Which Size Bicycle Wheel Is Better: 27.5 vs 29er

Well, there's a lot of choice these days when you want to look at what mountain bike to buy. Full suspension, hardtail. Aluminium, Carbon. How much travel? And of course wheel size.

Wheel Size


Today we've come to the woods on a 29" wheeled carbon bike and 27.5" alloy bike and we're going to see what is the most fun to ride.

So we're on the mid sized wheel orange five now, the first thing we notice is how easy and quick it accelerates. Back on a Specialized Enduro 2 9 now. It's immediately obvious that I've got a lot more bike underneath me, both in wheel size and wheelbase. That added length in that wheelbase really helps when you're cornering.

So, I'm back on the 27 and a half, those people used to riding a 26" wheeled bike, jump on a 27, it doesn't feel a million miles away. Feels quite a familiar riding experience, so you get that same spritely nature from the 27 as you do with a 26, so yea it's a good thing.

Well, been out for a good chuck of the day today on two very different bikes. Two bikes that are aimed to do pretty much the same sort of thing, which is go outside, ride fast, have fun in the woods, at the hills.

The Enduro, the thing that you notice about this is that its a lot of bike, its a 160mm 29er. This bike here 27 and a half pounds it can do pretty much everything you want it to do. It's not maybe as nimble as the orange was, so when it gets really tight, yea it's probably a little bit slower but it certainly makes up for it, in just its sheer speed it can carry through into sections.

Where as the 29er, really flat as you when things get fast and rough, the orange and its twenty seven and a half guise makes you work a little bit more to get the most out of it. Is it fun? yea definitely. Is it more fun than the 29er? I'm not so sure, I think both bikes do the same job just a little bit differently but they're both a lot of fun.