Now that the cat is out of the bag.

We’ve covered the “Goldilocks” wheel size, better known as 650B, here before at TNI. We even had a website dedicated to the mtb version of the ISO584 tires and bikes for awhile, but it was scuttled after the initial interest in 650B waned and manufacturers let the wheel size sink back into the shadows for awhile. Now, it is poised for not just a return, but to be “the next big thing” in mountain biking.

From SRAM's OE MY2013 Catalog (Image courtesy of anonymous contributor)

We were tipped off to the existence of the above image showing a Rock Shox 650B version of a Revelation model fork back in mid-December from an Australian source. This shows us that the 650B presence in the marketplace is going to be real. Why? Because the tooling and set up to make a fork lower is expensive, and Rock Shox/SRAM isn’t going to produce a fork like this without an OE contractor. Who could that be?

We have had contact with representatives of DT Swiss who told us back in December that they were “getting hammered” about 650B specific wheels from several manufacturers, including a “California based” manufacturer that was going to hit the market with a line of 650B mountain bike products. We were also tipped off by this same DT Swiss source saying that several new tires were also in the works to support this new push for 650B wheels.

Why Now? Here at Twenty Nine Inches, we’ve analyzed the reasons why a 650B mountain bike might be getting a big push from several manufacturers. First, take a look at the model that was chosen for 650B suspension duties. That Revelation model has a travel rating from 130mm to 150mm. This overlaps the maximum travel that we’ve seen 29″ers go to. Many manufacturers are expressing to us the difficulties in making a 29 inch full suspension bike that combines all the attributes of short chain stays, long travel, and triple chain ring capacity with the biggest 2.4″ tires on wide rims. 650B has always been touted as a way to overcome that issue. Next, front ends and stand over issues are another complexity facing designers of longer travel 29″ers. 650B would obviously relax those issues for designers of 5 plus inch travel bikes.

650B will therefore be seen as a way to get your cake and eat it too. Bigger wheels with longer travel with none of the geometry and fit issues that come along with 29 inch wheels. We’re going to hear about this a lot, and soon we’ll be seeing these products and bikes appear. Our bet is that Sea Otter will be quite interesting this year.

While we suspect some 650B hard tails will also come along in the coat tails of this new push for 650B, we’re betting it will be slotted into the longer travel applications where 29″er wheels are proving to be a difficult sell to the core market users of long travel and where the designers of full suspension for those folks don’t feel 29 inch wheels work.

Stay tuned for further developments on this story.

For more on the rumors and news about this development, click the link at the top of this post in the first line which will take you to “Mountain Bike” where we saw the story break first.

Twenty Nine Inches - 29er Bike Reviews, Rumors and News

Frequency Rims will be available in two models in 26″ and 29″. (Image courtesy of WTB)

There will be two models of the Frequency rim, one with a 19mm internal width and another with a 23mm internal rim width. These are called “Team i19″ and “Team i23″ to designate these widths and both widths will be made available in 26″ and 29″ sizes.

Frequency Rims will feature WTB’s “4D” spoke drillings.(Image courtesy of WTB)

WTB also will offer their “4D” spoke drilling technology with the Frequency models. 4D spoke drilling aligns the spoke hole with the angle of the spoke that it traces from the hub flange to the rim. This is done to relieve tension that may cause spokes to eventually stress to breakage and WTB claims it makes for a more responsive, longer lasting wheel build. WTB also states that it is a technically difficult thing to accomplish, but their team felt it was something worthwhile to pursue.

What makes the Frequency Rims appealing to most probably will be the ability to have these competitively weighted rims laced to hubs of your choice. It seems these days that pre-built wheels are becoming more the norm, while spec wheels do not enjoy the wide selection of components as they once did. WTB states that the Frequency rims are available now and MSRP for the 29″er version, in either width, is set at $80.00USD while the 26″ers are $75.00USD.

TNI thanks WTB for the information and images used in this post.)

Twenty Nine Inches - 29er Bike Reviews, Rumors and News

Single speed specific Inbred 29″er (Image courtesy of On One)

On One Revamps Steel Inbred Line Up: Recently in an e-newsletter, On One’s Brant Richards, (yes- he has come back to On One, in case you had not heard), announced that On One was not going to continue with the “Swap Out” design on their Inbred 29 inch frames. Swap Outs were a modular, bolt on drop out system which allowed conversion from single speed to geared set ups by removing and replacing the “swappable” plate drop outs.

From here forward, Richards says their will be three versions of both 26 and 29 inch Inbreds: A geared only, vertical drop out version, a “slot drop out” geared or single speed version, (for those who can not commit to one or another ), and as Richards says, “hearking back to our roots“, a single speed specific frame in white. Time for availability is said to be February.

Richards also states that new frames in steel will revert back to On One’s top tube routed cabling with full housing runs, which are typically seen on U.K. based companies bikes. Also, no more cantilever brake mounts will be seen on the new Inbreds.

In other On One news, the long awaited “Lurcher” carbon fiber rig, a longer travel carbon hard tail than On One’s “Race 29″, is now slated for a mid-March appearance with pre-orders scheduled for opening in mid-February. No word on whether the Swap Out design was held over for this model or not.

Proposed long travel 29″er full suspension design for Titus: (Image courtesy of www.shedfire.com)

New Titus Full Suspension 29″er?: Of course, Planet X, who is the parent company of On One and Titus, is wanting to get Titus back in full swing and has been furiously designing new things since the onset of their take over of the company. Now some of the first fruits of this are being teased here with this proposed “long travel” 29″er. Not much is known about details for this yet, but we’ve heard it may have up to 140mm rear travel and be compatible with 140mm travel front forks. A rather obvious tapered head tube appears in this rendering, along with a through axle rear end. The frame shows lots of hydro-formed tubing. We also noted the forward placement of the seat tube in relationship to the bottom bracket, which hints at shorter stay lengths. Interesting to see how the chain stay pivot placement is retained, which was always a feature of older Titus full suspension designs.

No news on geometries, availability, or final look, but so far, we like what we see here.

650B Long Travel For 2013?: We keep hearing rumblings from very credible sources about interest in 650B wheels for longer travel applications where 29 inch wheels seem to be a hindrance to designers. Is 650B finally going to find its niche in longer travel All Mountain type mountain biking? Apparently, some very big bicycle company, (or more), seems to think so. We’ve seen a long travel 650B specific fork from a major manufacturer slated for 2013 model year production. It wouldn’t exist if some bigger bicycle company hadn’t footed the bill for it. So, it is a very safe bet that sometime in 2012 you will start to see this fork and bike(s) with it showing up.

Interestingly, this fork hints at travel at and above 150mm. Is 29″er long travel suspension bike design going to see the 140mm travel as its limits? This new development seems to point to this. Maybe we’ll even see 650B become the long travel hard tail wheel size of choice. One thing is for sure- this fork is not an XC/trail fork!

Of course, tires would need to be developed to go with this, but we hear several new models are on the way to satisfy the big travel needs of these new rigs. Stay tuned for further developments.

Speaking Of Tires: We also have seen a new proposed design for 29″er tires from an unlikely source. These will be aggressive, trail type tires in 2.25″ and 2.4″ sizes. We can’t say who it is yet, but these tires should be pretty big and voluminous if the final production hits the target set by the schematics we saw. Stay tuned……

That’s it for now. We’ll keep our ears and eyes open for more on these and other stories coming your way soon.

Twenty Nine Inches - 29er Bike Reviews, Rumors and News

The new Titus Rockstar (Image courtesy of Titus Cycles)

Titus Rockstar Bows Again: Back at Interbike 2009 we showed you the Titus Rockstar in its aluminum guise. A titanium version was also shown that year, both with carbon fiber rear assemblies. The full suspension bike was a highly anticipated model. Twenty Nine Inches was actually on the schedule to test one, but then things came unraveled at Titus, and with the financial difficulties, that proposed review, and Titus Cycles as a whole, was in limbo.

(Image courtesy of Titus Cycles)
Fast forward to late 2010. On One Bikes/Planet X takes over Titus and revitalizes the company with the assistance of frame manufacturer Sapa Extrusions, a firm located in Portland, Oregon. This kept Titus’ heritage as a U.S. produced bike intact, and dovetailed in with On One/Planet X’s U.S. based offices which were local to the manufacturer. (More on that in a moment)

The designers at Titus did a re-think on the new Rockstar, which is now only offered with an aluminum front triangle/carbon fiber rear assembly, and tweaked the geometry in accordance with rider feedback garnered from the first generation Rockstar owners and testers. With slightly shorter top tube lengths, the hope is that the front end will be easier to pin down in corners. A higher bottom bracket was also called out for better pedal to trail clearances. Finally, the seat tube shape has been tweaked for better rear tire clearance and rear triangle clearance. Titus claims the rear suspension pivot placements and feel have been retained from the original design.

The bike is designed around a Rock Shox Monarch rear damper with 100mm of travel. Frame weight, including the shock, is a claimed 6.4lb/2,902.99gms. Head angle is at 70* while the seat tube angle is 73* with the recommended 100mm travel front fork length in mind. Titus Cycles has these frames for sale direct at MSRP $1299.00USD. (See Titus Cycles site)

U.S. Production?: Titus Cycles claims it is committed to having Titus bikes manufactured in the U.S.; however, Sapa Extrusions is going to cease production of bicycle frames soon. Sapa believes falling production orders are to be explained by consumers indifference to the origins of their frames production. Titus has frames produced for now, but is in the search process to find another U.S. based supplier. Titus says that as of now, newly started frame building company, Zen Fabrication, is the front runner to replace Sapa as Titus’ manufacturer.

However that all shakes out, the Rockstar is back, and looks great with the Iron Maiden inspired font and blue and white scheme. Stay tuned for a possible test/review on this full suspension rig.

Singular Cycles “Buzzard” short stay/AM hard tail proto (Image courtesy of Singular Cycles)

Singular Cycles To Add New Bird To The Flock: In keeping with Singular Cycles penchant for naming their models with avian monikers, this new, all mountain inspired hard tail 29″er prototype has been dubbed the “Buzzard”. The frame will be steel, (of course), and will sport the requisite short(er) chain stays and slacker head angles associated with this sort of bike. As of now the plans are to keep the chain stay length at 420mm, the head angle at 69*, (sagged measurement with a 120mm fork, but will be designed to accept a 140mm fork), and it will be designed to have a 31.6mm seat tube to accommodate dropper seat posts.

While the rest of the Singular range sport eccentric bottom brackets for ease of single speed/internal geared hub use, this proposed model probably will not sport such an arrangement in its final guise. Eccentric bottom bracket shells and such short chain stays relegate tire clearances to smaller sizes. Sam at Singular did not wish to have this, so it seems a 73mm bottom bracket shell with ISCG tabs is on tap for the final production version which has not been given a delivery date as yet. Sam is shooting for tire clearance to be good with a 2.4″ Ardent mounted out back.

Finally, the head tube is said to be spec’ed at a 44mm diameter, a move that will allow the use of straight 1 1/8th inch steer tube forks, tapered steer tube forks, and/or adjustable angle head sets. This should make the Buzzard a very versatile All Mountain hard tail choice. Stay tuned for any further developments…..

(Image courtesy of Lynskey Performance)

Lynskey Performance Brings Back Neon! Lynskey Performance is always sharing their newest creations online and this one is a stunner featuring a flat black and neon green scheme. Lynskey’s Don Erwin shared that while they can not do specific color combinations in their line up, they do have access to House Of Kolor’s neon palette and these can be applied with a flat black background to make for an eye-popping look on any Lynskey Performance model.

Furthermore; Don added that their painter has found a way to flat clear coat the Rock Shox suspension fork shown on this bike in the image here for a consistent flat paint look from stem to stern. The model shown here is Lynskey’s own Pro 29 VF and you can check out more details on that bike here.

We remember the “neon phase” of mountain biking here at Twenty Nine Inches with …..ah….some reluctance, but we must admit this does look pretty nice. Let’s just not over-do it guys, okay! (Ha ha! )

Czech Tires? Who Knew?

Czech tire manufacturer, Rubena, is coming to the U.S.A. with several new 29″er tread designs and by the looks of it, these will be some high tech tires featuring claimed voluminous casings and light weight.

Rubena comes from a heritage of tire manufacturing stretching back to the early 20th Century and is well known in certain parts of Europe for their designs in 26″er tires. Now they have set up a U.S. based office and distribution and will be trying to make their presence known with these newer 29″er designs.

Twenty Nine Inches is slated to be testing a couple of these designs in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for further news on these (new to the U.S.) tires and we’ll see if their claims hold true. For further reading, see the Rubena 29″er page for the Scylla tire model here.

Okay, that’s all we have for this round of News And Rumors. Stay tuned for more Top Ten stuff coming your way soon here at Twenty Nine Inches!

Twenty Nine Inches - 29er Bike Reviews, Rumors and News

AW has been riding the first prototype and reports that, “I have been riding v1 all summer including SSWC in Ireland , it’s a great bike, it seems to have a huge amount traction while climbing and is well balanced. I am able to bunny hop and wheelie at a whim and on the downs being a full rigid doesn’t seem to hold me back” .

However; the first bike did have a bit of rearward bottom bracket flex and as AW stated, ” The rear end is too wide and is a bit tight for heel clearance for those with hobbit feet“.

Version 2 now features lowered chain stays, but still designed to allow for simple belt drive conversion. AW also adds that the drop outs were changed to be narrower and stiffer. He designed in a tapered head tube which allows for a larger, 50mm down tube.

The top tube features more shaping and is curved to make a single, continuous line from the head tube through to the seat stays and terminates at the rear drop outs.

Chain stay length is adjustable from an astonishing 407mm to 420mm, according to AW. The design allows for a belt drive to be run at about the 417mm length. Apart from the noted changes from V1, the geometry was kept the same. 70* head tube, 71.5* seat tube angles. The effective top tube is 609mm and the bottom bracket height is 300mm.

Again, this is not something that is being planned for release but is AW’s personal rig. We like it from the standpoint of what is possible. Obviously, anything other than single speed, internally geared hub, or possibly a 1X set up could be achieved with such short stays. Still, it is intriguing and shows the limits of what is possible in 29″er design. What do you think?

Twenty Nine Inches - 29er Bike Reviews, Rumors and News