Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Dem Bighum Wheels

We have another Pisgah ride kicking on the forums if anyone is interested. This will not be an epic. Just a nice short four hour jaunt through the woods. Sunday 8:00am at the Fish Hatchery. See you there!

As you know this weekend I went on a ride with seven people through Pisgah. I took my FS 26” wheeled bike. Lately I have been riding my SS 29” bike and I have noticed that even though this bike is a hardtail, I still seem to be pretty quick on the downhills. I had been wondering if the difference was solely in the big wheels or if something else was coming into play. I think I got my answer this weekend.

Eric rides a rigid 29er SS. I found myself behind him this weekend doing what everyone else has been doing to me on the big wheels, making chase. To keep up with him on the downhills I really had to push the pedals hard. This doesn’t make sense considering I have more body mass than him.

So if you have any doubt whether the big wheels keep your momentum flowing better, just ride behind a SS 29’er on the downhill and watch that person float away without pedaling.

My other observation is that the big wheels definitely roll over objects better. You don’t notice this as much going from little to big. However, once you have been on the big wheels and you try the small ones again you will notice that the wheels seem to be bumping up against things more.

I am not advocating big wheels or small ones. I am just giving you my observations. So no crazy 29’er hatin’ spam ok? Good, glad we cleared that up.

Have a SUPER day.

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