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| Ventana El Rey |
I changed from the small wheel format to big wheels during summer 2007. At this point I had been riding a 26" fully for almost three seasons. I first learned about 29ers from american web sites. Then I saw one after a MTB race in New Zealand.
Finally, I was able to put my hands on a very nice Raleigh XXIX at the LBS in Mount Eden, Auckland. However, I had never ridden a 29er for myself and I was getting more and more curious to find out what it was like. So I contacted a handful of Danish dealers during winter '06/'07 to find out what a 29er would cost me in Denmark.
I learned that there was no way I could buy a 29er in Denmark. Instead, everybody advised me to ignore the 'American fad' and opt for at 'real' (26") fully. Apart from very common folklore about how miserable I would end up, if I bought a 29er, noone in Denmark was able to tell me the least bit about how the ride of a 29er actually would be.
Being a stubborn arse I followed my initial impulse and ordered a 29er. I had a very strong sense that the 29er technology not only was in its bloom but already had surpassed the 26" MTB in certain aspects. (in reality, you should call it a '28er' og maybe even a '700Cer' because that is what a 29er really is. The term "29er" is just good marketing from Gary Fisher)
I sent an e-mail to ventana.usa and they directed me to a dealer in the Stockholm-area in Sweden. I ordered a frame set consisting of a 17" El Rey frame, 1 Reba 29" forks, a set of Chris King head set and a Thomson Elite seat post. When I recieved the parts and started building the bike I had no idea what my bike would be like to ride ...
Yes, of course, I had read several reviews and articles about 29ers and Ventana El Rey but - as everyone knows - design taste, technical ability and riding preferences are a strictly personal matter.
My very first impression of the Ventana El Rey was that it was a lot like my old (and sold) 26" fully, a Scott Genius RC30. It felt agile and light and, still, at the same time it was a bit higher than an 26" fully. Of course the top tube is heavily sloped so no dangerous problems arises when I have to dismount during difficult passages. If I have to get of the bike on an impossible climb it is fairly simple to get back into the saddle.
I chose to mount my bike with a wide 63 cm handlebars. Combined with the prolonged top tube and axle-to-axle distance the El Rey-frame clearly isn't as stiff as a good 26" fully. The bike feels a bit wobbly when I'm riding on asphalt, on the other hand the Bontrager Race X-Lite are fantastic. Light and stiff as a wedding c¤#k. Mounted with Jones ACX tyres and standard tubes this specific wheel set weighs just about the same as a set of Bontrager Race-Lite UST wheels.
The El Rey is very well behaved - perhaps even a bit to the soft side - when I'm riding on asphalt and hard pack forrest roads. In the beginning I suspected that there was something wrong with the frame geometry. Today, I am convinced that it was PEBHAS (Problem Exists Between Handlebars And Saddle). This is partly because of the Fox FloatR rear shock which cannot be locked, partly because of the long top tube. Still, and this is surprising, the bike is a terrific singletrack and climbing machine. The subjective experience is that the rougher the landscape gets the more the El Rey comes to life. There is nothing wobbly or slow about the bike when I am racing through root beds or fighting my way over baby heads. Accordingly, sand and loose terrain is no longer an 'issue' for me. My Ventana El Rey goes through it all. The 29" tyres do have a bigger threat surface compared to a 26" tyre and this means that I have a lot more grip in tight switchbacks and on loose surface. 29" 'lubbers' can take a lot of mud without packing, compared to good quality allround tyres like the Michelin XCR DRY.
The German magazine Bike measured the rolling resistance on 29" wheels to be approx. 14 % lower than on 26" tyres. This is 'lab numbers', and, personally, I'm not able to prove that my Ventana rolls a lot faster than a good 26" bike. However, I can clearly see that I am doing faster laps on the big wheels today, compared to my 26" hardtail, but because a fully badly compares with a hardtail, I wont generalize from this.
Enough said that I feel a lot better when I'm riding my 29er fully which is softer on the body and has a lot better grip.
I think the most important difference between a 26" fully and a 29er fully is the gearing of the bike. Mechanically (and mathematically) the gear numbers are higher on a 29er.
Furthermore, when the bike is running you get a good dose of momentum from the rotating mass of the wheels.
Contrary to widely accepted belief, I have never felt that the 29er wheels is slower accelerating than what I have been used to on a 26" fully.
My bike is equipeed with a 180mm crank set and a 11-32 cassette w. 22-32-44 rings in front. In addition with the wheel diameter this gives me a comparably highter energy output than what I would find on a 26" bike. Example:
I was riding my El Rey together with a training buddy. He was riding his carbon 26" fully. We swapped bikes and I placed myself right behind him. Whenever we were climbing I could see that our cadences was more or less the same, the gear positions the same, but, still, he was going faster than me.
My conclusion is that the reason for this is that the gear ratio to speed always will be higher (mechanically) on the big wheels.
Obviously, you don't get this effect for free, you have to be fit to push higher gears. In the beginning I was shortbreathed and felt pretty miserable when I was training on my El Rey. It took me a while to understand what the reason for this is.
I have read that a lot of riders choose to ride with a 11-34 cassette to compensate for the extra 'gear fatigue', luckily, I live in a flat country and I have gotten used to high gears. In fact, I tend to use the granny ring very rarely these days
(I never was a gear masher, neither was I afraid to admit use of the granny ring in the olden days).
Ventana is a small, californian company with 'real' people you can call and send e-mails to. They are very skilled workers and there is nothing about the El Rey I can complain about with regards to finish or functionality. The frame is beautifully TIG welded from 7005 alu and sports a hand polished rear stay in aluminium. The Reba forks only have 80mm damping, the rear shock 90 mm. It doesn't sound like much today but take my word for it, unless you're a clydesdale or doing serious drops you'll never experience any of the dampers topping out with this bike.
You will not find the forks, the wheel set and the tyres in Danish LBS's. Luckily my RockShox Reba is still running 100 % with not even the slightest air loss or oil leakage. I buy the tyres on ebay and they cost me just about the same as good quality tubeless tyres used to cost me when I was riding a 26" fully. BTW. the El Rey comes with two extra rear derailleur hangers.
I like this bike.
LINKS:
www.ventanausa.com
mtbr.com - 29er bike review
mtbr.com review of Ventana El Rey