Why you should care about wheel sizes: 26in vs 650B vs 29er? Pickingthe best.

Many people now a days do not care about wheel sizes. That is whether they have or not have a preference. I am here to tell you that is important to have one. Having been born in a dictatorship and a third world country I can tell you that only having one option sucks. The more brands we have, the more options we have in the bicycle store. Right now, bike manufacturers are making a selection for us, they are saying "Buy a 29er that is better for you because we know." The assumption about this statement is that you will get to choose a 650B or a 26" when you walk into a store. If that was the case I would not have a problem with it. The truth is that is all the way around and even bicycle stores are limited by what the bike manufacturers are producing.

I think given the components available to us, bikes can be built with all three wheel sizes to be almost equally fast. Given that you customize the crankset to offset the gearing for the larger wheels and that you have a pair of wheels that weigh at least 1500 grams. So to me the best bike is that one you demo and figure out you are most comfortable. Please note that I think the only way to figure a bike is better for you is to ride it. I don't think you can make that speculation from riding it in the parking lot. I spent about 4 hours riding my bike before I knew that it was the one. I also rode countless of other bikes from other manufacturers and tested out in the field.

Unfortunately, no one will ever get to test ride anything other than a 650B or a 29er. The 26in bicycle has been killed by the bicycle manufacturer because they want to increase their profits.