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For years, I’ve been reading articles about how 29ers handle differently, roll over obstacles, absorb bumps and grip better, but haven’t actually had a real opportunity to try one out.

So I’ve now finally had my first real ride on a 29er.

And not just any old 29er. A rigid, steel, singlespeed 29er… a proper one. Previously, my only experience with large wheels off road was my hack job rigid singlespeed conversion of an Avanti Blade flat bar road bike with CX. That bike was incredibly stiff, over geared and a real struggle with relatively skinny 35mm tyres.

This time, it was a proper setup. 2.1″ tyres. ~50 gear inches. Proper steel mountain bike.

Initial thoughts?

I’m impressed.

Or maybe I had expectations of it being really hard work and I should say that it wasn’t as tough as I was expecting?

Traction – Mud plus Crossmarks makes for a very slippery affair. Hard to say if there was more traction, since there was generally no traction. Although I dd manage to catch myself during slides easier. Does that count as more traction?

Comfort – Comfort a bit difficult to measure given that I was riding a fully rigid. There’s nothing really comfortable about this endeavour normally, so I guess you could say it was more comfortable (than what, I’m not sure – maybe sleeping on a bed of nails?).

Roll-over-obstacles-ability – Sure, it rolled over obstacles just fine. Primarily limited by my general inability because for me lofting my front wheel over obstacles involved some preloading of the suspension. In the absence of suspension, this proved to be a bit more of a tricky process and more often than not it was a bit more of a case of crashing into obstacles and kind of rolling through them. That said… it did this very well.

So… thinking about going 29er? Rigid? Do I recommend it? I think I do…

(More later when I’ve had a chance to ride this bike again in conditions I’m more familiar with)