Once in a while I'll be talking with someone and I think to ask, "Would you ever ride a 29"er?" The response that I usually get is one that is obviously not well thought out. You can usually tell by the stammering that the person in question has never really given much thought to the question before. That's okay. Now, maybe they will think about it! ( Heh heh! Devious plan, no?)
The folks that get my attention though are the ones that quip, "No way!", or "I just couldn't do that." This always reminds me of the Dr. Suess book titled Green Eggs And Ham, in which the character Sam-I-Am continuously badgers the main character with questions about eating his green eggs and ham which the main character always ends up refusing to do. Finally Sam-I-Am gets him to relent, and he ends up loving green eggs and ham, but only after several cataclysmic events occur that beat down his resistance. Now, you may already know the story, but even if you do not, you are probably thinking that I've gone a little looney here. (Well, I do resemble that remark!) The point is that several folks just flat refuse to try a 29"er. I do not know what, if any, cataclysmic events must occur to get them to try one, I just have a question for these folks. That is, if a bicycle or other piece of equipment allowed you to increase your performance or your enjoyment of the sport of cycling, why wouldn't you try it? Now, read in amazement as I answer this question, right before your very eyes!
The biggest obstacle to overcome for anyone is always that same old monkey named Fear. Once that one is on your back, well you probably are not going to do much of anything. People are afraid of 29"ers? Yes, some are. The next hurdle to overcome is the availability of 29"ers themselves. Assuming for a moment that one has no fear regarding trying out a 29"er, one first has to be able to actually ride a 29"er to decide if it is right for them or not. ("Thanks Mr. Obvious!") Well, actually that is a big hurdle right now! That and the price, which in my previous post, "Cheap And Easy" I demonstrate will soon be much less an obstacle.
In the end, as I stated before, the people that flat out refuse the notion that a 29"er might be a good thing are the ones I feel are suffering from fear. I will agree that a 29"er is not for everyone. However; I believe everyone owes it to themselves to throw a leg over one and give it an open minded try. The ones that do find the advantages of the bigger wheels as a benefit to them will only appreciate cycling more. If you like to ride even more than you did before because a piece of equipment enhances that, then that's a good thing. That's one of the reasons I like 29"ers. So, would you like to try my green eggs and ham?
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