Does any one in the bike industry do a bike count at XTERRA Maui like they do a IM Kona? Just curious how many 29’ers were out on the course this year.
Can anyone confirm that Conrad was on a S-Works Epic 29’er? He is too damn quick for me to see him this year.
I don’t know about at Maui, but Caveman’s been riding a Spec 29er for a couple years now. He’s too tall for a 26" wheeled bike and would look like a circus monkey on one.
Heres an article about caveman’s bike
http://www.bikerumor.com/2009/04/19/specialized-29er-epic-xterra-champ-conrad-stoltzs-bike/
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That’s what he says here: http://www.conradstoltz.com/pre-race-jabber-with-conrad-stoltz-at-xterra-world-champs-2010/
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Last year, cidewar (Ian from Specialized) and I did the bike count…manufacturers only. This year we had talked about doing something a bit more in-depth but Ian couldn’t make the trip. And since I’m not really a bike industry guy, I didn’t bother. I can tell you there were definitely more 29ers this year but they’re still a small % of the overall number, maybe 20% max. The Euros still favor lightweight 26ers while most of the North Americans are on FS bikes.
I don’t know about at Maui, but Caveman’s been riding a Spec 29er for a couple years now. He’s too tall for a 26" wheeled bike and would look like a circus monkey on one.
This was Conrad’s second (IIRC) race (Tahoe being the first) on the 2011 Epic S-Works 29’er. He’s trained on an aluminum Epic 29er for a few years, but always raced on the MUCH lighter (vs. his alum. bike) S-Works Epic 26’er until this year.
I was at Specialized HQ with Conrad in May when he first saw the Epic S-Works 29er. I think it was love at first sight.
Wow, thanks for clearing that up. Wait, did I say he RACED the 29er? Nope. I didn’t.
BTW, here’s a video of him RIDING – not racing-- a 29er in 2007. Like I said…for a couple years now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joBHRQ897cU
Back to your regularly scheduled banter.
Who wouldn’t be riding a 29’er, it’s modern technology. All those riding 26’ers are leaving some speed out there. I’ve been riding one for five years and cannot believe people still question why?
I don’t know about at Maui, but Caveman’s been riding a Spec 29er for a couple years now. He’s too tall for a 26" wheeled bike and would look like a circus monkey on one.
This was Conrad’s second (IIRC) race (Tahoe being the first) on the 2011 Epic S-Works 29’er. He’s trained on an aluminum Epic 29er for a few years, but always raced on the MUCH lighter (vs. his alum. bike) S-Works Epic 26’er until this year.
I was at Specialized HQ with Conrad in May when he first saw the Epic S-Works 29er. I think it was love at first sight.
Conrad was actually close to racing last year in the 2010 29er at worlds, but since it is a climbing course he chose the lighter bike as last year’s 29er was close to 4lbs heavier than the s-works 26er. He used the 2010 epic in Richmond and in Alabama and from that point on started racing more on the 29er, then the 2011’s came out, lighter than the 2010’s and he’ll probably never go back to a 26er.
Conrad raced (at a high level in all three) at the xterra nationals, a super-d(5 minute downhill) in bend oregon, and cyclocross race all with the s-works 29er epic.
An S-works 26er is about 20 lbs, the 29er about 22
Also, for the record, Shonny Vanlandingham rides a 29er Orbea hardtail.
Okay…
I was just clarifying for the benefit of other people. The OP asked if Stoltz raced an S-Works 29er. You replied - correctly - that he’s been riding a 29er for a couple years now, but that’s not an answer to the question that was asked. He’s also been riding a 26er pretty regularly as well, since that what he was racing. So your reply, while not incorrect, also didn’t answer the OP’s question and also left some room, in my opinion, for people to misinterpret. I never said you were wrong. I was simply clarifying some details and actually answering the OP’s question. I’m sorry if that somehow rubbed you the wrong way.
I was at Xterra worlds and attended a couple of the pre-race clinics that the pros gave.
Conrad raced a Specialized Epic 29’er. He said it weighed 21 lbs, and that he loved it. All of the other pros at the bike clinic except one were also racing 29’ers. They said they liked the larger contact patch and better ability to roll over obstacles.
Xterra Maui is not a very technical course. The first 2 thirds are mostly climbing. It is all double-track or jeep roads. The roads did tend to be very loose with lots of dust and sections of deep sand/gravel that made traction rather sketchy. The occasional lava rock could also knock you of line and combined with the lack of traction cause a crash.
I’m pretty sure Conrad and Shonny would have had the fastest bike splits had they chose to ride 26ers. However, after talking to Conrad and the team mechanic for Luna (who also raced), the 29ers have a distinct advantage on the Maui course. It’s wide open and rocky, which is where 29ers excel. The 29ers are getting much lighter with much better wheel options. Conrad was running the new Roval Carbon rims that were probably lighter than 95% of the 26er wheels in transition. I know Shonny was also running some very light wheels. I would guess Conrad’s FS 29er was probably 2lbs lighter than Eneko Llanos’ FS 26er and Josiah Middaugh’s hardtail 29er. For a guy who can put out massive watts, that’s a huge advantage.
I think I saw you Shawn as I ran out of T2 up to the road, you were shouting out “go Emma” I thuinl to a female AVIA-sponsored Pro.
What happened to McQuaid - she rode a 1:50, whilst Shonny rode a 1:40 and Dibens rode a 1:45. Did Melanie have a mechanical?
I saw Sam McGlone at about mile 2 on the bike with a broken chain and seemed not to have a power link…game over.
Yes, that was me. Emma Garrard races for MelRad, an AVIA sponsored team. She was having a pretty good day and ended up finishing in the top 10.
No mechanicals for Mel, just an ‘off’ day. She’ll be back.
Yeah, Sam broke her chain, rode back to find a mechanic, got it fixed, and went and finished the bike course.
It may be faster on some of the xterra “trails”, but a lot of people don’t believe it’s faster on tight technical terrain. I’ve tried both in my area, and the 26 inch 4 inch travel bike seems to be the fastest for me, and the guys I ride with.
I don’t think there were many 29ers at the Mont Saint Anne World Championship course here in Quebec recently. The 29er thing seems more of a US thing. I think they are faster on ATV and fire road type of stuff for sure though!
Some of the American pros have been to be switching back to 26ers this season, so I’m not sure where this is going to go for Pro mtn biking in the future - I guess we’ll see.
Virtually all the top US MTB’ers ride 29’ers and US’s only medal was on a 29’er… and yes the US mens MTB’ers are crap, but when I timed laps on both kinds, on different courses, there was no comparison, even with the heavier bikes that dominated five years ago. Oh yeah, I’m not American, so it can’t be only a US thing.
That may be true about the US riders, BUT the best World Cup riders are still on 26ers.
Every major bike company now has a full line up of 29er bikes, but the best still choose the 26er, so I’m not sure it’s a closed cased like many people who ride them believe.
Like I said though, 29ers are faster on certain terrain, and that terrain most likely includes xterra courses. I was just debating your position about the supremacy of 29ers in general.
Holy Moly are we bringing back the 29’r vs 26r debate?
Different courses work better with different bikes. End of story.
Let’s discuss the real issue here are the Xterra racers going to get aero and shave .000000000000001 seconds off their bike splits.
This is ST, we love to debate the same things over and over again!
Seriously, I don’t really want to go there either. I DO want to demo the s-works epic 29er though. This machine looks like it could a viable all rounder for racing.
This was my 4th consecutive Xterra Maui, and in all 4 I’ve ridden an Ellsworth Evolve FS 29er. In '07 I felt like I was the only one out there riding the big wheels, now it’s much more common. For me it feels safer and definitely descends the rock gardens at Maui very nicely. I think a 26er would tend to get squirrely on the loose lava there.
Both Shonny and Conrad bragged about their 29ers at the awards. Shonny hoisted her Orbea Alma up over her head in celebration. That alone will probably bring the 29ers up from approx. 20% of the field to more like 1/3. Not the bike for everybody on all courses, but at Maui I think it’s the ride for sure.