Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Move Over 26"ers- Here Comes The 27.5"ers

Continental Announces 27.5"er tires at Eurobike '12
Back when 29"ers were a niche, (remember that?), there was a lot of comment made from different sources about how 29"ers would one day wipe out 26"ers and how 26"ers would never go away by others. What they all didn't know was that 26"ers maybe were going away, but not because of 29"ers, no- it was another tire size that would be proposed as the replacement for the "standard" 26 inch wheel mtb.

I've already pontificated on this subject here. But I'll make a few more observations based upon what is happening right now in Europe at the annual Eurobike show.

First- I never thought 27.5"ers were "the best of both 26 and 29 inch attributes", although you'll hear that a lot from the marketing wonks moving forward. 27.5"ers are different, but they can not do near what a 29"er can do. In fact, this is something of an issue for marketers, who feel that once 27.5"er product gets out there, it won't impress the 29"er folks, and won't get much traction there. Of course, this is why the 27.5"er will be heavily invested into over in Europe. There 29"ers are still very new, not entrenched, and marketers feel that the 27.5"er, being less of a jump from 26", has a better chance of becoming "the next big thing".

Tires, wheels, and forks are all going to be unleashed this very week at Eurobike to prove my point here. Brands will also introduce new 27.5"er bikes, (mostly in the longer travel categories, which are selling flat of late), which will further the reach for this wheel size.

Rocky Mountain recently intro'ed a whole new line of 27.5"ers
But what will become of 26"? Many see the 27.5"er as a replacement, more having to do with that it is "new" and has a "new story to tell" behind it than anything else. But be that as it may, the industry would love nothing more than to make your current AM/FR/DH sled obsolete. You know what they would have in store for you to replace that "aging 26"er platform" with too.

In the end, as I have always said, the riders will vote with their dollars, as long as there is a choice. That seems to be the case as long as the "Big Three", (Giant, Specialized, and Trek), don't capitulate and in one fell swoop, relegate 26 inch wheels to the dustbin of mtb history. Will that happen? Not anytime soon, that's for sure.

For now this will be an experiment for mid-level companies looking to capitalize on a "new trend" that they may have missed out on, (read: 29 inch wheels), last time. Make no mistake- this is an exercise in marketing, and we'll see if it pans out in the long run.

How can I say this? Well, 27.5"ers have been around at retail stores since 2007, and they haven't done diddly squat in the marketplace. That's six years ago in model year terms. Six years into the 29"er becoming available at retail stores the wheel size was well on its way to becoming more than a niche. All without marketing driven hoo-ha. (In fact, marketing departments resisted 29"ers like the plague in the early years, for the most part.)

Want another example? Try fat bikes, which have had little to no industry horsepower behind them, yet are a growing segment that shows no sign of stopping yet. Why? Because these are rider driven demand products, not "top down" marketed platforms. Again- I am not saying 27.5"ers will not be any good. No- this has to do with marketing. Maybe it'll work, but I haven't seen this sort of success in a product category in my years in the cycling business. That's what I am saying.

Again- I may well eat my words here, and that is fine, but I do not think 26"ers are going anywhere soon. But the mtb segment will have to make some room for these upstart 27.5"ers at any rate, whatever you may think of them.

7 comments:

Hook said...

If this is gonna be "the next big thing", I better learn how to pronounce it without sounding like an out-of-touch dork. Are people saying "twenty seven point fiver"? Or maybe "two seven fiver"? Either way, it's an awkward mouthful. Can't we keep calling it "six fifty bee"?

Guitar Ted said...

@Hook: I'll say it "twentysevenfive". The term "650B" is the description of the rim diameter, not indicative of how it is used. So- just like with 29"ers, we do not say those bikes are "700c" bikes. We say "twentyniners" or "Two niners".

Additionally, saying 27.5"ers separates the mtb bikes from the rando/camping crowd, which also favor 650B rims.

MG said...

Marketing is indeed an interesting darling...

The Biking Viking said...

Honestly, I just don't get it. Is the ride differnce between a 26 and a 27.5 gonna be all that different for most people? Taking into consideration how most people ride thier bikes. I can see the difference between 29" and 26" but splitting the difference between those two is well, rather odd in my opinion. Are they targeting a specific demographic with this tire size?

Just wierd...

Guitar Ted said...

@The Biking Viking: My set-o-the pants meter says there is very little difference between 26 and 27.5, but others have told their experiences differently. (My Euro correspondent on TNI for one)

Scuttlebutt is that the 140mm travel and up categories is where 27.5 will be pushed hardest.

Leslie said...

I know I've said it before here, but I like the idea of having 3 different wheelsizes available for a builder to be able to scale a design for different riders... For a shorter person interested in a 29'er, a 27.5 might be a better fit; for someone who wants a 26 but is really long-legged, maybe 27.5 would be better.

Personally, I'm more over in the '650b rando' camp as opposed to the 27.5 camp, but at the edge of it towards the MTBR set...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leslie_bright/7501897362/in/photostream/
This is gonna be my camping bike. 650b instead of a 29'er, moustache instead of drop bars... but akin to a gravel bike, I suppose...

SpeedyChix said...

Love riding a 29er but for the tight and twisty trails I ride (and at my size) I'm finding a 650B to be a better all rounder. Doesn't carry the momentum of the 29er but I am better able to flick the 650B bike around (like a 26"). Maybe it's the many years of riding a rigid 26" that influences what I want out of a bike today. Open rolling or rocky terrain: 29, general riding and XC racing? it's 650B for me.