# Best mountain bike wheel size - is 29 or 27.5 right for you?



## raphael3 (Jun 16, 2020)

If I could, my next bike will have 26" tires. I am short and 26" set ups are lighter and stronger than bigger sizes


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## dk13 (Apr 11, 2011)

how is this still a topic of interest???? haven't all those questions been answered 50 million times by everyone on the planet in the last 5 years when this whole 26 x 27.5 x 29 started?


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## bensonc (Jul 9, 2014)

How about plus tire?? Specifically, are 27.5+ really same as 29??


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## Shredman69 (Apr 1, 2007)

I agree. I've been running 26+, (26 x 2.8 DHRII on 40i LB rims) for a few years and I love it! They are actually 27.5 in diameter and 2.75 wide at the tread edge to edge, but still a light strong wheel.


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## Vaughan_Lowe (Jun 17, 2020)

yeh,,, 27.5 is good for play time at the park,, but the 29er certainly climbs better. Hence,,, you need both.. my choice is 27.5 hard tail for straight out fun, and a 29er full sus for the longer trail riding... good times and your bikes last twice as long... ?


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## Andrew23 (Jun 17, 2020)

26 inch.
I'm more interested in a lighter bike and a more agile fun bike than powering over bumps in difficult terrain.


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## West1 (Jun 17, 2020)

I live in TX and the local trails are mostly rock where fatter tires tend to fare better in terms of a less jarring ride and better traction; would be interesting to hear your opinion about the fatter tires like 27.5+ and 29+ and of course the 26" fat tire when it comes to rock-laden trails.


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## ADHDmania (Mar 13, 2018)

i think 27.5 look better, it's very "balanced look".
29er seems too big


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## no handlebars (Mar 29, 2009)

I've got a pristine, super fun 26" mojo for sale if you're interested, Raphael,


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## NC (Aug 28, 2016)

At 6 ft, I prefer 29ers over 26ers for sure. One ride (over ten years ago) and I never ride 26ers again. I am faster but I feel far more stable on fast downhills as well. They are just more fun for me. That was maybe 2008. I never really liked 27.5 but I JUST picked up a 27.5+ to add to my collection of 29ers and it is a blast. I don't feel as confident in slower tech stuff but it has gobs of traction on loose trails so it is fun! It is maybe 90% as good in slow chance so the 29er still rules and it is 90% as fast but it is more nimble n tight trails too. 26 is effectively dead...no denying that. 27.5+ is dying too but I have a nice stock of tires and it is a great complement to my love for 29ers. I'll try a nice 27.5 with maybe 2.4 or 2.5 tires this year. Maybe I will not dislike them like I did 26ers after I rode my first 29er. My first 29er was a Moots YBB. Well, I also had a Titus Racer-X 29 at practically the same time. They rekindled my love for mountain biking.


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## Tim15 (Jul 12, 2015)

This article is just rehashing fallacies that the bike industry keeps pushing. 29er wheels are purely slower everywhere. Their moment of inertia is concentrated at a bigger radius than the 27.7 or 26er wheel. That means they require more energy to get up to the same speed.Bicycles don't travel fast enough for the momentum to be a big deal. The contact patch area fallacy is another one. The differences are negligible and often overshadowed by tyre construction and pressure. Really? Please stop selling BS.


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## Wilson_Barayoga (Jun 17, 2020)

My MTB is 27.5 and its realy good fit to my height.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

>> My MTB is 27.5 and its realy good fit to my height.

What is your height? That is indeed a key consideration for wheel size.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

Will have to absolutely disagree with you there. 29ers are now used for XC racing almost exclusively from Amateur to Pro. The reason is they are faster and the purpose of racing is fundamentally to go faster and win. When there is a lot of start and stop, the advantage decreases.

As far as the contact patch, the difference is not negligible as it is clearly a percentage difference. Keep tire design and compound the same to stop confusing the subject.

And no need to pull the 'bike industry' bogeyman. It's just riders buying and riding bikes and forming their own opinion. And there's science too.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

Definitely still of interest as the public shifts from 70% 27.5 to currently about 70% 29er. And there is a massive new influx of new mountain bikers brought about but the Shelter In Place. They don't know wheelsize, boost, droppers and are hungry to understand them as they buy out all the bikes.


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## shawndh (Nov 18, 2013)

I'm 6'1" and I prefer 27.5" wheels most of the time. To each their own.


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## KW2 (Jun 19, 2020)

I love my 28.25er. 27.5 FS bike with 2.35 tires on 30mm ID rims. Great handling and great rollover.


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## Iridegravelwithmymountainbike (Jun 19, 2020)

What's really missing from this article is to advise the bike buyer to test ride both on the trails they ride. This is what closed the deal for me. When helping my friend select a mountain bike I had her ride both sizes. She immediately said she didn't like the 29er after taking it about 15 feet, so I got her the 27.5 and she was happy.


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## Iridegravelwithmymountainbike (Jun 19, 2020)

This webpage has some good information on wheel size selection
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/int/technology/detail/94


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## justwan naride (Oct 13, 2008)

I own an older XC 26" and a modern trail 27.5", both hardtails. Apart from the wheelsize their geometry is very different, with the older bike being steep and compact and the newer one being low and slack with a longer travel fork. Without a doubt the 27.5 is faster around a XC course, more stable at speed, keeps momentum over rough terrain better. The same holds for 29" vs 27.5". On the other hand, my old 26er, built a bit like a 4X bike is a lot of fun on smooth, flow, pumpy trails. Still not faster, but the quick response and terrain feedback make it very involving and satisfying. On rough natural trails these traits make it harder to ride compared to something with bigger wheels. As for the ultimate in alround speed and capability I'd go with a mullet setup. I've used my trail ht as a mullet and confidence went up without any loss in agility. There were important geometry compromises as the bike wasn't designed for this though, but it was a good experiment. At 5'4", I'd totally buy a mullet that was designed as such and not a modified 29" or 27.5".


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

>> What's really missing from this article is to advise the bike buyer to test ride...

For sure this is the ultimate. A couple caveats though:
- very, very hard to do this on a real trail these days, especially the same trail. The Outerbike model was ideal since one could test many bikes in one day.
- the rider will feel more comfortable on the bike with wheels closer to what they currently ride. So for most riders coming from a 26, a 27.5 will feel great right away while a 29 bike will ake 3-4 real rides to get used to.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

>> I love my 28.25er. 27.5 FS bike with 2.35 tires on 30mm ID rims. Great handling and great rollover.
Yup! These 2.6 tires on wide rims are offering new and exciting options now!!! Much flexibility.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

After all the science, fit, and riding style and purpose are taken into account, personal choice has the veto power.


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## ????‍♂️ (Jun 21, 2020)

I almost stopped reading this article not so much because topic has been so heavily compared and reviewed for 5 plus years, but because once again they don't fully understand the rolling dynamics that make up the impact. Don't get me wrong they got a lot of things rite here, but the part about 29s having more tire and wheel weight than 27 and hurts acceleration is flat out wrong! They are essentially dynamically the SAME. Why?? Because the added weight is proportional to the reduced angular velocity needed to be at the same speed because the total wheel height is different and is what is causing the change on weight. For example 27.5 * 3.14=86.35 vs 29 * 3.14= 91.06 inches for one revolution. That means the 29 turns exactly that much less for the same speed, it's a wash. 5% reduction in turns for a 5% increase in weight. ? The dynamic wheel weight on the outer perimeter matters the most. The net weight of the wheel after the wash out is insignificant.


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## Johnny4 (Jun 23, 2020)

I mostly rode a 26" DJ bike since 2001, and sometimes rode a 26" rocky mountain switch over the past decade. Sold the switch and got a 27.5 meta am and I feel extremely confident in the trails but can't bunny hop, manual, or do really any fancy dancy stuff on it. More like full throttle and go (it's fun but hard to be precise).

Getting a 29" would be just silly unless you are a complete xc nut or a dh racer. I'm 5'9" so I'm sort of in that middle ground, always liked smallish/med bikes, feel comfy on a 24" BMX in my mid thirties.


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## slohr (May 22, 2008)

Just bought a 27.5" 150-140 bike as my first full suspension because it felt light (even though it is 30#) on the trail. Been riding exclusively 29" for 12 years. Only 2 rides on the 27.5 with 2.5" and 2.4" tires, but I find the pick up and maneuverability exceeds the benefits of the sustained rolling speed of the 29er (could be new bike syndrome). But it's really splitting hairs. So far the 27.5 FS climbed a rocky trail faster than my 29er with 2.4s, but both bikes were much slower than my heavier rigid ROS 9+, 29x3".


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## Jim_D (Jun 23, 2020)

24" tires all the way


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## Karl7 (Jun 25, 2020)

I'd phrase things nicer but you make an important point. All things being equal re: the rim model, tires, hubs etc., the 29er wheel will be heavier. Slower acceleration, it'll run slower (i.e. lower top end). So you need to shell out for the lighter parts, quite considerably so. You may not be able to make up the difference if you run sturdier tires. You also want wider hub flanges to the get the same level of lateral stiffness. Cannondale I believe counters that somewhat with their proprietary offset at the rear wheel.
Sum of it, 29er with the lighter parts plays out well in XC, but trail bikes and on I think I prefer 27.5, for stiffness and the sturdier tires having less of a weight penalty


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## Sean9 (Jun 27, 2020)

I still find this all silly too. I still ride a 26er. I tried a friend's new 27.5 bike and it felt like the wheel base was overly long, like when Gary Fisher started this trend of long frames and short stems...his company was absorbed. Most of the time I read that 29ers are better i imagine its coming from someone 6' or taller who likes trails you could complete on a cross bike. In case anyone want to keep going down this silly one size fits all and bigger is better trend, they do make 36ers. I find it BS that we don't have different wheel sizes for different sized people...you know, like when you buy your kid a bike. 26ers and their parts disappeared because bike suspension hasn't improved that much and bike weight, with exception to carbon rims havent changed much so the industry forced people to "upgrade" to bikes with slightly different dimensions (don't get me started on hub widths). The only exciting thing I see on the horizon that will make me "upgrade " is the new pinion gear drive train or something equivalent that is truly new... this wheel size debate for all is rubbish and shouldn't be the main thing driving your purchase decision.


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## Jeff45 (Jun 27, 2020)

An coordinated effort by the bicycle industry to make everyone who was perfectly happy with 26" wheels to buy new wheelsets, frames, forks, tires, etc.


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## hx2353 (Dec 4, 2005)

Hmm. That rider in the red jacket looks like he's bombing down Zane Grey trail, and the Heckler e-bike looks like it's sitting on that tree stump at the intersection of Pipe Dream and the top of the northern HW9 drops like Felix / Sweetness. I kind of miss Santa Cruz. Except all the crack heads.


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## litespeedchick (Jan 13, 2004)

" many manufacturers as their extra small sizes are only available in the 27.5 sizes." Really? can you tell me who those are? I can't find a lightweight, short travel bike in a 27.5. I"m 5'2" and don't want to move straight from 26 to 29. Thanks!


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## Jason23 (Jul 9, 2020)

why are races mostly won with 29s?


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## dirttime (Aug 7, 2004)

Ridden them all. Don't really care. But I do get irritated by the constant physics-denying claim of larger contact patch. NO. Say each tire, front and rear, needs to support 90 lbs. Inflate it to 30 pounds per square inch. The patch will be 3 square inches. Period. Didn't see anything about diameter in there did you? Now, the shape of the patch has been found to be a little longer (larger radius curve) , but also a little narrower. A stiff sidewall can also contribute to holding the bike up, but I doubt many people have seen a flat bike tire holding the rim up off the ground, so only a small contribution there.


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## duaneo (Apr 6, 2006)

"We declared 27.5" to be dead from frame size medium upwards after our most recent enduro bike group test and we're seeing this development even more clearly on trail bikes."
https://enduro-mtb.com/en/the-best-trail-bike-mtb-review/

It's interesting how people have to be pushed froward by the trailing edge of technology. Going from a 26 to a 29 will take a few rides to get used to, you'll need to change how you ride a bit but it won't take long before you are riding faster. I suggest you choose a lower gear and spin up a bit, you'll find that it rolls so much faster over stuff that you don't loose as much speed and won't have to accelerate as much.

@ Dianna Brown, check out:
http://www.julianabicycles.com/en-US/bikes/furtado
http://www.julianabicycles.com/en-US/bikes/joplin


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## sopwithcamel (Oct 2, 2007)

29ers win most of the races because that is what fell off the truck for the rider who doesn't pay for his equipment. The switch to 29ers and 650b was mostly driven by profits as bicycle companies sought to get around American import tariffs based on wheel size in the United States.


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## 6D ATB-1T EVO (Jul 13, 2010)

I am only 180cm short so I still ride 26".


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## Turdo (Aug 17, 2020)

What is the best wheel size and why is it 26"?


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## Matthew671 (Apr 27, 2015)

The only bike I don't have is a 29, I road 20inch bmx bikes on trails in the eighties, yea I'm old. Still love the feel. Yea the smaller5he wheel the harder it gets. My 27.5 hardly gets ridden. My devinci is 26 love it handles great , I'm not racing so I don't care if I'm slower up hill. Think this should be more about ride what you have. I managed a black diamond trail my brother picked for my first ride on a Walmart bike. I survived it survived. As for 26 tires ... they will be out there. Why can't we just build trails and ride. Bottom line if all I have is a bmx bike , a hard tail, a 20, 24, 26, 27.5, or 29, or even 30 let's go ride.


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## Hank_W. (Sep 29, 2020)

I'm about 6'1" and after getting my first 29er I returned it almost instantly. It might just be my riding style but I'm not nearly as stable on those 29ers. My 27.5 full sus is a mich better option for me. So just remember, ride before you decide.


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## Gaurav1 (Oct 5, 2020)

I am a beginner for I havent bought a bicycle after my first one when I was a teenagers, have been wanting to buy one since long though.
I am 6 feet tall male , I want a road bicycle, 
What are the points of advice for me fellas...

Looking for for your responses at 
[email protected]


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## Colly1 (Nov 13, 2020)

I am looking at this in 2020, because I have had a lovely 26 inch bike for 12 years or so. If I could I would upgrade the parts, but they aren't available any more. So I guess I'll need to get a whole new bike. I hope that 27 inches don't disappear in a few years.


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## Colly2 (Nov 13, 2020)

@Jeff this seems to be the case. I used to ride a BMX, then got a small 26 inch 4X style bike which felt big. Now it needs some upgrades, but I can't get the parts. I don't particularly want bigger wheels as smaller bikes are way easier to bunny hop and throw around.


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## tbevinator (Jan 9, 2021)

I've ridden the 3 most common MTB wheel size platforms and here's my take:

29er: Better for technical singletrack, enduro, and arguably XC riding. Did I mention bikepacking? 
27.5: Better for flowy singletrack and getting hangtime in the bike park. Better when ridden at 2.5" width and wider. 
26: Seriously? Ditch that old thing and reap the slew of benefits of a modern bike with modern geometry

Still not sure? I say choose the bike that best suits the kind of riding you do as a whole, that will determine your wheel size. Definitely test ride on your favorite trail if you still can't make up your mind.

For the kind of riding I do here on the Front Range of CO, my Yeti SB5.5 29er is my weapon of choice when going into battle with our predominantly steep, technical terrain. I had sworn off mountain biking for about 10 years due to the fact that I was riding an old 26er that got literally tossed by the chunks and chunder of our trails. My YT Jeffsy 27.5 was a huge improvement but still felt (and was) unstable at times - leading to a couple minor yet painful and confidence-diminishing crashes. Since I switched to the 29er about a year ago, I have yet to have a full-fledged crash riding it hard on all the same, if not more challenging terrain. Its stability and prowess over technical terrain is unparalleled and has taken my riding to new levels.

To anyone who says 29ers are slow: hah! Take a note of the riders winning the Enduro World Series - many if not most of them ride 29ers these days. Ritchie Rude actually switched from 27.5 to 29 to win the EWS Finale in 2018, as did Sam Hill before winning in 2019.

Final thoughts: I really don't think height should be a factor in choosing wheel size unless you're on the very extreme end (tall or short) of the spectrum. I'm 5' 9" so pretty average height for a North American male. I've gone from 26->27.5->29 and quickly adapted to the increase in wheel size. Of course 29 x 2.5" is going to look huge if you're coming from a 26 x 2.25 (gross!), but you'll quickly discover the benefits of a larger diameter wheel. For me, 29ers take the cake.


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## 86 Keg (Oct 4, 2020)

in windsurfing - pro slalom racing can only be won using pro-quality slalom boards as regards design/build. 

unfortunately, this dream of being as fast as possible is shared by all and many non-racers pay quite too much money for pro race slalom boards that they can't really use to good effect most of their riding time. an unwillingness to power up with appropriate larger sail size for any given wind strength, a lack of skills in actually tuning, trimming, and using the sails/boards works to hinder their achievement and progression of skills, yet at some instant, i expect they probably feel 'faster' even if they cant help but wreck at the end of each straight line. and eventually the most of them will migrate out of the sport due in some part to their lack of achievement and skills progression 

as a biker, i appreciate that pro racers have a different skill set and use different gear than i do and that people with access to bike parks use different gear, etc... my concern is gear that helps me achieve my modest goals and skills progression. in that respect, i think the OP is not unreasonable


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## Curveball (Aug 10, 2015)

I fully realize that a 29er bikes would likely be better for me, but I'm still having too much fun on my old 27.5 bike and don't want to spend the money on a new one.


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## yoeddynz (Mar 8, 2011)

It's been scientifically proven that a 26" wheeled bike is still the fastest. Especially if coupled to a decent steel frame with rigid forks. 

And just one gear. 

Its also way cooler. 

Fact.


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