I ride a Giant reign with Fox 36 fork w 20QR — so I have found that most of the 29ers are not stiff enough in the front.

I would jump at the opp to buy a 29er with a stiffer front, and another 1 inch of travel.

good thinkg we have all these new 29er frames poping up to push technology along…

keep the new frames and products coming; big company or small

nice work GTed

Here here. Kids bikes make the best jumpers… and they’re cheap cuz you go through them so quick.

As to your comments on stiffness/steering precision, I think the tapered steer tube will absolutely make a difference. Keeping in mind that the 29″er, by nature of it’s design, means longer top and down tubes which are generally mated to a short head tube to reduce front end height. All these things conspire to make for a twisty front end on many 29″ers. This, of course, gives you a vague steering feel and can cause big problems in handling through technical terrain.

The tapered steer tube does a couple of things. First, it makes for a stiffer steer tube which will help with lever forces at the crown/steer tube junction- right where the taper is its largest. The taper will also dissapate energy in a better way as well. Secondly, the bigger diameter at the down tube/ head tube junction means larger cross section tubing can be utilised with a bigger weld surface area. This makes the front end stronger. Also, that bigger down tube resists twisting better, so the front end will feel more prescise.

I really do not see any downside for 29″er freaks and I suspect that in five years the straight steer tube may be extinct. I do know that by 2010 all major fork manufacturers will have tapered steer tube 29″er forks in their lines. I think in conjunction with the through axle fork, the tapered steer tube fork will make 29″ers handle far more precisely than we are accustomed to now.

Specialized Carbon-framed Stumpjumper hard tails are 1.5-1.125 tapered head tube. The Sworks ones use a Specialized fork, the Expert uses a specific SID.

I suspect most reviews of these bikes would rave about their steering, etc, but who knows how much is really attributable to the steerer size. I’m curious to see this concept in a 29er, though I also suspect a lot of flex comes from the lowers/stanchion interface. Weren’t headshoks supposed to have awesome steering precision? Why don’t we see more of those on 29ers?

Here at the bottom but sunny side of the earth, us big wheel riders and our bikes are still considered faddish and goofy which is great – we enjoy not having to pedal so hard as our kids bike riding brothers when we race along the trails….