Time for some more 29″er related tidbits to chew on. Here are some new ones and a couple of things brought up again as a reminder to consider for you 29″er freaks out there.
(Image courtesy of Brant Richards’ Twitter feed)
The cycling industry is just wrapping up its annual trip to Taiwan for the industry showing of new bits, baubles, and shiny things that may end up as spec on 2012 bikes and beyond. Control Tech, who are a component brand, showed what was described as a “29”er specific component set. While handle bars and what not are hardly 29″er specific, it is said that they did show a crank set for 29″ers. No word on gearing for the crank set, but we suspect it would have to feature a 20T granny and a 30T middle ring to “qualify”.
(Image courtesy of Brant Richards’ Twitter feed.)
Ragley Bikes, who showed a carbon rigid fork at Eurobike, is still coming out with this fork at some point. Note the through axle interface. No word on what, if any, options for axle to crown or offset might be at this point. Earlier Brant Richards of Ragley Bikes had hinted that this would be a shorter axle to crown fork made to work for either 26 inch or short, “British Geometry” 29″er set ups. (My term, not his, referring to the non-suspended geometry, short axle to crown and short offset forks that Ragley and On One have put forth recently for 29 inch rigid XC oriented bikes.) Speaking of Brant Richards, he also designs for the revitalized brand Vitus, and word is that there will also be a carbon hard tail 29″er coming from the brand soon. (I know…..everybody is coming out with a carbon hard tail 29″er these days! 🙂 )
Image courtesy of Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski’s Twitter feed.)
Bike Radar ran a tech story last week about a possible 29″er “Sid-like” fork from Rock Shox. Checking out some other race photos reveals that something seems to indeed be in the works from Rock Shox. It wouldn’t be a surprise to us here at Twenty Nine Inches either. While many of the readers here are pining away for a longer travel, beefier fork, it seems that the suspension fork companies are all looking at racy, XC applications for the newer forks slated to debut soon. (See our Frostbike report for more specifics)
Why would this be? That’s pretty easy to figure out, actually. With all the new interest from Europe in the 29″er market, manufacturers are looking at attracting the European rider who seems to be more interested in lightweight, shorter travel, efficient suspension. Longer travel, heavier, more ponderous forks and bicycles will not be a very big seller across the pond, and we’re hearing that manufacturers are seeing more potential in wooing the European market with shorter travel, XC type equipment for 29″ers. We expect to see more racing Pros jump on the big wheeled bikes along with this push into the XC market. That’s not to say there won’t be a big, single crown fork or two in the offing, but we think the most progress will be seen on the XC side of things. Stay tuned…..
Tires: Speaking of “big”, we’ll again mention that we know of a big, meaty, very popular 26 inch model tire that will be making the jump to 29 inch size from Maxxis. That should satisfy a lot of folks, but that isn’t all. We also have just been made aware that Geax is prototyping the “Sturdy” tread pattern for 29 inch size. (Some of you may have seen that glimpse of a Sturdy proto on the front of Banshee’s new Prime FS prototype recently) Look for this to be a 2012 product.
Also in the tire area, we have heard there will be some big news coming soon about Bontrager tires. Already making progress with their complete makeover of their 29″er tire line, which has been in progress for a few years now, they are hinting at some other big changes. Look for some more hints on this soon.
That’s it for this edition. Stay tuned……………
I think that there is at least as much, if not more interest in light, racy setups for 29ers. The guys who ride trail bikes around here (WV) are pretty much all on 26″ bikes, but most of the racer folks ride big wheels.
I’d imagine that most of the people whoa re buying big-wheeled trail bikes are dedicated 29er riders buying a 2nd or 3rd bike, while the XC bikes are a more frequent first 29er purchase. The HT or short travel DS 29er is still the best application for the big wheel, IMO, while a 5+ inch travel 26″ bike is really, really nice too.
Cannondale can’t keep the Flash 29er in stock, but I have seen Rumblefish on the floor of every GF/Trek store I’ve been in. I don’t think that this is a coincidence.
As of this season, the Dutch racing scene seems to have embraced 29ers. All of a sudden, they are everywhere, with lots of individuals and entire teams making the switch, like the Milka-Trek Bart Brentjens team that races at world cup level.
Dang, there goes my advantage ;-).
Hey, I thought the Control Tech also had some 29’r cranks…you know the ones with the curved arms, if they curved the other direction would you go faster????????????????????????????
Man, it’d be cool if RockShox pushed it in both directions, both at the shorter/lighter end, and also at the longer/burlier end. I’m confident the market is there in strong numbers for both products…
… but in certain places, like here in Lincoln, Nebraska, you obviously aren’t going to sell a lot of Rumblefish. You have to sell the appropriate bikes for the trails and riders you’re catering to (to speak to Andrew’s point above).
But a shop in the middle of Colorado, Wyoming, or British Columbia, is going to have a lot different riders with vastly different needs. And with appropriate suspension and wheels for 29″ers, those riders are going to embrace big wheels too. They already are now that companies like Intense and Rocky Mountain are jumping into the game…
A 20T/30T/Bash crankset would be nice – that’s what I ride now, tho I had to create a small pile of metal filings off bolt heads and the crank arms to get the chain to clear various bits. For low gear lovers like me, it’s a sweet set up. Combined with a 36 cog, it’s about as low as one can go on a 4 arm spider.
Who cares about the product…Emily Batty is HOT!
I met her last summer.
She`s about as close to perfect as they come.
GT any word on a bigger Icon from Maxxis? A 2.4 would make a really nice alternative to a racing Ralph or a weirwolf.
@Nhniner: No word on that. They are probably coming out with the big, meaty tire and then looking at doing a tubeless ready variant of their tires they already have out to go along with the UST stuff. That’s just a educated guess from speaking with a Maxxis employee recently. 😉
20*30*40 is what I use on my S-works Epic 29r. (using XO shifter and XX front derailleure) Makes the gearing same as a 3*10 26r. without it I’d be stuffed on the steeper pinches. Just when are the manufacturers going to get the message – different ‘engines’ (people) need different gearing.