions, “Ride one and see for yourself.” Once folks get a chance to ride their friends bikes, or demo bikes from a company, or see them at races and festivals, the jig will be up for 26″ers dominance of the mtb scene. It’s already happening right now.

The fat lady in this case is Mountain Bike Action magazine.

Mountain Bike Action unfortunately wields more influence than most of us care to acknowledge.

With Specialized on board a 29-inch shoot-out is surely in store.

I am positive a huge number of 26-inch riders who are unaware of the 29-inch wheel size will become very familiar with it once these reviews appear.

Then the urge to upgrade will kick in and independant bike shops will receive demand for the 29-inch wheel size whether it is Specialized or Fisher or Haro or others.

With people like Fisher and other high end brands supporting the cause, it may have alot more momentum than is being foreseen.

Actually, my belief is, that 29ers will become another size of bike to fit the tallest of us homosapiens.

One think about saturation, a Tony Hawk 29er? I was hoping they would wait atleast 1 more yr!

I’ve been in conversation with a good friend who has been living in Germany for 25 yrs. He was looking for a new bike and I told him to look into 29rs, he got interested real fast based off the statement I told him I would never go back to a 26r. He then contacted his local bike shop and the owners convinced him the 29r is currently just an American fad that doesn’t really fit the European riding scene or market. Having lived in Europe myself for 10yrs I understand this high brow stance his bike shop owner has taken, yup they can be kinda snobby sometimes but they are still good people.

My experiance in Europe in hindsight says the 29r is a great wheel format for them to use. They have miles and miles of double track forest roads and well maintained trails thru their forests that just beg for big wheels to carry momentum down. I really wish I had one while I was there.

The Europeans have always been slow to adopt American technology and trends, I saw a standard two year lag. But when they do start to dabble then adopt the technology they go gangbusters for it. They were slow to adopt MTBs back in the early 90s but know their show room floors are litered with them, they said full squish wasn’t efficient but they have them now in big numbers. When MTB hit the scene the US of A dominated the world in offroad racing, now its the other way around. Same could be said about snowboarding we made it extremely popular now the Euros are all over it and so is the rest of the world.

The bike industry will start selling more 29rs when the Euros catch on, right now there is a small niche market in the UK, France and Germany but its still in its infancy. The recent Eurobike had many more 29rs on display than years past but I don’t think they got as much interest as they should have. They are still sitting on the fence letting us do all the developement, but I’m pretty sure they will be assimilated like I was.

The German bike shop owner also said something I found extremely funny in his email to my friend. “The tight single track in the Alps is nonconducive to the large and slow turning radius of the 29r wheels.” I LOL everytime I think of that statement because now I live in the land of corn here in Omaha where all the considerable single track trails we have are tighter and more technical than anything I saw in Germany, Austria, Italy and France. Although Omaha definitely doesn’t have the elevation gains and beautiful forests…then again Colorado and Wyoming are 7hrs away and they definitely ride 29rs there.

As for shops not having 29″ers, that’s more of a dealer problem than anything having to do with customers choice. You sell what you believe in, and obviously dealers don’t believe in 29″ers in the high end of the market. (Owing to the fact- again- that nothing has been available for cheap in this category)

Finally, the long travel/ down hill/ dirt jumper segment of mountain biking will always be dominated by 26″ers until (and if) big hit components for 29″ers become available that are reliable and affordable. Even if that big “if” happens, 29″ers will always play second fiddle to 26″ers in that area. Even though it doesn’t have to be that way.

Thanks for the compliment and for your comments.

1) Would anyone even think of buying a 26 inch single speed bike anymore? I may be crazy, but I think that just about every single speed rider in the D.C. area is on a 29er. 26 inch is dead in this category to my mind (granted it is still a relatively small category).

2) How’s Fisher doing with it’s lineup of 29ers compared to 26ers? Of all the companies out there they have the most comprehensive line of both types of bikes. I’m betting that any growth in their revenue can be attributed to the investment they’ve made in the 29er. I’d love to see the revenue graph of each category for Fisher over the past three years.

3) You still can’t find, but one or two 29ers in 90% of the shops out there. Unless the shop is very large or caters to the cycling freak and not just the ‘every-man’ rider you’re not likely able to buy a 29er without a special order. I don’t see how the market can be saturated if there is nothing but special ordering going on. The bike freak market may be saturated, but there’s still a long way to go before most people come in touch with a 29er and have a chance to give it a try.

Anyway…just a few thoughts to say…No Way! I hope. Nice post.