MTB Wheel Sizes

[Gautam Ramini]

Dear All,

        I was using a Hercules Contour Ryders, till August for the commutes. Got a road bike  and then ditched the mtb for the commutes and was using the road bike both for commutes and long rides. I do a 33Kms daily commute (Kundanhalli to Corporation circle). After using the road bike for commutes for almost 4 months, I want to get back onto MTB atleast for the commutes, since I feel the road bike is taking the beat in commutes.

So was planning to upgrade my MTB and sold the Hercules. I have done some exploration in the MTB wheel sizes and seen the trend moving towards 29er or a 27.5!
Wanted to post the question here to get a bigger perspective on which wheel size I should be going with.

Primary purpose of the bike is for commute and trails as secondary!

I was looking for the bikes around 30K! And the below 3 bikes I sorted out on each of the wheel sizes, cost and based on components used!

26 - http://www.polygonbikes.com/ww/bikes/description/2013-cozmic-cx1.0

The 2015 version of this comes with 27.5 wheels, but few components got lower versions

27.5 - http://www.focus-bikes.com/gb/en/bikes/2015/mtb-sport/whistler-1/whistler-27r-40.html

Not sure how good are the focus frames

29er - http://www.cannondale.com/nam_en/2014/bikes/mountain/trail-hardtails/trail-29/trail-29-7

Mostly entry level components

Your views on the MTB's wheel size factors and feedback on these bikes pls!

Regards,

Gautam Ramini

[berkeleydb]

The li'l bit that I know about wheel sizes (26" vs 29") -- 29" I believe have the advantage of rolling better over the rock/bumps that you face offroad. Plus for regular (on road) terrain, I suppose the same arguments about wheel size apply, as for 26" vs 700c (whether the bigger sizes are faster).

Haven't read much about 27.5".

Unless you have a specific reason to go with a particular wheel size (for the purported benefits it provides), I would suggest going with the more prevalent 26". Various components related to wheel size will be more easily available/cheaper with the 26". Also, for a particular price range, at least for 26" vs 29", I believe you will get much better components overall with 26".

-{db}.

[Mayank Rungta]

It will be sometime before 27.5" becomes common place. The breakdown with wheels is not that frequent but sharing basic stuff like tubes will also not be possible. I would consider a 29er if I were looking at the advantages of a bigger wheel personally than something in between...

--
biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)

are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
Visit www.bangalorebicyclechampionships.com for more details
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bangalore Bikers Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bangalore-bike...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Prashanth Chengi]

+1.

[RT]

So, there are many differences between the three but in your particular case you're evaluating it as a commuter so here's my two cents. 

Frankly, its easier and quicker to accelerate on smaller wheels. Smaller wheeled bikes are also more agile and have better handling. Bigger wheels are quicker once you get up to speed and will roll over stones and bumps and whatnot better than smaller wheels but they don't handle quite as well. In stop-start traffic, a fast accelerating bike which is nimble would be preferable to me. So on that basis alone, I'd pick the 26er. 

However, please note that there are mannnnnnyyyyyy variables here ranging from quality of components (wheelsets IMO being most important) which affect rolling resistance and there are other kinds of bikes which are possibly better suited to commuting. So these are just broad strokes. It would be very hard for anyone to give you a straight, definitive answer (because there simply is none). You need to find a solution which would suit you and your style of riding. 

Cheers,

Rahul

[Gautam Ramini]

After a week's struggle finally I have chose Polygon Cozmic 26er and installed continental touring plus 26*1.75 slicks! Thanks for the pointers provided!

Regards,

Gautam!