Recently someone posted in a thread that a 26x3 was pretty similar to a
29-er, as it's diameter was almost the3 same; someone else disagreed,
saying that they handle completely different.
In the past I rode a fair bit with a 29-er (2"-ish tyre, not a 'Big
Apple'😉 uhtil I started getting a lot of punctures; never fully solved
the problem and ended up trashing the tyre and inner tube.
That left me without a 29-er, and I continued unicycling using my trusty
24x3 muni.
A bit later I acquired a pair of cut-price 26x3 Gazz's, and decided to
build a 26" rim up to take them.
The resulting 26x3 muni became my main (in fact, only) ride for the past
few months, and I sometimes tried to compare it to the old 29-er, but,
with it being so long since I'd used it, direct comparison was
difficult.
However, I've now got a new 29-er tyre and tube, and went out on it
today, so I thought I'd post some comments.
The 29-er is a Nimbus, with a 'Big Apple' slick (2.35"😉 tyre; from other
peoples posts I had high expectations of this tyre.
The 26x3 is a Nimbus with a 26"x3 Gazz knobbly tyre.
Unlike most 29-er riders who seem to prefer 125mm cranks, I use 150mm-
the same as on the 26x3, so the comparison is a direct one based on
tyre/wheel size only.
The 26x3 is heavy- it's a pain to carry it around, and I expect that it
uses more energy to go up hills etc.
The 29-er is a bit lighter to pick up.
For the first few minutes I found the new 29-er to be tricky- I suspect
that I was overcompensating being used to the mass of the 26x3- turning
was tricky, and the little micro-turns that are a part of uni riding,
made me feel as though I was falling off.
The feeling reminded me of times when, due to slow punctures, the tyre
lost air and imperceptably became unrideable due to low pressure.
So I pumped up the tyre and it felt a bit better.
(I'll mention here that I don't know what tyre pressure I had as the
tube was a 'Presta' valve, which doesn't work with my track
pump/pressure guage).
I rode for about an hour; here's my observations: -
(bear in mind that I've ridden the 26x3 a lot, and this was the first
time I'd ridden a 29-er for some time)
1. The 26x3 feels very, very solid; the lighter 29-er felt less so. I
don't expect to UPD at all on normal terrain on the 26x3, I was more
wary with the 29-er. This could well change with more riding.
2. In terms of speed, there didn't seem to be much difference, which
seems reasonable given the similar diameters of the wheel/tyres; I
suspect that, with more riding and therefore confidence with the 29-er,
I should get more speed due to the lighter wheel/tyre.
3. On a very short, but extremely steep concrete decline, that I'm
totally confident (with concentration) on the 26x3, which today was wet
due to rain; I expected no problems with the 29-er slick, and was
surprised when the wheel slipped out from under me.
In fairness to the 29-er though, I did approach it much slower than I
would on the 26x3, and afterwards, I realised that I'd probably never
ridden it on the 26x3 when it was wet.
4. The 26x3 goes pretty much anywhere; primarily I ride on
roads/concrete, but wet grassy slopes/off-road are no problem with the
knobbled Gazz. With the 29-er Big Apple, at this point, I had no
intention of riding on wet grassy slopes, or expectations that it could
handle such terrain without slipping.
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So, conclusions on day 1 are that the 29-er and 26x3 are fairly similar
in terms of effective wheel size/speed etc. It will be interesting to
see how I feel after a couple of weeks of ridng the 29-er.
--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist
"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."
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