27.5" = 650B.
And it’s all the rage these days. The BSO makers are all over what’s trendy; I’ve seen 20" fat bikes in Aldi for like $150.
Honestly.
My mountain bikes are all “older”, which means I’m on 26’s. I rode 29’s a bit when they came out, but they always felt… floppy… to me. But I’ve never found 26’s to be an impediment in the first place.
The skeptic in me thinks some of the new wheel sizes are just about pushing for bike purchases- they’re not retrofittable, and I’m not entirely sure of their advantages. Road bikes have (effectively) been running 700c wheels for… what? 60 years?
I suspect I’m just not the target audience. I have only hardtails, and two of the three are running rim brakes, so… yeah. I’m not that guy. I am getting a bit older, and my next (eventual) bike will likely be full suspension, and these days that seems to mean a wheel larger than 26".
Heck, I remember when running a 26" in the front and a 24" in the back was the hot jam. Maybe I should slap a new suspension fork on the front of one of my rides, put a 27.5" on there (leave the 26" out back) and start a trend!
edit for homophones.
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With exceptions. None of them bicycle components, of course.
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26 is a hangover from MTBs evolving from beach cruisers, and 29 is stupid big. 27.5 does seem like a more optimal size for MTBs.
Although some degree of cynicism about novelty for its own sake is certainly wise, hold that in reserve for when they trot out yet another wheel size, if that happens.
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Fair point on the 26/beach cruiser/clunker connection- some of the early “good” mtb rims were cut and re-bent 700c road rims. So there’s that.
I didn’t like 29’s (though I’m reasonably tall at 6’1"), but I’ll hold off the “stupid big” label for this:
Yup.
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I’ve ridden trails where the nimbleness of a 26er would’ve been ideal. Still, my commuter Karate Monkey with dirt drops, Big Apples, and Avid BB-7s was cocaine on wheels.
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I ride moderately technical singletrack in the northeast US. That means short steep climbs and lots of rock gardens- “flow” is not a word you see a lot to describe trails around here. And given that my riding style has (therefore) evolved to include some number of trials-influenced moves, the larger wheels have never felt all that capable.
Were I riding higher speed trails, I could imagine the big wheels being pretty fun.
To put into some perspective: all my mountain bikes run some sort of DH tire on them. 2.5" on the wide end, 2.1" on the single speed (though I’d love to run somewhat wider there, but there are clearance concerns on that bike…). Grip, not rolling resistance, is the premium for me.
As far as I’m concerned, dirt bikes are someone else’s business… The road is where it’s at for me. So I don’t have much input on that score…
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in case anyone missed the front page:
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That’s a risky area to be moving fast in the woods where you could easily surprise a grizzly. That being said, attacks are still pretty rare.
Can you link to their website? with a name like ‘La Poste’ it’s difficult to find the correct result!
Sorry. I meant I went to pick up the pump at the actual French post office 
I got it from amazon.fr (though it was about €7-8 cheaper two weeks ago…)
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No wonder the results I got were all for the French Post - ‘La Poste Track Pump’ resulted in lots of parcel tracking options.
I just got back from Chamonix. Fantastic place, although mountain walking with a baby backpack is more challenging than I’d hoped - legs were burning on the descent section from Les Flegere to Argentieré.
Living in flat-as-shit London is clearly making me weak.
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Is there anything great about cartridge-style brake pads vs. the trad style of pads? (Talking caliper/v-brake, not disk brakes.)
And, in general, is it true that you can substitute in cartridge-style pads where you used to have traditional pads?
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Totally possible to replace traditional pads with cartridge pads, provided they’re of the same type post. Old school canti brakes have a post, newer school v brakes and cantis use threaded posts.
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As far as I know the advantages of a cartridge system are the (potential) savings and less waste from reusing a nice holder with new inserts instead of replacing the whole thing; and making it faster and easier to swap around different types of braking compounds for different conditions (dry, wet, carbon-wheel) if you’re a team mechanic or very detail-oriented racer.
In real life, I think they work the same but can look a bit nicer.
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With a single-pivot sidepull like you still find on the back of some Campy bikes (and on a couple of mine that have Shimano 7700 front / 7400 rear), the main advantage is having to only ever adjust the pads once.
But with cantis or Vs, or the pad/s hanging off an off-centre pivot on dual-pivots, you need to adjust the pad as it wears (unless your brake track is crazy high).
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Agree, it is mainly for ease of change, but for those of use who are only changing pads every 4 or more years I don’t know that it provides much. I do feel like the outer casing of metal does help with sun and heat damage on the pads.
There usually isn’t a big price difference for quality pads and cartridge pads, so I’d go cartridge. That being said, I would just use whatever OEM comes with the bike unless you have to change pads anyways.
@kimmo - depends on your Vs, some v-brakes are designed so that they push inward and remain parallel to the braking surface and they don’t cant in, so in theory no adjustment is necessary if they are set up right. Not all Vs are the same.
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Can I just say that I’ve been entertained by Froome’s antics in the Tour?
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That guy. He’s at least keeping it interesting this year.
Bit of a shitshow on wheels this year, don’t you think?
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