Is the 29 / 27.5 combo (97.5) bike here to stay?

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GA902
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GA902 3/23/2019 9:27pm
3/23/2019 9:27pm
Question answered
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vinny4130
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vinny4130 3/24/2019 6:34am
3/24/2019 6:34am Edited Date/Time 3/24/2019 8:18am
While I to was around for the 26-24” wheels I didn’t feel the turn in, which is a little better didn’t outweigh how the wheel fell deeper into holes. If I was to try different wheels again. I would try a plus tire like a 2.8 up front and a 29 rear. If someone has tried this please post. Putting the smaller wheel with higher volume tire in the back “Moto” style doesn’t make sense in my mind.
sspomer
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sspomer 3/24/2019 11:22am
3/24/2019 11:22am
shot of martin's actual EWS bike from yesterday. i've put wyn's 2018 bike below too just to compare to see there's anything less obvious than wheel size

Verbl Kint
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Verbl Kint 3/24/2019 8:38pm
3/24/2019 8:38pm
Martin's fork looks like it has less travel, probably to keep the bike's geo close to last year's. Offset on both forks seems to be the same, which probably means Martin's has a reduced offset.

My theory is that Martin is probably on a 150mm Fox36 with a 44mm offset.


Interestingly, a GRIP2 150mm Fox 36 isn't available retail-wise, in any wheelsize.
Hollywood Gainey 3/25/2019 6:47am
3/25/2019 6:47am
I just ran my 2019 Cannondale Jekyll 29" with a 27.5 rear this weekend. The bike has a especially tall BB, so seems a great candidate. After dropping bars 8mm, adjusting seat, bar angle the bike felt surprisingly normal. I liked the BB height better (fork is upped to 160mm. And honestly I've been running the bike with 27.5 front and rear for about 3 weeks)
The biggest things I noticed was the rear felt a little looser, and quicker to kick out late in arc turns. At the end of the day I put the 27.5 back on the front. Been enjoying the bike with super low BB, and small playful wheels. With a 442 chainstay it's both stable, and playful. Posted pics yesterday of the bike on 27.5 wheels. (Bike reminds me of a sb6 with it's long chainstays) went sideways from #mulletbike convo a little, sorry
tcmtnbikr
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tcmtnbikr 3/25/2019 1:26pm
3/25/2019 1:26pm
jason.west.750 wrote:
The combo will never stick. Just something new and shiny but the glimmer will tarnish.
Yeah, cause it hasn't stuck with dirt bikes for 20+ years...just glimmer
DubC
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DubC 3/25/2019 4:00pm
3/25/2019 4:00pm
PM's and the SKU bean counters at the big companies heads might explode if this becomes more of a thing.

Does this harken in the return of 26"?

Pick 2 wheel sizes and be a dick about it?
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Crush
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Crush 3/25/2019 6:33pm
3/25/2019 6:33pm
GA902 wrote:
Question answered
sspomer wrote:
haha so good! Martin Maes just won the EWS in Rotorua on his 29 / 27.5 bike. he won EVERY stage. the first time in men's...
haha so good! Martin Maes just won the EWS in Rotorua on his 29 / 27.5 bike. he won EVERY stage. the first time in men's EWS history. - https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/RESULTS-Enduro-World-Series-Rotorua-…
Hill has won every stage before I think.
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Hollywood Gainey 3/25/2019 6:36pm
3/25/2019 6:36pm
Crush wrote:
Hill has won every stage before I think.
Nope, not every stage.
juansevo
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juansevo 3/27/2019 8:23am
3/27/2019 8:23am
sspomer wrote:
rad question and poll! visually, i can't stand the look of them, but finn's drift and result at crankworx yesterday was pretty darn rad. i voted...
rad question and poll! visually, i can't stand the look of them, but finn's drift and result at crankworx yesterday was pretty darn rad. i voted yes, we'll see a win at some point. here's maes' 97.5 bike from NZ enduro, too.


What fork a to c you running? Or fork travel vs rear travel?
Big Bird
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Big Bird 4/1/2019 8:17pm
4/1/2019 8:17pm
BUMP!

"it will never happen!"

Shit it did in the first race.

Fluke?
Sean_Hanagan 4/2/2019 11:58am
4/2/2019 11:58am
thegromit wrote:
Cecile won the overall on a 29er.
Hollywood Gainey wrote:
...and Hill and Meas dominated on 27.5. Personally, I believe tire size has more to do with the person who rides its height and their bike...
...and Hill and Meas dominated on 27.5.
Personally, I believe tire size has more to do with the person who rides its height and their bike skill than rotation or floating holes or if it carries speed better
Oton and Florian N (2nd and 3rd in 2018) both were on waggon wheels. Maes was 4th in the series last year.
AGR97
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AGR97 4/4/2019 5:11pm
4/4/2019 5:11pm
Thought it was about time to throw my hat in the ring here. Been reading a lot of Porter’s thoughts on this and seeing Martin dominate inspired me to give it a go. Initial impressions below, more testing to follow: Ok here’s the thoughts, 29x2.4 Michelin Wild enduro measures in at 730mm diameter. 27.5x2.6 butcher is 710mm. Overall we’ve dropped 10mm closer to the floor, 325bb height, 62 head angle are the numbers. I had a play around outside in the car park with the 29 rear wheel then immediately swapped the 27.5 in to see the difference. Biggest difference is it feels easier to manual, even though the chainstay length is the same, weird eh? Maybe because you have less distance to make it to the manual point with the smaller wheel? Also obviously stiffer and way more playful.

Actually riding it, brakes like a dream, pumping is way better as it accelerates over bumps, also doesn’t seem to get hung up on stuff in the same way due less unsprung weight. More testing needed but I think it’s brill so far. The next stage is demoing carbon 29 wheel on the back to see if it shows off the same characteristics as the 27.5 rear in terms of dynamism. My theory is it will brake well, but not turn quite as nicely or calmly or be as playful as 27.5 rear. Stay tuned for more!
mamath7
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mamath7 4/4/2019 7:09pm
4/4/2019 7:09pm
tuboy95 wrote:
I think 97.5 isn’t far enough. Need to go 29x26 to really feel the difference. Maybe a Combo with a plus tire.
Plus size at the back. I like it and I cannot lie
Verbl Kint
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Verbl Kint 4/13/2019 9:43am
4/13/2019 9:43am
Built a Kona Process 153 97.5 AL/DL (size M, 29r frame) as an experimental build. The 29 and 27.5 versions of the Process 153 have the same rear triangle so I thought I should try out a reverse mullet build.

Btw, I rode and raced a GT Sanction (size S, I'm 5'6" with a 29" inseam) for four years.

Rode my 97.5 down a 4.5 min DH track a few times today to get the suspension dialled (new bike and all). Unknowingly, I beat a Strava PR on one segment by 9 sec (1:53 vs 1:44).

I'm probably sticking with this build. It's a game-changer for little guys like me.


rtclark
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rtclark 4/13/2019 8:31pm
4/13/2019 8:31pm
Did you suspension correct the front end for the added fork height? What kind of alterations do you think you'd make to dial it in?
Verbl Kint
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Verbl Kint 4/14/2019 7:53am
4/14/2019 7:53am
rtclark wrote:
Did you suspension correct the front end for the added fork height? What kind of alterations do you think you'd make to dial it in?
I did put in more sag than recommended (30% instead of 20%), 2 clicks (out of 5) of HSC and 3 clicks of LSC. Rebound was at 6 clicks from fully open.

Next step is probably play around with the A2C length (you can do that with a Durolux) and maybe play around with volume spacers as well. There is also an option to change the negative spring but I'll probably not do that yet.
Verbl Kint
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Verbl Kint 4/24/2019 7:30pm
4/24/2019 7:30pm


Wyn going the reverse mullet route as well on his Fury.

No word yet if Martin or George B. or Joey Foresta will do the same (will they race in Maribor?).
w4s
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w4s 4/28/2019 6:42am
4/28/2019 6:42am Edited Date/Time 4/28/2019 6:43am
Wins in it's first 2 races, enduro and DH, with a 2nd place too, and Finn was up on Loic before he crashed. Kinda hard to dispute those kind of results.
sspomer
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sspomer 4/28/2019 6:55am
4/28/2019 6:55am
w4s wrote:
Wins in it's first 2 races, enduro and DH, with a 2nd place too, and Finn was up on Loic before he crashed. Kinda hard to...
Wins in it's first 2 races, enduro and DH, with a 2nd place too, and Finn was up on Loic before he crashed. Kinda hard to dispute those kind of results.
yeah, the 1-2 punch today is pretty darn interesting, isn't it?
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Verbl Kint
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Verbl Kint 4/29/2019 12:34am
4/29/2019 12:34am
Another thing I find a bit interesting is that there seems to be no female racer on a mixed wheel setup. I was actually expecting a good number of them to try it but none seem to have done so yet.
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Kusa
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Kusa 4/29/2019 2:07am
4/29/2019 2:07am Edited Date/Time 4/29/2019 2:08am
Verbl Kint wrote:
Another thing I find a bit interesting is that there seems to be no female racer on a mixed wheel setup. I was actually expecting a...
Another thing I find a bit interesting is that there seems to be no female racer on a mixed wheel setup. I was actually expecting a good number of them to try it but none seem to have done so yet.
I would not be surprised that it is due to fact that you can't simply put just a smaller wheel on back and that's it. Saracen created a new linkage to keep the same geo with small wheel in back, I guess same is happening for Specialized. But those are big teams where you can do this. I guess smaller teams or privateers can't get this (or frame is not prepared to be tweaked that way) and so it is better to stay with the bike the way it was supposed to be. This probably applies for DH. With EWS, it can be another story...
w4s
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w4s 4/29/2019 6:33am
4/29/2019 6:33am
Verbl Kint wrote:
Another thing I find a bit interesting is that there seems to be no female racer on a mixed wheel setup. I was actually expecting a...
Another thing I find a bit interesting is that there seems to be no female racer on a mixed wheel setup. I was actually expecting a good number of them to try it but none seem to have done so yet.
Tracy Hannah and, i believe, Marine Cabirou were on mixed bikes for 3rd and 4th place. But i agree, seems like the women's field would potentially benefit more than men's field.
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Hollywood Gainey 4/29/2019 6:35am
4/29/2019 6:35am
Verbl Kint wrote:
[img]https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/forums/2019/04/23/8066/s1600_Screen_Shot_2019_04_23_at_9.28.40_pm.jpg[/img] Wyn going the reverse mullet route as well on his Fury. No word yet if Martin or George B. or Joey Foresta will do the...


Wyn going the reverse mullet route as well on his Fury.

No word yet if Martin or George B. or Joey Foresta will do the same (will they race in Maribor?).
Not a reverse mullet. Buisness in the front ( if smooth 29'), and a party in the back (27.5, fun, quick, playful)
Just a Mullet bike Smile
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Pedal4life
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Pedal4life 4/29/2019 2:11pm
4/29/2019 2:11pm
It is 100% here to stay!
mamath7
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mamath7 4/30/2019 2:09am
4/30/2019 2:09am
I'll try it on my stump evo, I'm curious. And as a bighit nostalgic...
derelict
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derelict 4/30/2019 5:12am
4/30/2019 5:12am
So, who is designing bikes meant for this combo? I know Foes has one but who else? I rode a Trek 69er when it came out and it rotated well and accelerated faster than a full 29er but the 3" difference in wheel made it seem tippy. The 27.5 being just a little bigger makes it seem like a great option

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