Cape Epic winner says 29-inch wheels are superior to 650b
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Christoph Sauser of 36One-Songo-Specialized leads a group up the hill during stage 5 of the 2012 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race from the Overberg Primary (Image credit: Gary Perkin/Cape Epic/Sportzpics)
Burry Stander and Christoph Sauser in Koggelberg Biosphere during stage 5 of the 2012 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race from the Overberg Primary & High School in Caledon to Oak Valley Wine Estate in the Elgin Valley, South Africa on the 30 March 2012(Image credit: Sven Martin/Cape Epic/Sportzpics)
Christoph Sauser of 36One-Songo-Specialized sprays the champagne in celebration after winning the 2012 Cape Epic with Burry Stander(Image credit: Shaun Roy/Cape Epic/Sportzpics)
Christoph Sauser and Burry Stander receive their trophy for winning(Image credit: Greg Beadle/Cape Epic/Sportzpics)
Millions of rocks, thousands of corners and climbing twice as many feet as Mount Everest is tall! This is the annual Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race every year for thousand of riders. It draws riders like you and me and women, former rugby players, pros, wannabes, 100kg guys, flyweights, Formula One drivers, Africans, Europeans, Asians... The whole world meets to ride and race bikes.
Some things have always been and always remain the same. Tires are black and round.
But what has changed dramatically over the last two years is wheel size.
2012 marked the first time ever that every UCI-registered Cape Epic rider raced on a 29er, and I guess that was true of most of the amateur racers who had bikes not older than one year.
It must be confusing for some riders to see the new 650B wheel size now becoming available and under discussion. Not to mention what will bike shop owners think if they have to start stocking three standards of frames, shocks, tires, wheels and forks. How can you still recommend a bike and not confuse your customer?
In that case, I would focus totally on a concept bike shop with only 29ers because I totally believe in the biggest wheel size. I think it would work for 95 percent of bike shop customers just as it works for myself.
In cross country racing, it is all about accelerations, stiffness and having the lightest bike. I even race cross country events with one chainring (34-tooth) only.
So yes, that kind of racing might call for the creation of very different bikes, but tires are still black and round.
Luckily we Specialized racers are fortunate that our bikes' geometry is perfectly adapted for the big (29er) wheels. All of us - even a small Burry Stander - can ride stock frames and still find the perfect position. Plus our bikes fly around tight corners. We wouldn't want to give up the great rollover ability of the big wheels, their stability at speed or their extra traction. Even in cross country racing.
Every smaller wheel size is compromise.
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Former mountain bike world champion Christoph Sauser has a lengthy palmares, including multiple Cape Epic victories. The Swiss rider is blogging for Cyclingnews from the South African stage race in 2017, providing insight into his experience and the race overall.
