Riding the Big Unit
Added By Conrad Davies 10 August 2010

Is riding these 29ers all it’s cracked up to be, or is Andrew McLain just smoking a lot of crack?

After riding Gary Fishers own bike about 5 years ago at a demo day, at Logwood in JHB, I had no interest in 29 inch wheels. Then when Andrew started pushing 29ers as the next best thing, I thought he might just be on something (The Gary Fisher 29er is not the fastest bike in the world, the Intense M6 is. Check it out http://www.neatorama.com/2007/09/30/new-world-speed-record-for-mountain-bike/) but after riding the Kona Big Unit, he may be ON TO something.

I’ve been riding and working on bike set up for about a week now, and on Sunday I had a load of fun on the trails at Giba. Riding a 29er is very different to riding a 26 inch wheeled bike and it is very different to set up. Different, but not all bad. Basically the big wheels and slightly different geometry make for some interesting setup ideas. The first thing that stood out to me was the very long stem, with out it though, the bike just doesn’t turn in enough.

Once I’d ridden the bike for a while though, the gearing and chain stay lengh, became the biggest hindrance to a fun ride.

First the gears. Normal 44/32/22 in and 11-32 cassette is pointless. With the 29 inch wheels, you always end up pushing a bigger gear than you should. Say hello to XX or even new XT or XTR. 42/28 or even 38/26 would be great and then don’t even ask questions, just put on a 12-36 cassette.

Then the chain stays. The major thing I didn’t like about riding the bike was I could pop wheelies – but the gearing will sort that out – and I couldn't manual the bike to well. The cool thing about the Unit though is that because it’s a single speed or geared frame, you can move the drop outs to, change the length of the chain stays to, set chain tension. This also allowed me to make the chain stays super short. Enter the worlds biggest wheel trail bike.

So Giba: Dusty, fast, slippery, fun! Hit the trails as hard as I would on my Morewood Shova – which is in for some TLC – and it felt good. First off the bike develops awesome traction because of the big wheels. It doesn’t turn corners as well, but because of all the traction, you can lay off the brakes and just commit. The Big Unit even jumps really well. Fun! Hard work at times, but loads of fun.

Would I go out and buy a 29er? No, but I’m a bit of a hooligan on a bike and the bigger wheels, don’t suit my riding style. I also like to be much more involved with my ride that the big wheels allow. A lot happens under the wheels that you simply don’t know about. So I’ll stick with my little 26 inch wheels for now. But if you are tall and want something different or really enjoy just heading out on the trail for a ride, then a 29er just might be right for you.