5-6" traval, XC, 29er? does it exist?

[mntlion]

I've been riding a c'dale prophet and love the feel, travel (140mm), weight (under 30 pound) and also have a light 29er SS.

does the love child of this bike exist yet?

all mountain use, 5-6 " travel, under 30 pounds, 29 wheels.

I can get a 4" travel and 29 wheels, but that will feel similar to 5" travel on 26 wheels in some ways.

[rideit]

You better have LOOONG legs...the BB/standover height would be in the 20" range!

[Unruly Baker]

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.ph...light=Lunchbox

Not much in terms of forks that match it though. WB has a F150 coming out, but it's probably a ways out. A F135 would work OK though.

UB

[spider]

Intense 5.5 29er soon to be released?

http://www.intensecycles.com/web/news/5529r/5529r.html

[Andy_B]

Niner R.I.P 9 gets you 4.5 in the rear, that's the most I know of for a 29er.


The Crew at BCD were working on a carbon 29er DH frame with 6 inches of travel but I'm not sure if it ever made it to the general public.

[uncle crud]

I would suggest riding a decent 4" travel 29" FS frame before you dismiss them so quickly.

I don't know why you think you --anyone, really... not just you mtnlion-- would need 5" or 6" of travel to ride XC anyway.

In other words I think that what you think you need in the way of inches in suspension travel is not what you really need.

For what most people call "XC" use I don't see needing any rear suspension on a 29" wheeled MTB.

Of course there are different kinds of "XC" -- an XC ride in Nelson, BC is a lot different than an XC ride in Council Bluffs, IA.

In any case I think you would be very surprised at what you could tackle with a Niner RIP or a Lenz Behemoth/Lunchbox or a Ventana El Rey.

And I don't think you'll find that big a selection of forks suitable to rough riding and more than 3" of travel for 29" wheels. In fact I'd argue there's only one -- the White Bros F135.

[mntlion]

so forks are the real hold up on this?

I ride in the banff alberta area, not stunty like nelson, but very rocky riding. hard on the body/bike. I try to ride up with some XC guys on 4" travel XC bikes, but the same bike has to ride down with 8" travel bike too. for me the prophet is the combo that does both, best. (neither that well, but the closest to both)

I love the prophet for that kind of riding, (a 4" travel bike is not enough travel for me or maybe the area?).

I want to try a 4" travel 29er and see how it is.

isn't fox doing something that is 120mm for '08?

anything for '08 in bikes coming out?

[Unruly Baker]

so forks are the real hold up on this?

I ride in the banff alberta area, not stunty like nelson, but very rocky riding. hard on the body/bike. I try to ride up with some XC guys on 4" travel XC bikes, but the same bike has to ride down with 8" travel bike too. for me the prophet is the combo that does both, best. (neither that well, but the closest to both)

I love the prophet for that kind of riding, (a 4" travel bike is not enough travel for me or maybe the area?).

I want to try a 4" travel 29er and see how it is.

isn't fox doing something that is 120mm for '08?

anything for '08 in bikes coming out?

Click the links above, all good 08' releases. The Lenz is a sweet bike, new for 08'. Ventana's can be had with 5" rockers, Get the El capitan if you need more standover, or the El Ray ottherwise, or a custom El Ray with the X-brace design for better standover but lighter tubing. Specialized is also doing a Stumpy 29'er this year. And the WB F135 is a great fork, 29'er or otherwise plus it's got a thru axle, whihc the Fox will not. Easier to service than most Fox forks too. WB also has better customer service than Fox from my experience.

I have a Sultan, and while I'll never confuse it's 4" of travel with my 6" Ventana El Terremoto, it's great for all around XC and trail use. Handles tech stuff very well for only 4". The WB F135 also slacks out the HA nicely.

UB

[Andy_B]

And I don't think you'll find that big a selection of forks suitable to rough riding and more than 3" of travel for 29" wheels. In fact I'd argue there's only one -- the White Bros F135.

The Maverick DUC32 is a 4.6 inch 29er fork, lighter too.

[crashnburn'd]

You better have LOOONG legs...the BB/standover height would be in the 20" range!

Not really... I forget who, but I've seen pictures of a proto-29er DH bike that was getting raced at Mont Ste. Anne. Some carbon contraption if I remember right.

[kidwoo]

Not really... I forget who, but I've seen pictures of a proto-29er DH bike that was getting raced at Mont Ste. Anne. Some carbon contraption if I remember right.

Alex morgan on his homemade BCD bike.


And he's about 7 feet tall.

[uncle crud]

The Maverick DUC32 is a 4.6 inch 29er fork, lighter too.

I"ll let you ride it in Detroit. I'll skip it here where I ride. As far as I'm concerned, Maverick make bike frames & parts, but nothing I want anything to do with.

[SuperChief]

What about the lefty? It should be able to handle a 29'er the lefty max is 130mm travel err.. 5 inches in the front. Can you run a big wheel on the rear? or try as a 69'er

[m1e448]

5.5 29er
Hi Fi 29er
Custom Ventana



Forks,
White Bros
Maverick
Lefty
RS Revelation ??

[mntlion]

The lefty 29er is a 140mm that they reduce (to 80 or 100?) the travel to make it work on 29.

I want both 29 and 140 (damn it cannondale)

plus they are not making a full suspension 29er bike.

rumour has it that a carbon, 5-6" travel, maybe 29er is in the works for summer 2009

[Spats]

(kidwoo: bar height 40"-41.5" on Alex's bikes...not just for giants.)

Forks are the big bottleneck and are likely to remain so for quite some time...Turner has said that the Big Three (Marz, RS, Fox) will have nothing bigger than 100mm before 2009. If you want more than a Reba (which is a fine fork), your choices are very limited:

-Maverick DUC. Still really an XC fork, only about 120mm after travel limiting, seems to take forever to dial them in with lots of shim stack and oil level shenanigans, and even then some people can never keep them from excessive dive.
-Lefty Max. A good option, but only about 110mm after travel limiting.
-Manitou Minute. Supposedly comes in a 120mm TA version but you can't buy them yet (test units only so far).
-WB F135. WB has received very mixed reviews with their 29er forks...they get major props for supporting 29ers in a way no one else does, but their damping and QC have not been up to par. Supposedly the F135 fixes a lot of these problems, but there aren't a lot of them out there yet. Plus it's about a $850-$900 fork.
-Any inverted DH fork can be travel-limited if you don't mind the weight. With some of the WB forks you can just slide the lower crown up a bit.

You have plenty of frame choices.
-Astrix Monk. 4.5" rear, reasonably burly, about half the cost of any other option ($900 street price)
-Niner RIP9. 4.5" rear, nice design, shortish chainstays for a 29er, but lots of frame flex. Clydes and mashers seem to have problems.
-Lenz Behemoth. 5" rear, expensive but very well made and light for what they are. The Lunchbox is just a Behemoth with a 150mm Maxle rear triangle and very minor geometry tweaks.
-Ventana, and any of the custom builders that use their rear triangle. 4" or 5". Very steep seat angles (74 degrees), high BB.
-Niner will have a big travel (6+) frame next year based on the original prototype of the RIP. Intense might.
-Call up Alex at BCD and have him build you something custom out of carbon.
-Waltworks builds 29er DH frames.

[Pedro]

The lefty 29er is a 140mm that they reduce (to 80 or 100?) the travel to make it work on 29.

I want both 29 and 140 (damn it cannondale)

plus they are not making a full suspension 29er bike.

rumour has it that a carbon, 5-6" travel, maybe 29er is in the works for summer 2009

A lot of guys on our team got the Cannondale Caffeine 29ers this year, i think they only had like 80mm of travel.

my buddy lent me his Reba 29er fork @100mm, i wouldnt want anything more than that, the big wheel does the job...id like to get a full susp 29er though for the really long days.

[Andy_B]

I"ll let you ride it in Detroit. I'll skip it here where I ride. As far as I'm concerned, Maverick make bike frames & parts, but nothing I want anything to do with.

I don't ride there the single track sucks.

[uncle crud]

WB Fluid 135 feels as nice as my Fox Vanilla 130 RLC and was just as easy to adjust. It lacks the multitude of adjustment on a RLC fork, but it's equal to the standard R forks. Plus the guys at White Bros are eager to help you dial in your fork, unlike the Fox guys who will help you --but only after they're done serving every DH racer in North America.

My Fluid 135 cost $735 from Larry Mettler at Mtn High Cyclery. That's not a lot compared to other 20mm coil/oil forks these days, but it is a sizable chunk o' cash.

Nobody else mentioned the Turner Sultan as a 4" travel FS 29er, so I'll mention it... and say the following about my Sultan, which I got to replace the 5.5" travel 5-Spot.

With the F135 on the front of a Sultan you have a 4.3" rear, 5.3" front 29" FS rig that can do absolutely anything that a 6"/6" Six Pack/RFX can do, provided the rider is able to do what it is that needs doing. I rode that Curley Lake ride twice last week. I went for Ride No. 2 only four days after the 1st ride's punishment-dealing epic ordeal because it was so fun AND because the Sultan was surprisingly stable at high speed chunky terrain -- as stable as my 6-Pack if you factor in the single-ply tire casing limitation. I had to go do it again to convince myself that a 4" travel 29er FS rig was so stable and smooth through such roughness. Everyone on Thursday's (Ride No. 2) Curley Lake ride was on a 29er. One SS, 2 hardtail gearie, and me on the Sultan. I was waiting LONG periods of time for the other 3 to catch up at each rest spot on the descent. I'm not slow, but I wasn't expecting to send the other 3 riders so far off the back so quickly and easily. I give the Sultan credit for letting me ride it faster than I expected to be able to do.

My 6-Pack has a PUSHed DHX 5.0 coil and 36 VAN RC2 fork and I swear the Sultan makes the 6-Pack redundant. If there were DH tires available in 29" size with good tread pattern (hear that Kenda? Nevegal DH in 29!!) then I'd be selling my 6-Pack pronto.

[uncle crud]

I don't ride there the single track sucks.

Hah! I guess you won't be our resident Maverick DUC guinea pig then.

Didn't kidwoo ride one of them for a while on an Intense 26" FS rig?

[mntlion]

WOW. maybe the 29er can make up for the wheel size then?

maybe I'll have to do interbike this fall just to demo stuff.

[flowtron]

WOW. maybe the 29er can make up for the wheel size then?

maybe I'll have to do interbike this fall just to demo stuff.

FYI: Thats in 6 days.

[Spats]

If you include 4" frames the Voodoo Canzo 29 is in the mix. It gets good reviews, has the same style of 4-bar rear end as the Ventana and Turner, and is very, very cheap ($800 or less if you know where to look).

Only problem is a very steep head angle in larger sizes, but if you put an F135 on the front that will slack the angles over a degree. Actually that's the case with all the frames but the Lenz: they're all designed for a Reba and the F135 is an inch higher at the crown race.

[jetski]

Whatever... 29ers are played! Its all about the 650 wheel size now

[uncle crud]

Whatever... 29ers are played! Its all about the 650 wheel size now

BRING BACK the 24" love! Smaller is better!