What Is It? 25 Years Of 29"ers

1999 scan of a document sent to dealers about the 29" Nanoraptor

This past March an anniversary occurred which I missed and was reminded of during a ride last week. The thought popped up in my head that the 29"er was 25 years old now! 

Funny how weird, random thoughts come into ones head while riding a bicycle. 

This has prompted me to take a time out on other things I'd be posting about here to mark this occasion. But before I get into anything historical or noteworthy about the start of 29"er bicycles, I need to address something about the current day and age.

You may have noticed that this anniversary has not been marked by anyone in cycling media I have noticed or heard about this year. You yourself may be thinking, "Big deal!", and perhaps no one really cares. But if you, like me, do care, then read on. 

The thing is that now 29"ers are not notable because of their wheel size. They are notable because these bikes are mountain bikes with electric motors, or they have dual suspension designs with high pivots, or for some other reason that has nothing to do with the bike having 29 inch diameter wheels. But this was not always the case. This is why noting the existence of 29"er wheels is important. 

I'm not going to get into the entire story of 29"ers here. I've already written that story, back in 2010. You can read the story of "The Beginnings Of The Modern 29"er: A History"at that link, or from the link under the header whenever you feel like checking that out. 

Gary Fisher's Steve Potts built 29"er with a modded Manitou fork in 1999

Since 2010, when I wrote up that history of 29"ers, things have come a long, long way. We had a dalliance with 27.5"/650B wheels, and while those are sometimes still used, that wheel size has not come to dominate the market as some of its fans had hoped it would in the early twenty-teens. No, it is the 29"er that is "the wheel" now, but this would not have been true had it not been for "The Tire". 

Diameter matters. Even back in the late 1800's diameter mattered. The diameter of the wheel was paramount in determining speed. How far one can travel with one revolution of the wheel of a penny farthing determined speed and effort necessary to propel oneself along on a bicycle. This basis for determining performance still exists today. 

Today diameter matters for other reasons, but as it relates to the 29"er, it matters because that dimension is the line of demarcation. If a wheel and tire do not measure up to 29" in diameter, it is not a 29"er. Some will argue that a Nanoraptor was not a 29" tire, but those who were closest to this, perhaps, would argue differently. Wes Williams, Gary Fisher, Mark Slate, and Don Cook probably would have a word to say about that. 

The first 29"er. A Willits made by Wes Williams. March 1999

Some would argue that the more mountain bike-ish 700c bikes like the Diamond Back Overdrive were the first 29'ers. They were equipped with 700c X 45mm Panaracer Smoke tires. Anyone who rides a gravel bike today with 700c X 45mm tires knows that those are not 29"ers! Of course, they do not measure to 29 inches in diameter on any rim. 

This all matters because of what one can and cannot do on true off-road terrain with tires that have marginal volume and width. The lack of high-volume 700c based tires for handling rougher terrain was the biggest motivating factor in getting the Nanoraptor made. Up to that point only a finite number of odd Continental Goliath 28" tires were even close to being what the mountain riders of 700c based bicycles wanted and those were not all that great. Once the supply of those rare tires ran out, then what? 

The Nanoraptor was made to fill the gap and to help those who were the biggest enthusiastic supporters of that tire and wheel size  to show others why this idea was superior to the then standard 26" wheel size. That previous statement alone was enough to incite near warfare online in forums across the internet. But eventually all resistance was swept away. 

Next: Three major players that moved the needle for 29" bikes early on.