Editors Note: Yeah, yeah…..another year end review! Tis the season! So, here are my favorite things that have passed through the Twenty Nine Inches review process during the past year. I want to point out a few parameters that I used for what I chose here.

1. The product had to be in the review process during the time period of December 2008 through to the end of November 2009. Reviews that are currently in process I did not include and will be eligible for my 2010 Top Ten list.

2. They had to be products or bicycles that I personally used during this period. Nothing any of the other Twenty Nine Inches staff reviewed on their own could be considered for my list. This list doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone but me, Guitar Ted.

3. The reviewed products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. I was not paid or bribed for this review. I will give/gave my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

That said, let’s get on with this……

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Number 3: Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29″er: Last fall, in 2008, I was contacted by Ben’s Cycle, a bicycle shop out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin with an on-line shop that does really well in fixed gear, urban hipster rides. Well, their in-house brand, Milwaukee Bicycle Company, also makes a 29″er steel hard tail and they wanted Twenty Nine Inches to look into it. So we did. All winter long and into the spring, the Milwaukee frame was ridden until it was time for the final review in May.

Why It Made The List: The Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29″er is steel. And for a tig welded steel 29″er, this frame rides with a spring and comfort that other materials just can’t quite match. The long-ish geometry was stable and forgiving, making the Milwaukee rig a bike you forgot about so you could just have some fun. The sliding drop outs were trouble free and operated as I expected when making a cog change. It was a very fun, comfortable, predictable, and great performing frame. One that I was happy to pull from the stable and ride every time I had the chance to.

My Two Cents: Well, what can I say other than this frame was a good time. A really good time. The frame didn’t have total stiffness laterally, but it wasn’t flexy to the point of distraction, or even enough to fret about. It had compliance that rivaled titanium, yet more snap, more spring. Folks wax poetic about fine steel frames, and I suppose that is where I am headed. If you ever had a steel frame you thought was awesome, you already know what I mean. The Milwaukee 29″er was just a great bike to have underneath you on a trail ride. This one was set up as a single speed, which I liked as a single speed. It did single speeding well. You could race it, but in my mind, this was the bike to get to just go ride on without any specific purpose other than to have fun mountain biking. And if a bicycle can inspire you to just ride, to have fun, then I would submit that the Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29″er is that bike. It ranks #3 on the 2009 Top Ten list.