These days most people ride 29 inch bikes for mountain biking. I also ride a 29-inch mountain bike. My height is 180 cm.
However, you need to understand the limitations of a 29-inch bike and choose a 29-inch bike.
Some people say that even if you are short, you can ride a 29-inch bike no matter how tall you are, and height doesn’t matter. It is a story that is both right and wrong.
I’m going to talk about why there is no right answer.
For reference, the content of this post is to explain in more detail the content of 26 vs 27.5 vs 29 mountain bikes in the summary of bicycle wheel sizes
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Table of Contents
29-inch bikes have long chainstays.
29-inch bikes have large wheels. The radius of the wheel is about 370 mm. The radius of a 26-inch bicycle wheel is about 340 mm.
And the wheels on a 27.5-inch bike fall somewhere in between.
The chainstay is the distance from the crank to the center of the rear wheel.
This length is an element that represents the character of the bike well.
26 inch bike
If you look at the geometry of a 26-inch bike, the length of the chainstay will be between 400 and 425mm.
A bike like the image with 26-inch wheels has 400mm chainstays.
The smaller the wheel size, the shorter the bike’s chainstay can be. Of course, you can design a longer chainstay for a 26-inch bike.
27.5 inch bike
Chainstays on 27.5 inch bikes range from 410 to 440.
The NS Bikes Isentric bike in this image has 420mm chainstays.
The wheel size is 27.5 inch.
29 inch bike
How about a 29 inch bike?
Although there are cases where the chain stay is extremely reduced while using a 29-inch wheel, in general, when using a 29-inch wheel, the chain stay has a chain stay length of about 427 to 440. For the hardtail in this image, the chainstay length is 435mm.
Early 29-inch bikes had ridiculously long chainstays. Some bikes have 450mm chainstays.
How Chainstay Length Affects Your Bike
Chainstays have a huge impact on how your bike rides. The biggest factor that distinguishes the personality of a bike is the angle of the head tube, followed by the height of the BB and the length of the chainstay.
Road bikes have chainstays of 410mm or less. Why do road bikes have such short chainstays?
The longer the chainstay, the greater the loss of power. The farther the distance from the power-generating crank to the rear wheel is, the more power is wasted.
However, if the chain stay is too short, the drivetrain may not move smoothly. If it is shorter than 400mm, the chain may be bent and the gear shifting may not be smooth.
Long chainstays on mountain bikes
- Long chainstays on mountain bikes reduce front wheel lift on climbs. You don’t have to waste your energy watching the front wheel lift.
- Even if there is a lot of mud on the wheels, the wheels do not stop and you can ride.
- Increased stability on descents due to the long wheelbase effect
Short chainstays on mountain bikes
- Power loss is reduced.
- You can lift the front wheel easily.
- It is also easy to jump (bunny hop) because you can easily lift the front wheel.
Do you want to run with excitement while bunny hop when a stone or tree branch comes out or when a water path is dug?
And are you short?
Then a 29-inch bike isn’t for you. It is recommended to choose around 26 inches or 27.5 inches.
Relationship between chain stay and height (height)
If you are tall, a slightly longer chainstay is fine. Rather, if you are tall, it is better to have a longer chainstay to prevent the front wheel from lifting on uphill.
However, if you are short and have a long chainstay, lifting the front wheel and bunny hop can be difficult no matter how much you practice. It’s easy to understand why by looking at the image below.
Bunny hop is a process in which the rear wheel pushes the ground with the principle of leverage (if you get used to it, you can do it with any bike…) If the chain stay is long compared to your height, it’s not easy to get used to lifting the front wheel and bunny hop. .
Longer legs and arms allow you to shift your weight more
Even if you don’t shift your weight all the way, you can bunny hop by lifting the front wheel. However, it is not easy to control the amount of weight movement if you are short and can only bunny hop by shifting your weight all the way.
This is because the moment you shift your weight more than the threshold, the bike rolls backwards.
Therefore, it is more difficult for short people to practice their skills using a bike with long chainstays.
conclusion
When using 29-inch wheels, there are two major limitations. The handlebars are taller and the chainstays are longer.
If the handlebars are higher due to the larger wheels, you can use a negative angle stem to direct only the handlebars downward. ( How to lower the handlebar )
However, the chainstay length is the part that can’t be solved.
Longer chainstays don’t matter to racers, but long chainstays aren’t helpful for those who want to practice their skills.
If you ride the mountain for a long time, you get a sense of what the appropriate chainstay length is.
For me (height 180cm), 400mm is too short and I feel that 410mm is the minimum length. 420-430mm feels appropriate, and above 445mm it is too dull and I can’t enjoy it.
If you are a rider who is not tall but wants to practice a lot of skills or want to have fun riding the mountain, I would recommend a 27.5 rather than a 29 inch.
In the image below, it is 27.5 inches on the left and 29 inches on the right.
Chainstay lengths are 418mm and 432mm respectively.
432mm is 29 inches, which is a great length, but if a shorter rider chooses the 29 inches, the long chainstays will make it difficult to practice many skills. If you’re not interested in practicing your skills, you can go with the 29″. However, riding a mountain bike is difficult without practicing your skills.
I hope this article helped you choose a bike.
