On this episode of the Ask Coach Parry Cycling Podcast we look at the pros and cons of a 26'er and a 29'er mountain bike. If you're looking to upgrade your mountain bike then be sure to listen to our Cycling Coach, Devlin Eyden's take on what size wheel you should be riding.

Transcript

Brad Brown:        You’re listening to the Ask Coach Parry Cycling podcast. I’m Brad Brown, we’ve got Devlin Eyden with us once again. Devlin, a question in about mountain bikes and this person was saying that they’re in the market for a new mountain bike, they’ve been riding a 26 incher for years now, but it’s time to upgrade.

They want to know, should they stick with the 26er or should they go for a 29er? I know there’s something in between as well, tell us your thoughts on it.

Devlin Eyden:       Ja, there’s a couple of schools of thought on this and the guys that ride 26ers still will swear by them. Personally I feel the 29 inch wheel is the way to go and the reason why I say that is from a technical riding point of view, you find the rolling distance on the bigger wheel just helps you to actually pick up a lot more speed, obviously to get over a lot of the obstacles. If you’re sitting in a group with a bunch of riders and you’re on a 26 inch wheel versus everyone else that’s on a 29 inch wheel, you’re tending to have to work a fair amount harder in order just to stick with that group and to keep the momentum going.

The guys on the 26’s will also always argue that a 26 inch wheel is a little bit more nimble in the technical riding. I’d suggest that could be countered though with the proper correct bike setup, making sure that your setup on the 29 is correct and that will overcome a fair amount of the technical sluggishness that you might have experience from a 29 to a 26 inch wheel. There is the in between the 27.5 inch or a 650 B wheel that is out at the moment.

26er or 29er - It's a personal choice

Again, I think that’s something a little bit more, personally I would feel that’s something a little bit more leaning towards the professional racer that’s looking for the good in between kind of ride, but all in all, from a 29 point of view, I’m actually not 100% sure if there are even 26 inch bikes that are still out on the market if you are looking more of a high end bike as well.

If you’re looking for something that is well spec’d and potentially with a little bit more of the resale value, should you want to upgrade again at a later point, the 29 would be the way to go, in my opinion.

BB:           It’s funny you say that Devlin because I was actually looking at 26’s just for interest sake and there aren’t many, you’re right, there aren’t that many available. I think it’s definitely, there’s a big move towards the 29, which is quite interesting as well.

Best of luck with that, thanks for being in touch. Don’t forget, you can get your question in, just head over to coachparry.com and also be part of the Coach Parry online community. Just go to coachparry.com/join, all the details are there and we look forward to welcoming you in to the inner circle. Until next time, from the two of us, it’s cheers.