Paul B offered to sell me his 26er Eldridge full suspension for a very reasonable price. Knowing what a great bike it is, I bought it straight away. The ride at bewl would be its first proper ride offroad, it would be interesting to see how it compared to Dave's 29er hard tail. Good to see Steve D out at bewl for the first time (having to ride it on one of his back up bikes). Also present were Malcolm and Paul B, who having sold me his full suss was doing the ride on a steel hard tail 26er. Despite the evening weather being warm and sunny there was a terrible amount of mud.In 20 years of riding at Bewl we have never known summer conditions like this. Malc and Paul formed one group while myself and Steve D formed another slower one. We ploughed through all the muddy sections until we came to the previously flooded area. I decided to try to go around in a large circle but soon got stuck and toppled over onto my back into a 4 inch deep layer of foul smelling stinking mud and rotting vegetation. Steve D had more sense and got off and pushed past the mud. There were lots of cars at the car park end of the route and we wondered why until we realised everyone of them was a mini, it was a mini convention!
Final conclusions over 29er vs 26 full suspension. The big wheels on the 29er defiantly make you go faster (something between 5-10% faster I would say) but the full suss has the advantage when it comes to comfort. At my age comfort is more important so I feel I made the right choice, now if only I had enough money for a 29er full suspension!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment