Dear Mountain Bike Action people: What is your opinion on 96er full-suspension bikes?
—Lars in Denmark


Mountain Bike Action: For those who may not be familiar with 96ers, they are mountain bikes designed to run a 29-inch front wheel and 26-inch rear wheel. Carver Bikes, who still offers a 96er, can be credited with offering the first production bike with different-sized wheels. Trek later came out with their take on the mix-and-match wheel design that has since been removed from production. Our Trek 69er test said, “Mountain bikes with 26-inch wheels have strengths and weaknesses that are different from the strengths and weaknesses of mountain bikes with 29-inch wheels. Trek was hopeful that by using the two wheel sizes together, the strengths would be magnified and the weaknesses would be muted. On the trail, that didn’t come true. Instead, a third reality occurred—a bike with strengths and weaknesses all its own.”

The problem we experienced was the disparity between how the two wheels contacted and tracked the trail surface (on bikes with or without suspension). The large front wheel rolled over trail obstacles that the smaller rear wheel seemed to peg. Add in a 4-inch-travel fork, and the difference was magnified.

An interesting bike that we have not had the opportunity to test is the Ventana El Chucho. It is designed around 5 inches of rear wheel travel using a 26-inch wheel with a 3.9-inch-travel fork and 29-inch wheel up front. On paper, this appears to be a better application of the 96er concept than a rigid or hardtail bike. Of course, “on paper” is the operative phrase. “On trail” can produce very different results, and since we have not ridden the El Chucho, we just can’t make a recommendation.

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