Video: Seth // Edit: Curtis // Words: Daniel
Fifteen years ago, 29’ers weren’t as prevalent as they are now. If anyone wanted an aggressive trail bike, 29” wheels weren’t even a consideration. The brand Niner (somewhat similar to DirtySixer, right?) was one of the early adopters and, at the time, they made some of the better options for a 29” wheeled bike. However, many people were still skeptical, and technology wasn’t quite up to speed. Tire options were limited, and geometries were questionable. I was one of the last people in the bike industry still holding out, riding my 26” wheeled trail bike unless I was on an XC bike, even though there were 29” trail bikes readily available. And while 27.5” wheels were, in fact, an option, there wasn’t a 27.5” wheeled bike for me to ride, at least not at Specialized, where I worked.
We were constantly being asked, “Where’s the 27.5” bike?” Plenty of people were intrigued by the advantages of the larger wheel size, yet not quite ready to make the leap to 29” wheels. In my opinion, the 29” wheeled “wagon wheels” didn’t ride nearly as well on technical terrain, and although the bikes were fast in a straight line, they didn’t turn like a 26” wheeled bike. For anyone riding technical trails, 29” wheels were just not the best choice at that point in time.
A year or so later, the 27.5” Stumpjumper made its debut, but it was still a work in progress. The bikes weren’t a total redesign of the 29” bike at first. There was a different rear triangle and linkage while the front triangle was pretty close to the 29, with the addition of a headset cup on the bottom to help keep the geometry in check.
To say that there were controversial comments and conflicting thoughts about the new wheel sizes would be selling it short. The people I encountered seemed to be in one camp or the other. It wasn’t until we introduced the Enduro with 29” wheels that I fully bought into 29” wheeled bikes. It was a hard sell. But, 27.5” wheels somewhat helped me get there. It was the transition from 26” to 27.5” for a short time that helped me progress to the 29” wagon wheels. Especially once technology caught up, and 29” wheeled bikes became far more capable.
What does any of this have to do with 36” wheels? Maybe more than you think. I’m curious if we’re headed in that same direction with 36” wheels. Now, I don’t think that a 36” wheeled bike is even practical for most people; however, it may serve a purpose. And while 36” is a huge leap up from 29”, there are more and more rumblings of 32” wheeled bikes becoming available in the not too distant future. It leads me to wonder if 32” is the limit of what is functional for the majority of people, or if it’s another step on the way to something larger, just like 27.5” wheels were for 29”.
