My 2010 (and 2011, 2012, 2013, etc.) Race Bike is in production. After a couple seasons debating the effectiveness of a 29′er for XC racing, I have finally made the decision that they are the way to go. Several factors went into this decision and once the decision was made to race a 29′er the easy decision was which 29′er to race, the Seven Sola SLX. Custom built, triple butted titanium tubing made by one of the best frame manufacturers in the world. Yes I said world, as in planet Earth. Over the last couple weeks I have been working closely with master frame designer Neil Doshi over at Seven and we have the geometry dialed and ready for production. Super psyched!
Why a 29′er you may be asking yourself (that is if you don’t already have one)? Well simply put, becuase they are fast and stable while going fast, which is what I intend on doing. As 29′ers began to rise in popularity a few years back I was aware of the physics behind the larger wheel, but was not convinced of their usage in XC racing applications. At the time they were too heavy, part selection was limited and usually too heavy, and they handled a bit slow for racers. Well times have changed. They are becoming lighter, more and more high quality parts are becoming available, and the geometries have evolved to suit the needs of racing. These factors have been proven over the last two years with riders like JHK, Adam Craig, Heather Irminger, and others that these big wheeled bikes can be ridden fast.
Then sizing for us short guys (I’m barley 5’9″) became my other reasoning for dislike. Getting the bike to fit smaller riders was not easy and not as desirable as say a 6 foot tall rider. Well smaller sizes are becoming more available from mass manufacturers and even better the designers at Seven can build you exactly what you need and make it as light as you want with the ride characteristics you desire. Can you ask for much more than that? How about durability? Oh yeah they have that too. Titanium bikes are life-time bikes. Anyone who knows me, knows I love titanium. I love it for it’s ride quality, it’s lightness, it’s durability, it’s snap and it’s never out of style looks. No gimmicks, no need for warranty’s, and no need to get a new bike every season!
Over this last off-season I was able to get on a ride a handful “new generation” 29′ers from the Niner, Fisher’s Superfly and SF 100, Giant and Cannondale. These rides confirmed how far the XC-race 29′er has come. They fit, they handle well and they aren’t 30-pound beasts any more. For the style of racing I do on the XTERRA circuit and XC mountain bike, I believe that the 29′er is the way to go.
My Seven Sola SLX 29′er frame should be here in a couple weeks. In the meantime I’m collecting all my build parts to get the bike ready for racing. I will post more on parts selection in the coming days. If you look over the spec sheet below, you may discover another big benefit of choosing Seven: a custom headtube to accommodate the C-dale Lefty fork. Two point six pounds of 29′er XC-racing, bump eating, steering precision speed. With this frame-fork set-up I can promise you that at around 5.5-pounds in frame & fork weight, this bike will be a sub-20lbs. rocket ship that will carry me through the next several seasons of racing and hopefully winning XTERRA Championships along the way!
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i can’t wait to see this bike all built up!
NICE! good to see we all helped convince you! i remember when you made fun of my old fisher 29er. i know you probably lost some sleep on this one, but that titanium bike will be so so so good!
Yes, the final reason for the 29er was peer pressure. All of you guys are now racing them and I need to keep up! (except for Hairy Jason, whom I don’t worry about keeping up with on a bike)
Cody, looking forward to seeing build pictures. Thanks for the article.
-Neil