Now this is a cool bike if you ask me.

29er bikes have the reputation of great single speeders, rigid bikes and generally smooth xc machines. However, some people have been questioned this “fact” already for sometime and also companies like White Brothers and Lenz Bikes have been developing more all mountain capable big wheeled mountain bikes. The products have stayed quite marginal though. “Normal” 29er is already on almost every manufacturer’s catalogues these days but there is only a few that offer 700c wheel mountain bikes with longel travel suspension.

Ok, there are some problems that come with the bigger wheel size. It is at least a bit harder to make the 700c wheel stiff which requires wider hub, wider spokes etc., the wheel size also makes it more difficult to design short chainstays and to create more than, say, four inches of rear wheel travel has considered to be a challenging task.

Still I believe that all benefits of the larger diameter wheel apply as well in the downhill direction (why shouldn’t they?). The problems come when tweaking the frame geometry and trying to find a balanced ride… riders, and companies as well, are reluctant to loose gear that they trust and come to known through the years. But if the bike fits, handles nicely and takes beating – I wonder what should be the reasons to stick with the 26″ long travel bikes only? To be clear I don’t have anything against smaller wheel bikes at all, I just tend t dig the 29er concept in general – IMHO it is just all about the physics of the larger diameter rim rolling over stuff more easily.

The 29er downhill bikes won’t maybe ever become common but I think for general AM/trail use, at least for bigger guys and gals, the concepts just rules. And, I still believe that 10 years from now someone will ride bigger wheel also in some gravity oriented events, e.g. Megavalanche type “endurance downhill”. In the US Super-D series 29ers have already proven their cabability. I won’t go into the details in this post but if you don’t believe this, check  this cool video by Alex Morgan, the guy that rides/has rode his own custom made 29er DH bike (see also the picture in the end of the post) even in the world cup series.

Ok, but here’s some pics of the said Niner bike.

New Marzocchi 44 fork, ISCG mount, 135 or 150mm rear triangle (two version of the frame, one with 135mm rear travel, the othr with 150 mm rear travel), steerer tube featuring a 1.5″ to 1 1/8″ taper design to match Niner’s head tube, etc. Check for some more details here.

Cant’ wait to test ride the Niner’s R.I.P and Pivot Mach 429 that are next on our list for a review. If the 29er FS bike works as well as  I think it should (I only have experience from 29er hard tails so far), I might wait for this bike (should be available in the spring 2009) and serioysly consider buying one! Niner W.F.O and my rigid single speed would make a perfect “quiver” of bikes.

Alex Morgan’s DH 29er