29er or not?

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This thread is interesting to me. I currently have a 26er and am a complete noob at MTB, but I like it...far more than I expected I would. The plan is to hand down my Cdale F5 ('09...got it for a steal a month+ ago, as Cdale had hundreds of "petites" leftover just sitting in a warehouse) to my son in a year or two, then I'll upgrade a tad. DH is on a 29er and loves it, but he is also 6'2" and has relatively long legs. My inseam is 30", so I suspect that that could be somewhat of an issue. Toe overlap is an even bigger concern. I have it with both my road and CX bikes. It's no a huge deal on those, but I can see where it would be a bigger issue on a trail with tighter, slower corners.

[Aggie_Ama]

I don't have a problem riding and racing a 15.5" 29er, my inseam is about 28.5". I don't think unless you just often ride a course with a lot of hairpin turns you will have an issue with toe overlap. My 29er seems to corner better than my 5" travel 26er did, that bike always felt twitchy. I honestly have never heard anyone say anything about toe overlap in mountain biking, I don't know I guess it is an issue.

I know several women the similar build as me that went 29er and won't go back. But some people never want to give up their 26er.

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I don't have a problem riding and racing a 15.5" 29er, my inseam is about 28.5". I don't think unless you just often ride a course with a lot of hairpin turns you will have an issue with toe overlap. My 29er seems to corner better than my 5" travel 26er did, that bike always felt twitchy. I honestly have never heard anyone say anything about toe overlap in mountain biking, I don't know I guess it is an issue.

I know several women the similar build as me that went 29er and won't go back. But some people never want to give up their 26er.

Good to hear. I know my options will be somewhat limited, since it looks like some mfgs. don't even make 29ers small enough for me to stand-over.

[Catrin]

Good to hear. I know my options will be somewhat limited, since it looks like some mfgs. don't even make 29ers small enough for me to stand-over.

I hear it is a problem making small 29ers....but I do wonder if the real problem is the manufacturers thinking they wouldn't sell enough of them to make the worth producing. From what my LBS explained to me there is a problem getting the geometry right below a certain size, but I don't know much about that.

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I hear it is a problem making small 29ers....but I do wonder if the real problem is the manufacturers thinking they wouldn't sell enough of them to make the worth producing. From what my LBS explained to me there is a problem getting the geometry right below a certain size, but I don't know much about that.

I'm sure it's a bit of both, really. Finding cx bikes in my size is trickier. A lot of companies will only do entry-level bikes in smaller sizes.

[Owlie]

I'm sure it's a bit of both, really. Finding cx bikes in my size is trickier. A lot of companies will only do entry-level bikes in smaller sizes.

That sucks. While I have some options on the size (31" inseam) front, reach is always an issue for me. I need WSD in pretty much anything, though I may have a bit more wiggle room with mountain bikes. I've been looking for a CX bike, and apparently there's no market for a WSD cross bike.
I'm here because I'm entertaining the idea of a mountain bike. Maybe.

[pinsonp2]

Giant makes a womwn's cross bike that I find interesting, but I am not ready to buy another bike. Here's the link and they do make a XS and S frames in it:
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/...oad/?level=all

P2

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That sucks. While I have some options on the size (31" inseam) front, reach is always an issue for me. I need WSD in pretty much anything, though I may have a bit more wiggle room with mountain bikes. I've been looking for a CX bike, and apparently there's no market for a WSD cross bike.
I'm here because I'm entertaining the idea of a mountain bike. Maybe.

I got lucky. I fit perfectly on my 44 Redline Conquest. Redline is pretty good about making CX bikes in a 44 across their range. But if I needed a smaller size I'd be SOL. Ridley makes a smaller model of their very bottom and *I think* very top CX bike, but all the nice models in the middle start at 47.