Originally Posted by
bikinpolitico
I'm not meaning to dis' 29ers, I'm just saying the bike industry tends to grab a particular segment each year and pump it up for application they were not meant for. Ubiquitous carbon and fixed gear bikes also come to mind on this front.
I would say for fire roads, I think a more traditional touring bike with 32MM or larger tires would be fine. 700c wheels give you a lot more options right now than 29ers, so I guess I'm saying that I don't understand the need. I could be wrong. This appears to be an experiment in the market so we'll see where it goes.
I hope everyone here knows that 29" and 700c have the same 622mm bead-seat diameter. The only real difference is the width of the rim to handle different ranges of tire widths. 29er rims are essentially 700c rims with a similar width of a 26" MTB rim.
Though I've never owned a 29" MTB, the one thing I like about them is that rim diameters are becoming standardized to the 622mm BSD. But, now 650B is starting to get thrown into the mix.