Educate me on the wonders of 29ers!

I've no idea about the reputation of kona bikes nowadays, on paper the king kahuna looks an impressive bike, and does the kahuna deluxe look a good budget bike.

I've owned 26" kona and specialized mountain bikes in recent years. Being the kona kikapu and the specialized rockhopper. The specialized certainly came out on top for me. I loved that rockhopper, I would still be riding that now if the bike fit me like my 29er, was a great bike and an absolute beaut to look at too..

I'll be interested which way you go on this, i guess you should look at treks and specialized 29ers. A good starting point.
I think Specialized may be a little more pricy but i don't know for sure.

Me and joe both rate our cobia's highly. I totally recommend the cobia.

b_hazard@hotmail.com":1uxvic5i said:

I've no idea about the reputation of kona bikes nowadays, on paper the king kahuna looks an impressive bike, and does the kahuna deluxe look a good budget bike.

I've owned 26" kona and specialized mountain bikes in recent years. Being the kona kikapu and the specialized rockhopper. The specialized certainly came out on top for me. I loved that rockhopper, I would still be riding that now if the bike fit me like my 29er, was a great bike and an absolute beaut to look at too..

I'll be interested which way you go on this, i guess you should look at treks and specialized 29ers. A good starting point.
I think Specialized may be a little more pricy but i don't know for sure.

Me and joe both rate our cobia's highly. I totally recommend the cobia.

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Had a go on a Specialized stumpjumper carbon 29er today really liked it but it was £2300...the Kona has very similar geometry and is £1300...

...the Kona is looking like the winner at the moment!

Kona looks nice. I would look at on one complete builds too.

Kona has one issue for.mw and that is their rrp. I doubt amyone has ever paid it since 2005. I.e. That 50% off only brings it down to what other brands sell at. For full rrp the spec is pretty low end.

That said its a lot of bike for the price its now at. My local bike shop had the makuna (?) or whatever the lowest kona in the range is and it looked smart but I never took it for a spin.

I am definately keen to try a 29er but still not seen one out in the real world and trails!

Those who know me know my love of Marin....maybe that could be where I'm going if I can raise enough cash!!!! SELL SELL SELL!

Giant have announced they're going to go the 650B route for their entire MTB range and will be phasing out 29ers over the next year or so. Seeing as they're the world's biggest cycle manufacturer it doubtless won't be long before their rivals fall into line. So if you want one do so now while parts and spares at plentiful.

No, Giant said they might phase out 29ers, depending on what the market does. Considering how XC is now 90% 29ers, I don't see that changing any time soon.

Plus, all us tall folks have cottoned on. They can pry my 29er from my cold, dead hands!

Joe of Loath":1e5qhguu said:

Plus, all us tall folks have cottoned on. They can pry my 29er from my cold, dead hands!

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This is one of my main reasons!

Yes, giant have announced they WILL be phasing out 29ers over the next season or so...

http://m.bikemag.com/gear/news-giant-go ... with-27-5/

Giants global marketing manager, Andrew Juskaitis, says of 29ers...

"We are not going to turn off the tap entirely this year but we do have plans to phase it out over time". That's pretty unequivocal.

I'm quite tall at 6'3" (and 3/4 - very important that!) And was happy to let my Carve go. It did have advantages, but they were more than offset by the extra weight, extra flex in the wheels, slower acceleration, ponderous slow speed handling, but mostly the extra surface area of the tyres made a tremendous difference the the weight of mud and clag they would collect in wet conditions. As someone who rides 365 days a year, that was a very bad negative. I'm after a nice flighty 29 for dry weather(hoping to blag a Genesis on loan to try that's caught my eye) but the 26" Trance is in a different league in typical "British" conditions.

Oh right, I read the news on Pinkbike and that quote wasn't on there.

I doubt it'll happen, there are too many people now who like big wheels.