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A lot of that decision depends on what bike you’re riding and on what surface you’re riding; so without knowing some more details it’s difficult to advise you.
Some generic advice would be that both 29er and 700c conform to the same XX-622 ISO standard so you can mount almost any road, cyclocross or 29er tyre on them; although a significant disparity between tyre and rim width will cause issues.
That its marked “28/38” suggests it’s a fairly narrow rim which would be suited to a wider cyclocross tyre, something like a Continental Cyclocross Speed Tyre in 35mm, or a narrower 29er tyre, like a Specialized Fast Trak in 2.0 (49mm).
“Good off road” and “good on road” are mutually exclusive when it comes to tyres, so anything you buy to try and do both jobs will be a compromise. Which way you go with this compromise really does depend on what you’re using your bike for: your post suggests you’re putting in a lot of road miles. Maybe look at something from the 40-42mm cyclocross/commuter class like a Clement X’PLOR MSO in 40mm.
Feel free to PM me if I can help.
I live in Scotland so most of my riding is done here or in Northern England; a mix of trail centres and natural trails, mainly Enduro type riding because the terrain we have leans that way.
Morzine in the French Alps is pretty good for DH with km after km of gondola and ski-lift serviced descents. Easy to get to from Geneva airport and most of the local guiding companies do transfers.
Kitzbühel is a brilliant free-ride/AM destination in the Austrian Tyrol, a little to difficult to get to as there aren’t really any local airports but it is well worth the journey.
Hi Brock,
The connectivity is well worth the extra money in my opinion. I know some people do genuinely love the whole process of sitting in front of their computer and uploading their rides, it’s part of their post ride ritual; on the other hand I greatly appreciate that it all happens automatically while I’m packing the bikes up and herding the kids back in to the car. On the odd occasion when I’m riding with mates and have time for a coffee afterwards it’s nice to be able to look at the ride and compare segments while we’re sat in the café.
The 25 has BTLE (Blue Tooth Low Energy) and ANT+ so is about as future proof and well connected as you can make it. And I f you have an interest in training you’ll want an HRM strap at some point and possibly speed and cadence sensors which the 20 just won’t talk too.Hope this helps,
Rupert
I’d go for the Garmin Edge 25, it’s a far superior product to the 20 simply for its connectivity. It has blue tooth so can upload to your smartphone/tablet, (the 20 is limited to uploading via a cable and a PC/Mac) and ANT+ for HRM and speed/cadence sensors. Both the 20 and 25 have a basic navigation feature where you can upload a road route and the unit will prompt you to make turns. That said it works well off road as a simple head unit allowing you access to basic navigation data like distance, elapsed time and average speed.
I use a Garmin Fenix 2 myself but three of the people I ride with regularly use the Edge 25 specifically for Strava and think it’s a great product. Leyzine also makes some similar products at similar price points which many in my riding club swear by.
Take a look at Garmin’s VivoSmart HR+ (the standard VivoSmart HR does NOT have GPS) too, aimed more at the running/lifestyle crowd but reasonably priced and has the benefit of doing HR without an ECG strap.
As mentioned above the eTrex line can be bike mounted but they lack any connectivity and as opposed to the units I mentioned previously, which are essentially single button operation, recording your rides correctly involves quite a few steps. And getting the data off them is more time consuming and less convenient than with Garmin Connect compatible devices.
Garmin products (I don’t work for them, honest!) also get you access to the excellent Garmin Connect platform, which automatically sends your rides to Strava and is a far more powerful training tool than Strava or Strava Premium.
I second the Hope hubs and WTB hoops for the same reasons.
Take a look at the Pro IV hubs and the WTB KOM and Asym rims. I use KOM i23 with Conti Trail Kings and that set up gives a lovely tyre profile. Between them the KOM and Asym rims give you every internal width from 21 to 35mm.
29er for most things, 27.5 for super technical/steep terrain.
Why would you isolate yourself from the world like that when you’re riding? Surely immersion in the now and embracing the experience is one of the reasons we all go riding.
