I'm sure that several of you, like me, watched the men's and women's mountain bike races this past weekend with great interest. Being a bit of a gearhead, I was looking closely at the bikes the racers were on. For the men, I was struck by the variety of wheel sizes -- some 26 inch, and many 29ers, and the winning bike ridden by Kulhavy appeared to be a Specialized full suspension 29er.
But what I found most fascinating was the bike ridden by Schurter, who took the silver medal just 1 second behind Kulhavy. This year Schurter and his Swiss teammates have been racing, and winning, on a Scott Scale 650B hardtail. Schurter won a world cup this year on this same bike.
http://www.mbr.co.uk/news/olympic-preview-the-contenders-men/http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/nino-schurter-wins-world-cup-1-on-650b-wheels-33467/I am quite excited about this development, as it seems only a matter of time until this trickles down and is widely adopted by manufacturers for the consumer market, and we start seeing more and more high performance 650B models in the shops. I've mentioned this before, but I think the 650B size makes total sense for a wide range of riders, and of all sizes and shapes. From the field tests I've read, it seems to offer the best of both 26" and 29", with almost none of the drawbacks of either. Quick, agile handling and responsive acceleration like a 26er; fast rolling and good terrain absorption like a 29er. The fact that the Swiss team is racing on these wheels and doing so well should be all the kick this needs to get some momentum going. A number of manufacturers have prototypes in test at the moment -- Norco, a Canadian brand, has at least 4 models in beta, including a version in the all-mountain Fluid series. My father-in-law on Vancouver Island has a Norco Fluid 26er, which I have spent many hours on. It is a great bike, and would be a killer in 650 size. Super versatile.
Personally, I am sold on the 29er size, as it fits so well for a guy of my stature and works well for the open flowy trails here. But every now and then I hit a patch of forest with some really tight twisty singletrack, and wish I had a more maneuverable bike. Luckily, this happens maybe one ride in ten, so no need to switch. But for my wife, who is about the same size as Schurter (who is 5'8"), a fast, light snappy 650B hardtail would be brilliant. She is not one to switch gear easily -- once she likes something, there is almost nothing I can do to wrest it from her fingers...and she loves her little XC 26er race hardtail. But....the 650B bikes actually have her interest tweaked, so she might make the jump sooner than later. Cool.
Back to the Olympics.....I felt so bad for Fontana when he lost his saddle with only a 1/2 lap left to go and then fell way back from the leaders. He was having a fantastic race, and could easily have been first or second. But then I
**** up laughing when he crossed the finish line squatting on his top tube, knees splayed and bobbing in the air. Good on him for making light of some bad luck.
On the women's side, our top rider, Catherine Pendrel, who is reigning world champion and was expecting at least a bronze, had a bad start and lost her gusto trying to catch the lead pack. Our other main contender, Emily Batty, broke her collar bone and a rib in training just a couple of days before the race, but ran anyway. A credit to her tenacity, she finished the race, if well back in the pack. Must have been a painful 90 minutes. Georgia Gould had a great race though, taking third. Well done.