Big Wheel Rant

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Update: May 4, 2008

The shop MOOTS MOOTO-XZ is now my favorite guide bike for the season ahead. It will share and may loose this spot when I have a DREAMRIDE FULLY 69 long travel bike here in the coming weeks, but now is now, and the Xz is now. I was blessed to TEST THE PROTOTYPE and have input into the production frame. When I finally received the first production frame I knew it well enough to outfit it with components that suit its unique compliance and strength to weight ratio. Testing over the past few months (not documented below) yielded a much stronger wheelset, raising weight limits and tire widths. Fox released a fine high-end 9er fork at just a bit over 3.5 pounds. Moots built the perfect 29er frame. We are at last in a good place.

I have a substantial quiver of bicycles, one for just about every use. It is a perk that suits my inner child. Every new bike is like Christmas and it gets me moving in a big way, even though I am a long way from childhood. The Mooto-Xz fills a void in my stable, mainly as a ride-from-town rig to "handle" rough trails around Moab that I can get to under my own horsepower. This includes Porupine Rim, Slickrock, and Amassa Back, and the new singletracks to the south, all rough and tumble rides. I say "handle" because all I asked of this bike was that it go fast enough on roads of all sorts and offer a level of comfort and efficiency that saves energy when the going gets rough at slower speeds. It was not to be an all-out trail bike, but it turned out that way. The Mooto-Xz is perhaps the fastest bike in my quiver going downhill. Those huge tires and big wheels just roll over stuff that I had to deal with before. I only suffer on those short burst uphills that become slow bursts on a 9er. The DREAMRIDE FULLY will be much more capable in that line of work, judging from our side by side testing of the White Rim 69er and the Mooto-Xz.

There is another reason for choosing the Mooto-Xz. It is because of a feature of full suspension that people generally do not consider: It comes apart! This bike is going to Hawaii. It must fit into two large suitcases. I thought this through as I considered couplings for a rigid or YBB version. Couplings would have cost far more than full suspension, which can be taken apart. Couplings compromise strength and weight and don't help the bike perform one bit. I offer this build as part of our HAWAII COUPLES TRIP on the Big Island, complete with packing cases.

Update: August 20, 2007

On a recent trip to San Francisco I took my 29ER CONVERSION along to ride the city streets and trails. After this experience I can tell you that the conversion might be the best thing you can do with an old hardtail, and might end up as the best all around bike for folks in most locations on the coasts, namely places where the trails are easy to moderate and the streets are safe for commuting via bicycle. My 1992 Fat Chance Titanium frame fitted with 700c wheels and mustache bars was the perfect machine for the surfaces and challenges my family hometown of San Francisco had to offer. It ate up steep pavement, smooth and rooted singletracks and manicured bike paths better than any other bike I have used there. It worked in the ruts, loose conditions and other assorted mild to moderate challenges provided by trails in the parks, back alleys and short cuts. It climbed city streets like a rocket and was extremely comfortable everywhere I took it. It even made stairs easier to descend by virtue of the larger wheels. It was interesting to discover that the new fad in the city is fixed gear bikes with no freewheel and no rear brake. There were lots of folks practicing fixed gear stopping techniques in the panhandle of Golden Gate Park on the most minimal machines, and everywhere you looked geek-bikes prevailed. I found it refreshing that fadmongers have reverted to the roots of cycling---WAY back to fixed gears. Any form of suspension was hard to spot in town. Road bikes have always been popular in SF, but the introduction of the 29 inch wheeled mountain bike has caused some rethinking. Simpler IS better when it comes to life in the city. Less is more--more challenging to ride in a less challenging environment, but also cheaper and easier to maintain. I have never enjoyed riding in San Francisco as much as with the 9er conversion. My wife also took hers along, a 1992 Specialized S-Works frame with the same conversion kit, except with flat bars and bar ends. She couldn't stop raving over how safe the thing felt even on the steepest rooted decents in Golden Gate Park. We were also shocked at how the mountain bike phenom has all but disappeared from the local scene, and at how it has been a positive thing as far as access goes. We were able to ride just about every trail we used to ride in the late 70's, with only the occassional warning printed on the sidewalk, "No bikes or skateboards." One more note on the conversion: I don't use a car in Moab anymore. I would much rather ride my Fat Chance conversion than deal with cars, motorcycles, and idiots who drive their cars to the toilet while on their cell phones. The Mill Creek Parkway is now my most utilized trail in the Moab area. The only negative with using the conversion exclusively, is that the Bullock Creek singletrack that leaves from our property has a lot of sand on it. The conversion will not allow for fatter tires necessary to fly over the soft stuff.

Update: August 1, 2007

The formula: 68 degree head angle + 29 inch front wheel + 19 inch chainstays = enough suspension! 29 inch front wheel + 26 inch rear wheel = enough lateral rigidity!

Yes, fully rigid mountain bikes are back! If only we had figured this out in 1980. Now, if we can get the marketing hacks out of our faces, we can proceed to enjoy the challenge and efficiency of an unsuspended mountain bike. Suspension is still wonderful, by the way--on a 26" wheeled bike.

Update: June 1, 2007

The White Rim Titanium 69er is back in production with frames now fabricated in the United States. Testing over the past few months has led us to offer the frame and parts combo as a complete custom bike, fitted to and outfitted for each individual rider, just like our suspension models. Due to further confirmation of the lack of advantages of 29 inch wheels for hardcore trail riding (we mean MOAB-style terrain!) we are still avoiding suspension with the White Rim, though we do offer the custom option of a Rock Shox Reba or Pace carbon suspension fork (with suspension-compensated frame geometry). Our testing has confirmed suspicions about the need and safety of rear suspension on a bike with really big wheels. While it may be attractive marketing and the minimalist approach (Moots YBB) may be an advantage in some situations, travel over 3 inches is truly a sick misinterpretation of the benefits of 29 inch wheels. 29ers are like the people they attract: They are all different. We no longer publish parts lists for the White Rim because parts for each bike vary radically depending on the use of the bike and the size of the rider. Handlebar configurations range from Mary bars to mustache to carbon risers to flat bars and bar ends. However, all parts in our paint box are extreme top-of-the-line (XTR, King hubs, etc.). This means that White Rim prices range from $4500 to $7000, depending on weight, customizing and cosmetic concerns of the client. Weight of the hardcore off-road version is ranges from 22 to 24.5 pounds. Road touring versions (with or without disc brakes) weigh from 19 to 22 pounds. Due to the superior off-road performance of a 26 inch rear wheel in very rugged situations, we now offer the White Rim with 26 or 29 inch rear wheel option--and with or without front suspension. You can also order a "convertible" that allows swapping the rear wheel to change the bike from a dirt road and singletrack flyer to a balls-out off-road racer. Convertibles come with two wheelsets with a front end that allows for raising and lowering the handlebar. Frames can also now be custom fabricated and custom painted without long waits. The 69er bike pictured below has proven to be an excellent singletrack and rough 4WD road machine WITHOUT moving suspension parts. We are using Mavic EX729 rims on the rear of the most capable off-road versions, combined with the widest 29 inch rims up front. This makes possible the use of 2.55 tires front and rear, creating a bike that floats over roots and rocks, and zips through sand better than any bike in our arsenal. We have experimented with various head and seat post angle and have found that the 29 inch front wheel works much like a 26 front--with the slacker angles becoming a handling problem below 68.5 degrees and steeper angles for rigid fork performance handling just fine up to 73 degrees. Toe clearance issues on our off-road 69 (with 26 inch rear wheel) have been eliminated for riders as small as 5'5".

Update: March 11, 2007 - What became of the White Rim 29er?

This addendum is for those who bought a White Rim 29er. The WR was designed with a high bottom bracket and steep angles, much like the other frames we produce, except that this one is purely rigid. With the largest cyclocross tires and a specific rigid fork, the WR was a quick handling bike that tore up the pavement and dirt roads to the trails, where, once in the dirt, the bike was capable pedaling over large obstacles at relatively slow speeds without whacking pedals. Due to the steep angles of the frame and the relatively high bottom bracket, the bike is capable of converting to a 26" rear wheel to get a more stable, traditional sport bike feel and take advantage of the big tire up front to take the place of suspension. The WR frame allows the use of a 26" rear tire width up to 3.0. Parts testing for the frame eventually fell into the use of a 26" rear wheel with the fattest tire that would fit. The 26" wheel gives the rider a bit more confidence when doing anything "rough" with the bike. The bike feels stronger, more rigid and acceleration is snappier. The aft balance of the slackened geometry is perfect for gaining speed and turning accurately over deepsand. Recently, I installed the anticipated WTB Weirwolf 2.55 tires on both ends of this 29/26 platform. These tires, along with a negative rise stem and riser bar (On One Mary is pictured), produced the best sandy trail bike I have ever been on. The resulting "69er" is a welcome partner on the singletrack behind our shop and on the many long distance rough rides around Moab--those with miles-long stretches of rolling sand and ledges. The ultra-fat freak tires from WTB (thank you, fellows) and the 6/9 set up will be with me for a very long time. For a while I thought of selling the frame because we were not producing them anymore. But, I am a beach-riding bum and this is the beach cruiser of a lifetime. I cannot wait to travel to stomping grounds on the Outer Banks in North Carolina, Ocean Beach in San Francisco, and the Pine Trees in Hawaii. So, if you have one of the few White Rim frames out there, and want to freak yourself out with fat tires, go for the 69er conversion and head to a soft, loamy trail nearby. It's just one more way to have fun. And, don't think it is just a sand bike. It handles the roughest, most technical trails around Moab. It is rigid, so you go slower and pick lines, but it picks them with ease and rolls over and out of gaps and ledges. We can have Moots build you one, if you like.

Update: February 2, 2007 - The new Pace RC40 fork

Update note: DT bought out Pace in early 2008 and is redesigning the rigid forks in that line. Good news: The new Pace RC40 29er fork is now available. We have not tested this fork, as of yet, but have worked with the Pace RC31 chosen as stock equipment for our Dreamride White Rim 29er. We do have experience with previous suspension models from Pace, though it is really not a fair comparison. The older Pace forks liked to squirt oil and needed an unacceptable amount of maintenance (like a British car), but Pace has since redesigned the seals and valving. We do hold out hope for the RC40 performance-wise. The RC31 and RC40 share the same magnesium and carbon contruction. This gives me the chance to share this: The magnesium dropouts of the Pace forks are made from the hardest magnesium alloy I have ever worked with. Machining the dropouts on a new mag Pace fork is a real chore requiring elbow grease and patience. After this little proceedure anyone is going to be assured of the strength of the magnesium parts. The RC31's carbon wrapped titanium legs are brutally strong and stiff and the rigid fork has proven itself over rough terrain, taking real punishment (Moab is especially hard on rigid bicycles). The same can be said of the bonding used to fuse these gorgeous parts together into a really pretty fork. The quality of Pace's manufacturing is as good as it gets and the carbon fiber workings and magnesium castings make their fork line exceptionally desirable when it comes to cosmetics. A Pace fork is a thing of beauty, the prettiest ever, even if it proves not to be the best operating. Because Pace has been at it for a while I am certain the forks will satisfy those looking for the ultimate in exotica at this point in time. The valving and maintenance schedule, well, we don't know yet. The valving on the Rock Shox Reba is excellent and the seals are good enough, so if you want to be assured of a decent fork at a substantially lower price (the Pace lists in the neighborhood of $900--ouch!), then the Reba is your choice now that Marzocchi does not offer a 9er fork for 2007. Here is how we are dealing with 9er suspension forks at this point in history: Get the Pace if you want to wow others on the trail and you can afford it. Get the Rock Shox Reba on one of our bikes and it will only have to last a year because Marzocchi is coming out with a new 9er fork in 2008. We offer the chance for a Marzocchi trade-in deal in 2008 for those who go for the Reba.

Update: January 26, 2007

A few months have passed. Many miles, too. Our White Rim 29er model sold out, is now discontinued, as is any colaboration with China. The replacement is in the works. We have set up a way to get fully rigid titanium 29ers custom made for us (and you) by Moots, so the White Rim is really no longer necessary to fill that category. Of course the cost of the Moots is quite a bit more substantial, as is the quality of the construction. We are working on a Columbus Foco steel tubing set for the new frame. We are looking for the best feel of any rigid bike we could produce--light and strong with that magic response that only the best light steel bikes have. Picking up PEGORETTI road bikes reinforced this retro move to steel by introducing us to current and soon-to-be current state-of-the-art Columbus steel.

After Moab-testing and research over the past couple of years, the decision was made to go with the rigid platform for our 9er for our own product. Suspension parts and wheels are getting better for 9ers, but it is not where we want to be, especially when our Fully kills 9ers (and everything else) on a regular basis. The metal and the big wheels take care of suspension nicely anyway, so why complicate a bike that is built to be classic. Like the White Rim its replacement will have absolutely no compensation for suspension forks and a new matching handmade steel fork with custom rake.

9er wheels will fold under stress from braking and hard turning far sooner than a 26 inch wheel of similar weight, so the WR replacement will probably have rim brakes as stock equipment. The longer lever created by the longer spokes is working against us with disc brakes, but works for us with cantis. Put that lever up at the rim and not down at the hub and we can really take advantage of that huge brake rotor that is the rim. Our White Rim was originally created to be a more traditional mountain bike without the need for suspension or disc brakes, but the production frames ended up with disc brakes due to special requests of those who purchased or stated interested in purchase prior to production--we were just fulfilling wishes. This increased cost and complicated the design, and didn't really help braking forces much, except in the wet. All factors add up to point to cantis: Easy maintenance on the fly; Lower weight; More efficient power tranfer. D

Rim review update (see below for original write-up): If you want a good 9er rim that can handle a fatter tire, try a Sun Rhino Lite. WTB is also producing reinforced 27mm rim that promises to be better than the hollow tubes they call 9er rims at this point in time. Do NOT use more than 32 spokes on a 29er! For real strength get a rim designed for rim brakes, even if you are running discs. The added rigidity of the box shape will keep the wheel straight under side loads. I stand by the review of the disc specific Salsa Delgado rims below. Delgado rim brake rims are just a bit better, but still way too light, way too cheaply made and way too narrow. One of our guides has been riding a pair and got freaked out by the sounds they made comimg downhill. That is great. We need his help and don't want to see him injured. All Mavic rims can be trusted, so get a road rim and be happy. The Mavic pavement rims are too narrow for fat tires, but you don't need much rubber on a 9er. For fat tires, we have been running WTB Dual Duty FR 29er rims, too, but not as thrilled with them as with the Suns, which are truly strong, wide enough and made of a good grade of aluminum for a very reasonable price. Good Mavic rims are not cheap!

If you are looking for the absolute best "suspension" 9er, we've have been building Moots 9ers with front suspension and YBB rear ends--a dream combo for 29 inch wheels, especially if you love titanium and that Moots quality. Weight for a Moots Mooto-X YBB Dreamride MAX bike is 26 pounds.

In 2008 Marzocchi will offer a good 29er suspension fork. The Rock Shox Reba is fine in the interim. Fox is not going to produce a 9er fork in 2008, so the Marzocchi will be more than welcome. It will be needed. If you get a Reba on a bike from us, we offer a trade-in deal for anyone. If you buy a suspended 9er in 2007 from Dreamride, just call us when the new Marzocchi is out and we will help you trade up.

FYI, 9er testing we do in Moab takes place on the same trails used for the full suspension 26 inch wheel bike testing. This is why we must warn those who want to give up 26 inch wheels that the strength of the smaller wheel is very important in really rough terrain. If you have been riding your 9er with Salsa Delgado rims and it hasn't crumbled on you yet, just come out to Moab and ride Porcupine Rim Trail. And don't blame me when you are getting the cast or lying at the bottom of Jack Ass Canyon waiting for the buzzards. This kind of trail is a true test of equipment. The manufacturers know this well. Sure, a lot of equipment can take an occassional rough trail or repeated use on east coast singletrack, but come out west, young man, to see the brutal terrain that breaks stuff for us and the rest of the industry. I wouldn't recommend a 9er as a main rig for this kind of riding.

Wheel Build Testing: September 18, 2006

I worked all day building 29 inch wheels, experimenting with 36 hole rim combos. I used King disc hubs, DT double butted spokes and brass nipples, looking for the strongest, lightest version of a disc wheel for 29ers, thinking of just how I was going to be able to stand behind a full suspension 9er at this point in history (limited component choices) without looking like a dope.

I chanced to build up a particularly light and wide 29er rim built by Salsa, the Delgado, that recommended I "smile" while riding. When I picked it up, I did smile. It was very light, very wide and quite good looking. I began building the wheels as always, slowly, carefully lacing for disc brake torque, counting turns, massaging spoke heads into holes and around turns, making every angle defined and clean with no air between the hub and spoke. I began to tighten slowly. When the spokes were evenly tensioned enough to produce a tone, I put the wheel on my lap and pressed down with VERY modest force on the rim. The wheel snapped out of true as if the rim was made of jello. I loosened and re-tightened spokes to get the wheel back to even tension, then trued to a higher pitch to make the wheel more rigid and strong. I put the wheel into my lap again and pressed down on the rim with what I consider very modest force. Out of true again, but this time even more deformed. I have built hundreds and hundreds of wheels for mountain and road bikes alike and never experienced such noodly whimpiness in a wheelset. The road bike wheels (29 inch rims are 700c rims, just with a marketing slogan) always had Mavic rims on them, so I guess this speaks volumes about Mavic's quality control, alloys and product testing. I continued to repeat the process of tuning the Salsa rimmed wheels up, carefully truing the wheel again and again at several tensions to see if I could find a spot at which I would trust the wheel on a bike. Each time, at various levels of tension up to tight enough to almost bust a nipple, I could push the wheel out of true in my lap with very little force. Just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, I picked up a 26 inch wheel I had just finished building for a Dreamride Fully, put it on a rubber mat on the floor leaned it against a stool, stood beside it and pushed on the hub axle to sideload it with my foot. It did not complain, and remained true. I kicked it. Same results--rock solid. I took the 9er wheel off my personal White Rim 29er (32 hole Mavic A317 rims, alloy nipples and King disc hubs--a very light wheelset). I tested the tension and strength of this light disc 9er wheel the same way as before. No problem. I tested a Mavic A719 rim brake wheelset I had just built with a little more intent and a bit more abuse than necessary and it was rock solid laterally.

The motto of this little story is: Be damn careful getting a pre-built 29er, and be especially careful of wheel components--and rims in particular. The rims of a 29er are THE component (aside from a frame that is built too light) that can kill you. Ralph Nader is not there to help you with the Corvairs of mountain biking with legislation or media coverage.

Because 29 inch wheels just cannot be built to standards demanded by full suspension speeds, I will NOT recommend a full suspension 29er for the time being, aside from the Moots YBB Mooto-X. I am hearing about breakages of full suspension 9ers left and right. And no more 36 hole rims on 29ers no matter who makes them. And, no big boys on 29 inch wheels until the industry builds a good rim and thicker spokes. The side loads are just too great to tune-in any "give" through the use of 36 or 40 spokes per wheel. And, Mavic rims ONLY, even if we have to stick with narrow tires.

I build for purists like myself, people who trust me to build a safe, reliable, efficient bike that fits them. For those Dreamride clients, I hope the following rant will remove any illusion of clothes the 29er emperor might be wearing in the magazines right now. Until companies design fat rims that can hold up, thicker spokes, 9er forks with 2" of travel (you don't need a lot of travel on a 9er), and full suspension frames that can handle the loads without weighing a ton, a 29er is really a mountain bike with road wheels and fat tires. If you ignore this fact of life, refuse to embrace it, follow the dotted lines in the magazines, and ride aggressively, you will end up with a poorly manufactured, well-marketed turd with limp wheels and wrong geometry. Worst still, you will get yourself hurt. Lean a 9er bike with sorry rims over in a hard turn with ripples on it. Shove a wheel into a turn or an off camber obstacle. See you in the ER.

Miki, co-owner of Dreamride, says, "The 29er 'revolution' is like the war in Iraq. Americans never think things through. A 'good' lie is always better than the 'bad' truth. To Americans, something new and unproven is always better than old, proven and reliable. Give them Vegas, babes and lies, or give them death."

My understanding is that Americans (and other humans) subconciously want what they fear. Read Freud. I don't have the time to offer the scientific research that backs up this concept, but I can tell you that those who write on our tour company questionnaire that they are afraid of heights are first ones to walk up to a cliff and go all wobbly. "Every fear hides a wish." If you have a death wish, 29 inch wheels will get you closer.

After examining the 9er products being offered presently and testing most of the available components, the death deal is there to be had. Here at Dreamride, we just work to get bikes right. Our Dreamride Fully has been developed over ten years. It remains ahead of its time, and a thoroughly proven product, unchanged for 2007. The White Rim 29er is like that. It has been developed over two years to be perfect for its appropriate uses. It has been proven on the trails of Moab over the past year and is now worthy of production. The White Rim is a bicycle. "It is simple, efficient and timeless" [says Calvin Schlenker]. It is amazingly light and balanced, strong, vertically compliant and laterally rigid. It makes no compromises for suspension, aiming exactly where the 29 inch wheel design should go--fully rigid. The suspension fork we offer as an option conforms to the frame, not the other way around. It works fine and handles nimbly with the chosen front suspension fork, but it is absolutely perfect without it, built to last and to be a bike that can take you anywhere; to work, to play, on vacation, on trails and roads of all kinds. It is simple and reliable because it is a return to the purity of a rigid platform. It requires skill and attention in the deep end of the pool, while saving huge chunks of energy everywhere else. The Fully and Mutant are the White Rim's alterego partners, bikes that save massive amounts of energy in the deep end. With the White Rim 29er, you are constantly amazed at how perfect a rigid 21 pound bike with 700c wheels and well thought out geometry is for all around bicycling. The wheels dictated this course. I can build strong 29er wheels (the secret is rims that allow high spoke tension without deformation), but the longer spokes of 700c wheels just don't jibe with full suspension, except in the rare circumstance--that being a mid-sized (around 5'11") light-weight racer (under 150 pounds) with a smooth riding style who needs an advantage on a specific course (rolling hills and climbs over moderate roots and rocks). If you go to races, take notice of the number of taco'd wheels in the 29er field. It is easy to see the flaws in equipment at race events--just take a look in the dumpster or in front of the ambulance.

If you are looking for ONE bike to be your friend and companion EVERYWHERE, a 29er can do the trick in a heartbeat. But drop the hype, the glitz, and go for simplicity. Mountain bike components make the idea friendly, but never forget those road bike influences and that the tall wheels put a lot of leverage on rims and spokes.

The Rant: Purity and simplicity rule Ninerland, but you can buy any jacked-up version you want.

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So, you've seen the "big push?" Over the past few months, building like a shit storm prior to a clogged toilet, the slumping mountain bike industry, desperate for the next fad, bloated with category after category of silly bikes, is having multiple gut spasms and cramps over the big wheeled phenom dubbed "29er." Every cockeyed big wheel dingleberry is hanging off the Christmas tree this year. Meanwhile the manufacturer of that really horrible, light and very pretty rim, is suing small builders over the use of the word "niner," taking a page out of Gary Fishies' book, trying to look like the "big deal know-it-alls" in the bike biz. If you don't have an original idea and think you need one, just fake it, lie. Americans love to be lied to and fake stuff is on the pedestal high above the real deal, which is down on earth riding around under riders with working brains in their skulls.

But really, why all the excitement over a 700c rim on a mountain bike? Is it the bigger wheel? To the industry, no, it ain't. It's that gleam of new money combined with the known gullibility of the American public when it comes to lies that smell good at first, but like dead bodies in short order. They routinely sell you forks that don't last a season under an avid rider. They've sold you stupid-flexy "long travel bikes" with inches of goo doled out by a flimsy rear end with a patent and a nifty slogan that cannot take a hard curve without throwing you into the woods. The closer the inches of travel to the desired size of the idiot's member, the more the damn thing sells. If they can sell you a war without end and the statement that "without America the world would be in a sad state," it's a dead cinch to sell you shocks with brains, tubeless tires and wheelsets that weigh more and still flat, dangerous catapults disquised as "full suspension" bicycles, a million and one carbon fiber doodads that don't have an once of carbon fiber in them, and a diet of sugar, Red Bull and carboloads that end up giving you diseases that make life after 40 a chore. Americans will buy anything backed by enough exaggerated hype and blatant untruth. Americans need to fill that hole in the soul where the connection to nature should be with as much useless crap as they can before they die. So, the magazines are popping with 29er full suspension, 29er softails made out of pot metal (metal fatique will happen AFTER the warranty runs out), 29er long travel (a huge joke), 29 inch front wheels with a 26 inch rear wheels (geeks go nuts), 9er singlespeeds (double geekness), 29ers with monocoques, coque-less pink lady 29ers, flowered lady 9ers, steel 9ers, carbon 9ers, titanium 9ers, and lawsuits about who owns the word, "Niner."

But dammit, there is still not one rim worthy of putting a really fat 29" tire onto. So, with all the piss poor wheels out there, and the fact that a larger wheel truly needs larger spokes and wider, heavier hubs to work off-road under a suspension bike, why in the name of Ralph Nader are people buying this crap?

Because it is "different." Because they are not satisfied with the crap they bought from these idiots last year. Because they can sell you stuff that makes your dick bigger. Why not more bicycles? A good question.

And what do I think?

The reason the 29er idea is a good one is because it is NOT new and fancy and decked out with all the stupid stuff they put on mountain bikes. The 700c wheel is proven over 100 years of road cycling. It works for what it works for--rolling speed, momentum, and, when the frame is designed right, intuitive handling. And, if you build a fat-tired 29er light and right, it will climb a wall and not loose traction.

Tires
The good news in all this hype and excitment is that there has been just enough attention to 29 inch wheels to present us with decent tire choices. (Thanks to Wilderness Trail Bikes in Marin for taking the rubber plunge!) Dreamride's testing in Moab has proved that big knobbies are not so good on a 9er. 29er tires paddle the wind as much as they paddle the ground. This slows you down--in the air up top and on the ground down low. A really good 9er tire should have low grippy tread that doesn't paddle the atmosphere, as much casing as you need for your terrain, and a very strong kevlar bead to keep the thing on the rim during a hard turn. Steel beaded 700c and 29er tires are just plain dangerous--the beads stretch over time and a big tire leaves a lot of room for the bead to roll over and off the rim.

Rigid Forks
The new Pace rigid forks are awesome! Existing rigid mountain bike forks work just fine with 9ers because they are currently being produced to compensate for 3 to 4 inches of fork travel using a 26 inch wheel. These taller-than-"normal" rigid forks suit our 9er well, even better than the 9er-specific forks that (OVER)COMPENSATE for suspension travel on a rig with wheels that cannot handle the loads of the speeds that can be reached with suspension in the first place. A taller fork is just more noodle on a "rigid" 9er. If you want the best noodle out there, we carry the Mooto-X for those who want a softer ride. That is one beautiful noodle. On the Moots, you can learn to love chicken noodle soup. We can also custom a Moots frame for you designed to be fully rigid from the ground up.

Brakes
Like many who have been riding 9ers for a while, we now lean toward rim brakes on 29er bikes, especially rigid platforms. Those rims are huge brake rotors just begging to be utilized. The leverage of those long spokes make for good braking power and the extra brake surface of the bigger rim dissipates heat nicely. One of our Dreamride guides is running huge rotors on the front of his full suspension 9er and has been getting spooked by the sound of pinging spokes on steep descents. The leverage what works for us with rim brakes works against us with discs, winding up spokes and deforming the wheel under stress. You might think it retro to use rim brakes on a 9er, but it is actually the best way to go, unless you ride muddy trails most of the time.

After a couple of years dealing with the bigger wheels and thinking this 9er-deal through, testing every 29er component under the sun, all the while developing the White Rim titanium 29er and the upcoming Dreamride POE, I am happy with what I have taken away from the big wheel idea, and happy to be able to mess with other's designs, too. The 9er thing will never be better than the 6" Dreamride Fully at going fast over rough terrain, but it certainly adds to the fun of cycling by offering other approaches to other challenges besides going fast and efficient over rough terrain. A good 9er could be the best travel bike ever. We already know that the larger wheels produce the best sand bike ever.

A blast from the past.
I used to ride 700c wheels off-road as a matter of necessity. I pre-date BMX and banana seats. Cruisers did it fine in my early youth, but when I grew to over 5 feet tall a road bike was the faster machine off-road. On skinny tires you learn how to ride soft to avoid flats. You learn to take it smooth and easy, to get off and behind the saddle in tight stuff to keep from going over the drops. When I was growing up, a road bike with the biggest tires you can wedge into the frame was the best machine for all-around cycling tasks of getting to school, escaping onto tobacco road, riding in the woods behind the tobacco and corn fields. Put some Carnation Evaporated Milk in the tubes and you don't even have to worry about thorns. I got a three speed 700c city bike for Christmas in 1961 and proceeded to strip it down, fill the tires with condensed milk, and put baseball cards (that would now be worth thousands of dollars) in the spokes. That bike had 29 inch wheels. I rode it through the woods in Goldsboro, North Carolina until I got a drivers license in 1965 (you cannot park in the woods and diddle your sweetheart on a bicycle, or get to the beach in two hours on the highway). That city bike was trash by the time I was 16, a rusty heap from beach cruising in salt water from Altantic Beach to Fort Macon. That 3 speed city bike was more noodly than my compact Schwinn cruiser, but I preferred it for "treking" because it rolled over stuff that my 24 inch wheeled Schwinn would be arrested by. That first city bike was the reason that in 1974 in San Francisco I employed a 10 speed English road bike as my "mountain bike." It is all coming back to me now that I am addicted to my rigid 9er. Big wheels work.

Let's not forget about cyclocross.
If there is one off-road bicyle that is forgotten and underrated by the mountain bike masses, it is the cyclocross bike. If you have ever ridden a good one, you understand that 700c wheels grab the ground, roll over logs and boulders, . . . and taco like a limp potato chip if you make the wrong move, tuck the front wheel under or shove the rear end into a turn too hard. Moots makes an awesome cyclocross frame that can have a softail YBB rear end. It can be customized to fit you like a glove, to suit flat bars or disc brakes. As an alternative to a fat tire 9er, a good cyclocross frame is not much of a compromise. It is an efficient off-road machine that zips on the road, too.

And what is my personal take on a full suspension 29er?
A full suspension 29er is too heavy to compete (if it is built not to break!), too tall for short folks (wheel-toe overlap happens in sizings below 17"), and too flimsy for big folks (the downtube of a big 9er is just too damn long to stay stiff). A front suspended 29er will never be as good as a well designed full suspension 26er when it comes to any kind of technical trail. Take it or leave it, but a full suspension bike with really tall wheels can be a death trap! It might work for smoothing out the bigger lumps in a rooted singletrack, but go fast and turn hard and holy shit! You'd better have insurance. Common sense tells me that there must be a lot of 29er wheelset injuries happening at this point. I have been an expert witness in law suits involving cycling issues, so I know the secrecy involved in litigation. And, no one in American business wants to "bad mouth" a product, right? The secrets of spinal chord injuries and fractured pelvises are kept in court for the families to wail about "loss of joy in life" and other such stupid made-up stuff to get more money out of the manufacturer's insurance company. Frankly, I prefer to avoid getting hurt, so no 29er full suspension for me for now. The most fun I ever had on a bike was on a funky Dutch street bike with two rear wheels on it that I bought for 35 Guilders from a junkie in Amsterdam, so it really doesn't matter what bike you are riding, as long as you are on acid and/or endorphines.

Back to current history
The full suspension base is covered at Dreamride. The Fully rules that overall category, hands down. Those who own them know. We don't advertise them, so the leap of faith happens word of mouth or in our shop. A 9er is really just a cool wrinkle in the quiver quiver. I not only live with the 29er idea and the components available, I embrace what little we have available. Mavic makes very strong rims for road bikes that work just fine (more than fine) on a niner, as long as you stay under 2.1 in the tire department. WTB, Sun and Halo are producing stonger rims for 9ers that are wide enough for the fattest tires. I like the 700c wheel and prefer it for most riding I do alone, whether on the road or on the trail. I think converting those old 26 inch wheeled hardtails to 700c is really great idea, too, and our rental fleet now reflects this shift (we have three 9er conversions for rent at this point, for roads of all kinds).

But, right now, in the bicycle sales industry, the 9er "concept" is marketing hype gone whacky, exploited by fatso companies wanting your money so bad they are willing to invest their fortunes to advertise (note: I did not say, "build") a bike they spend far less on than the ad budget to sell it. All this will certainly settle down when the wounded guinea pigs with accident insurance start suing and the designs get altered to reflect the injuries. That's how it works, folks--you are the crash test dummies for the cycling industry. You won't hear about the injuries because the lawyers shut down any talk in the mags.

So, why 29? Really.
Because a well-designed and well-equipt rigid 29er kicks ass on a rigid or front suspended 26er for most riders. A rigid 29er with mountain bike disc brakes, flat bars, stem and shifting system puts a cyclocross bike to shame when it comes to ergonomics and technical handling, and it can handle fat tires that give you a decided advantage in sand, loose rocky sediments and over bumps and roots. A rigid 29er can keep up with a road bike when it has to, and keep up, or roll past, most cross country racing bikes over smooth singletrack courses. When you go UP just about anything, a White Rim 29er is going to kill the competition. Put skinny tires on a 29er and it zooms over 90 per cent of the terrain we ride. Put fat tires on a 29er and you can ride just about any surface that the bulk of full suspension bikes soften for those who need to be "safe." It is about pure cycling and the common sense to understand just how efficient a simple rigid bike can be with the right wheels and geometry to compliment and take advantage of the momentum of big wheels.

And for those survivalists out there, maintaining a rigid bike is a piece of cake. Eat that cake and ride the bike, too.

69
69--some call it 96--facing away from each other, so the born again anal crowd doesn't get offended by our lovemaking. A 26 inch rear wheel makes a 9er front end bike much more snappy and manueverable. We are doing 69er customs with Moots--rigid, YBB, and 3 inches of travel, and consider this the way to go if you want to ride the bike mostly off-road.

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Had enough 29er hype?
26" wheels with 6" of travel kill 9ers in the rough!