29er mountain bikes are the big news for this season.  If your friends already have one, they will tell you it’s the latest-greatest, and you can’t live without it.   Here are a few clarfications about the hubbub, and a suggestion to help your decision process:

29″ wheels are the same diameter as road wheels (700c), so the bikes stand taller on the trail.  This is good for speed and comfort.  Tall may not be what you want for slow-speed, technical work.

Some riders have moved from full suspension back to hard tail 29ers to save weight.  The bigger wheel diameter increases comfort while maintaining the stand-in-the-bumps feeling of hard tail mountain biking.  Our Cannondale Flash 29ers are the lightest 29ers in the shop.

29ers are a big category, with hardtails from $549 to $3000, and full suspension bikes in typical full suspension price ranges from $1800 to well over $4000 for full carbon frames. For 2011, we also have two women-specific Myka hardtail 29er’s in 15, 17, and 19″ frame sizes.

To help customers sort out this new category of mountain bikes, Criterium has hardtail 29ers and full suspension models in our rental fleet.  This provides a day, weekend, or a full week of test riding.  If you purchase a bike from us, we will apply one days’ rental fee to the purchase price of your new bike.  It’s a great way to make a fully informed decision.  Love the rental bike?  It has a buy-it-now price, too.