29er are the fastest bike

[danielrlee]

Wheel size is only 1 factor, but if you look at the market now it seems that most bike are 29er now? Except for ebikes on hub.

I used the bbs02 750W for a while on a road bike it felt rolling better than normal ebike.

Unfortunafely, chain and cog require too much maintenance for my taste and I'm decided on DD.

But for example, a bigger wheel would also absorb better road asperities and be more comfy... and somehow rolling better? I'm tempted for a 29er on a DD but fear the lack of torque

Just to pick holes, it's not the lack of torque that's the problem; you just need more power. It's the lack of efficiency that's the issue.

In all honesty though, do you have any 'real world' problems with 26" wheels?

 

[flecc]

if you look at the market now it seems that most bike are 29er now?

No, we are a long way from that.

It's all a bit silly though. The wheel diameter difference between a 700c rim and a 29er's 650b rim when both have the same wide tyre fitted is just 4mm overall.

The wheel difference between a 26" wheel's 559 rim and a 29er's 650b rim with the same 2.4" wide tyre fitted is just 12 mm overall diameter.

That's less than half an inch. So much for the nonsense of calling one 29" and the other 26".
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[paul20v]

This is a debate thats more for trends than anything else
26"
27.5"
29"
I challenge anyone to ride the same bike with different wheels only over the same terrain and honestly tell me they felt a difference in performance and rideability without kicking in the placebo effect "bigger wheels must be better because thats what they told us "
Its just another sales kick too sell bikes
They will be telling us next that bigger wheels on cars are faster too

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

No, we are a long way from that.

It's all a bit silly though. The wheel diameter difference between a 700c rim and a 29er's 650b rim when both have the same wide tyre fitted is just 4mm overall.

The wheel difference between a 26" wheel's 559 rim and a 29er's 650b rim with the same 2.4" wide tyre fitted is just 12 mm overall diameter.

That's less than half an inch. So much for the nonsense of calling one 29" and the other 26".
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That would make sense Flecc, apart from the fact 29er and 650b are two difference wheel sizes. 29" rim is the same as 700c, so bigger than a 650b rim.

Yes, on a 29" mtb wheel you use a bigger tyre than you'd find on a 700c road wheel, so the outside diameter of the rolling wheel on the bike is bigger on the mtb.

This is a good article that actually explains the benefits and disadvantages of the three wheel sizes availal

 

[flecc]

That would make sense Flecc, apart from the fact 29er and 650b are two difference wheel sizes. 29" rim is the same as 700c, so bigger than a 650b rim.

I know, but I brought 650b into it since that rim size is becoming increasingly popular as a direct competitor to 29ers and 26".

The very small differences in actual wheel diameters makes the whole issue somewhat silly at times, discussion often appearing to represent them as radically different. In road use there's little to nothing in it

Bicycle wheel, tyre and rim sizes have long been a mess with their three different methods of measurement, ETRTRO, Inch and French, so the very last thing we needed was yet another expression like 29er to complicate matters further.

And expression is all it is, they've been around for years with no-one ever thinking a special name was needed. Over a decade ago in 2005 the original Ezee Torq was introduced with 700c rims and tall profile Kenda 1.95" tyres, and they managed fine without a special name. Today they'd be called 29ers!

Pic below, 1.95" Kenda on left, 35mm Marathon Plus on right:

 

[haggis]

To be truthful it was only within the last year that I decided to actually measure a wheel.
It was at that stage that I then realised that the 26/27 700 etc unlike a car wheel actually referred to the external diameter of the tyre and not the wheel. Wouldn't life be easier if we stuck to measuring size by the diameter of the wheel.
Go on,be brave, shame the devil, how many others admit that they thought 26 referred to the diameter of the wheel ?

 

[flecc]

To be truthful it was only within the last year that I decided to actually measure a wheel.
It was at that stage that I then realised that the 26/27 700 etc unlike a car wheel actually referred to the external diameter of the tyre and not the wheel. Wouldn't life be easier if we stuck to measuring size by the diameter of the wheel.
Go on,be brave, shame the devil, how many others admit that they thought 26 referred to the diameter of the wheel ?

The tyre bead seating diameter of the rim in millimetres makes more sense, as shown below. This is the French wheel size system:

26" = 559 mm rim seat diameter (22")

700c = 622 mm rim seat diameter (24.5")

27" = 630 mm rim seat diameter (24.8")*

This is independent of tyre height profiles which vary greatly, so more logical.

* Now a rarity in the UK.
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[haggis]

The tyre bead seating diameter of the rim in millimetres makes more sense, as shown below. This is the French wheel size system:

26" = 559 mm rim seat diameter (22")

700c = 622 mm rim seat diameter (24.5")

27" = 630 mm rim seat diameter (24.8")*

This is independent of tyre height profiles which vary greatly, so more logical.

* Now a a rarity.

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Yes I think the French system of wheel size rather than tyre makes more sense for a bicycle.

 

[flecc]

Yes I think the French system of wheel size rather than tyre makes more sense for a bicycle.

Indeed, our inch system is particularly barmy.

16", 20" and 24" each have two different rim diameter sizes, in the hands of fortune which one gets!

And daftest of all is that a 17" wheel uses a larger diameter rim than an 18" wheel. Work that one out!
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[anotherkiwi]

The tyre bead seating diameter of the rim in millimetres makes more sense, as shown below. This is the French wheel size system:
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Vive la France!

Remember the tyre pressure thread?