The following is a simple image of a design I am working on for my 29er.
A line drawing of my 26er in the background.
My goal with this bike is to build a 29er that keeps all the things that I love about my 26er. If you look close at the drawing you can see that this design is very close to my exiting 26er bike. My position for the new bike will be the same but will be achieved in a slightly different way.
On the 26er I have riser bars and a seat post that does not have any setback. On the 29er my bars are flat and the seat post will be a model that provides a small amount of set back. These changes allow me to get a little more tire clearance in the rear end and support the need for a higher front end to support the larger wheels.
29ers are so 2009. 32″ wheels are where it’s at.
My decision to run an 80mm fork is mostly driven by the true mission of the bike as an endurance event build. My body layout works best with the lower front end and I don’t really feel the need for lots of travel.
By using a steeper seat tube angle on my 29er I can run a set-back post and get exactly the same body position as my 26er. The steeper seat tube angle provides a bit more clearance for the tire when the sliders are all the way forward. I also simply like the way the Thomson set-back post looks.
If I want I can also change the build kit to run a 100mm travel fork. With a 100mm fork all the angles become one degree more slack and as such I can run the bike with a normal post when rolling in 100mm travel mode. For running 100mm travel fork I would also have to swap out the stem and make some other adjustments. In truth I doubt I will ever go to the 100mm fork on this bike but it is good to have the option.