Enduro 26”, 27,5” and 29” strenghts by Allriders Pro (Videos)

Pau RexS and Xavi Cabau bring some new ingredients (and videos) to the wheel debate focusing in enduro / allmountain performing according to their exhaustive experiences to date with the 3 wheel size diameter. If you want to go faster and bigger take a chance to what they bring…

Catalan riders, Allriders Pro, Pau Reixachs (Rex-S) and Xavi Cabau have a long experienced trajectory together in Europe winning some enduro and mass start DH competitions and performing on the same bikes, victories and podiums in local XC and DHs as part of their season preparation. As fast, and fit riders, they also love to shred some freeride on crazy allmountain rides and trails. So they really always have been looking for the pinnacle bikes “one for all”. Now with the new wheel size wide range, the choices and possibilities are opened up again and a wide range of riding too.
So here are some answers according to the advantages of each one and the kind of riding you should ask yourself you can perform better around you…

26” WHEEL >> Allmoutain + Freeride…



26” Easy Rolling and Tyres: G O O D
If you want to go for a long ride and still ride at your limits when is time to face down, DH casing and rubber is going to annoying you pretty much when pedalling ´cause having so much traction and weight on the rim is not the best feeling even when you are a pretty strong fit rider.
Front tyre balloon has to be squared for good lateral grip, and softer rubber on the edges. We like for dry conditions a single ply 2.35 with really good rolling resistance in the center, tall knobs at the edge and good spaced channel between (We ended using Kenda BBG Dual Compound). We prefer to rely more braking power at the rear with a good rolling resistance too and rounded balloon for easy tight turns. (We ended using Kenda Karma 2.2 Dual Compound). For competitions we ride dh casings to tubeless for avoiding punctures, but for our taste it´s too heavy combination for going out to the mountain every day…

26” Grip & Ridding style: G O O D
In enduro competition you have to be more conservative in your style. In order to obtain a better rolling resistance at the back for gain those special seconds on the pedalling sections, in enduro normally top riders opt for a more rounded tyre with lower knobs. This forces you to brake most of times with anticipation before flat turns, formula 1 style, `cause trying to drift it may result too risky for a competition, loosing often too much your rear wheel and speed...

26” Rock Gardens: G O O D
You will relay more on your suspensions and body absorption, in order to pump properly the irregularities… they will look smaller and easier on other wheel sizes.
26” Acceleration: G O O D
It might have the best when you have to sprint from low speed, but can also realize they don´t accelerate you as much over rough stuff compared to bigger size…

26” Jumping & Wallriding: E X C E L E N T
Allows you to go higher on the air in any bump/lip
In wallriding easier to get into the transitions.

>> 26” S U M A R Y :
If you are a rider who likes to be tricky everywhere and you don´t care about being the fastest everywhere and shaving a little bit of grip for gain in better rolling resistance, go for this size.

27,5” WHEEL >> Enduro/DH racing…



27,5” Easy Rolling and Tyres:: V E R Y G O O D
What you first will realize is that you can ride simple casing tyres feeling almost like DH ply casing for 26”. So you will save this extra weight in this crucial place for arriving to the top.
Tyre balloon choice for us works similar to 26”. Square at front and rounded at rear. (We ended using Kenda Nevegal 2.35 DTC single ply front and Kenda Nevegal DTC 2.10 at the back )

27,5” Grip & ridding style: V E R Y G O O D
The main issue is you can start to make more controlled drifting in flat turns with this kind of tyres, so giving you more fun in this aspect.

27,5” Roc k Gardens: V E R Y G O O D
It steps up a little bit the 26” size, but you have to be carefully for not puncture if you are not ridding dh casing.

27,5” Acceleration: V E R Y G O O D
In this case, with the Lynx 27,5 from BH we feel a huge acceleration in rock gardens compared to our latest 26” bikes, so it looks genuine Split Pivot System might have a real issue here but we are sure wheel size might have some responsibility here too.

27,5” Jumping & Wallriding: V E R Y G O O D
You will start to notice in the jumps and doubles you previously built that you aren´t getting that much air, and that probably you will miss the landing if you´re going just a little bit too fast. You still can draw those lips…
In wallriding a little bit more difficult to go over the transition. So start to forget about some small tricky ones…

27,5” S U M A R Y:
27,5 is way more similar to 26” than 29”… Main difference would be the drifting style and improved grip with thinner tires. If you´re looking to the time in your trails and you want to place good on enduro competition, this may be your option.

29” WHEEL >> New dimension…



29” Easy Rolling and Tyres: E X C E L E N T
What we first realized with this Lynx 29er from BH, is like to be riding a road bike when pedalling on wide tracks. The bike really excels in rolling resistance, even wearing allmountain tyres, you can arrive faster to the top and ride further, so that means at the end more freedom and fun time in dh/trail time. Nothing new maybe now of what you heard about 29ers, but
The most important issue, ( that we even think some pro riders are missing ) is the fact for 29” you don´t need a square balloon tyre really… so if you do you will have to relay too much on the edge of the rubber, having to over rotate the bike too much and loosing grip and bike agility. The key on 29ers we think is to use rounded or semi rounded balloon tyre at the front. We feel the game completely changes here, and some tyres we didn´t liked on 27,5”, cause the were too rounded, we loved on 29”. At the back where you feel the most the rolling resistance some XC/Allmountain tyre models we realized they perform for one hand like a square ballon 26” dh casing and for the other hand rolling like a XC champion. ( We ended using Kenda Honey Badger 2.2 SCT at front, and Kenda Small Block Eight 2.2 SCT at the back )

29” Grip & ridding style: E X C E L E N T
With the right set of tyres, as might the combination shown above, you have more surface of the tyre touching the ground when you turn, and at the same time you don´t blend as much the rubber as a square tyre, so the rubber can be harder. This issue definitely changes your riding style… Controlled drifting gets usual, prior to facing down the bike relaying too much in to the edge knobs and avoiding this critical situation in many turns.
We take place in a Cross Country and Enduro races with the same set of tires, getting more, and more adaptation to the bike reaction.
Improved grip on Uphills and less need of suspension travel, will allow you to have more fun when pedalling on technical uphills you would attempt before, and at the same time giving you more options and “fun time” linking your best trails, uphills and downhill sections.
If you live in a rocky dry area, your trails and turns are full of lose stones… you don´t really need to spend so many days with the shovel moping them out the trail for better grip… it really grips much more with this wheel diameter.

29” RockGardens & Acceleration: E X C E L E N T
We felt flying over rock gardens, every obstacle, stone looks much smaller. Make sure your rims and wheels are stiff enough and ready to hit them hard, so as you might know is one of the most exposed places of 29ers. It looks like riding a more surface contact tyre distributes better the pressures so at the end it´s seems more difficult to puncture or cut off you´re tyre.
In this case we felt the biggest acceleration over the 3 sizes, and not just in rock gardens, just making the whole mountain and rough stuff like a natural pump track…
Getting out of a slow corner is surprisingly the fastest, considering we are riding a light allmountain bike like this BH Lynx 4.829, that performs like a smaller wheel enduro bike.

29” Jumping & Wallriding: G O O D
Here is where we might find a weak point, especially in small bumps where you where use to get some air with the 26 size, but who cares if you are going hell fast. You may absorb this ones and going thorough them by manualing, it seems us even easier to do.
In wallriding way more difficult to go over transitions, and feeling more far / unstick from the wall.

29” S U M A R Y :
29ers definitely opens you a new range of ridding concept. In our case make us rediscovering mountianbiking, having fun every day and no need of training on the road bike… Mixing any kind of route with huge range of possibilities like the ones we like the most, up and down trails with short and technical uphills where you are having fun all the time using your technique, or just climb easy a 1 or 2 big mountains for full dh marathon runs… Allmountain 29ers, in our case, gives you back to the true spirit of mountainbiking…


26” 27,5” & 29” O V E R A L R E S U M E :

A. If you are going out the mountain to your hidden bike park lines or rampage spots, tricking everything it´s possible and getting as much air style you can, go for 26” size.

B. If you like the words above but you also want to beat your friends going down your home trails or enduro competitions, go for 27” size.

C. If you are a complete rider, who rides and trains often, 4 to 6 times a week, and you don´t want to get bored, repetitive and as much fun time and variety as possible every day, go for 29” size… Just make sure you are ridding the right tyres and wheels and the whole bike is stiff enough… and you may win something soon too…

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