REVIEW
Ventana El Bastardo
El Bastardo. In English, “the bastard” could well be defined as something of abnormal or irregular shape or size, or of unusual make or proportions. What we're talking about here is a new mountain bike in a new wheel size from Ventana Mountain Bikes. Sure it's unusual, and maybe even abnormal in its proportions. Given the strict definition of its nomenclature, we'd prefer to think of El Bastardo as an unripened love child spawned by El Ciclon and El Rey in a feverish night of Electric Sex. As the doors to the Ventana design shop were opened the next morning, those that were there witnessed El Bastardo, a spurious blend of two design philosophies.
Sometimes, akin to the Hatfields and the McCoys, 26er riders and 29er riders feud over the benefits and shortcomings of each tire size. This tire size debate has polarized our community even more than brand allegiance. At this point, we can all agree that while different, 26" and 29" bikes each has a place, though each has strengths and weaknesses in terms of function. In general terms, 26" bikes have lighter, stronger wheels, are more suited to twisty, technical singletrack. They also enjoy greater rim and tire selection and availability. 29" wheels boast better approach angles allowing them to roll over obstacles with ease, better traction by virtue of a larger contact patch, and increased stability at speed.
What if, rather than argue which is better, we could have the best of both worlds? Perhaps we can. 
As you may know, Kirk Pacenti, a custom bike builder, has championed a new wheel size for mountain bikes called 650b. He persuaded Sherwood Gibson, the guru at Ventana Mountain Bikes, to build a new full suspension bike with this new wheel size. After showing it off at this year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show, Ventana El Bastardo was a big hit and had dealers and riders alike foaming at the mouth wanting to check it out. We consider ourselves lucky sometimes, and when we had the opportunity to build a project bike around the Bastardo frame, we jumped at the chance.
What exactly is 650b? In order to fully comprehend 650b and the myriad of other wheel sizes, check out the Sheldon Brown website. Wheels of the 650b variety have traditionally been used on utility and touring bikes, mostly in Europe. 
The old 650b designation means that the tires, when inflated, had a nominal outer diameter of 650 millimeters. Add to that the b, which is a width label. Compare this to a common road bike, which has a 700c designation, meaning the tire is supposedly 700 mm in diameter. Since tires of a certain diameter are made in varying widths, the actual diameter can be very different from size to size. Ever try to run 26 x 2.4 WTB MotoRaptors on an evry day XC bike? Chances are it won't work. A 26 x 2.1 Kenda Nevegal however, will likely fit just fine. Both are 26" tires, but are clearly different in size. One thing remains the same, both tires fit the same rim. A new sizing system, ISO, which stands for International Organization for Standardization calls for rim and tire measurements to be two parts, a width measurement and more importantly, a bead seat diameter measurement.
Mountain bikes have traditionally used a rim that originated on American beach cruisers of the 30's and 40's. It has a 559mm ISO bead seat diameter. Depending on the tire width, the overall diameter can range from 24.75" - 26" or slightly more. The 29er rim, based on a 700c road bike size, has an ISO measurement of 622mm. Again, depending on tire selection, the overall diameter can be more or less than 29". A 650b rim has an ISO measurement of 584mm. It sits between the two accepted wheel sizes for mountain bikes, but is actually a bit closer in size to the 26" rim than the 29" rim. Confused? We threw a leg over our project bike to dispense with the technical mumbo jumbo and get a feel for El Bastardo and its unusual tire size.
We have always been big fans of Ventana mountain bikes, and El Bastardo did not disappoint. It displayed the usual top notch welding and powdercoat finish we've come to expect. El Bastardo sports five inches of wheel travel in the rear. Damping for our project bike comes from a Fox RP23, likely our favorite shock. We coupled it with a White Brothers Fluid 130 fork such that we'd be 650b specific all the way around. It's a trail bike all the way. While it's not intended to be a cross country rocket, El Bastardo loved to be hammered -- big time! But the way we built it, it was probably just overkill on anything less than tough, technical trails.
We've ridden Ventana El Bastardo for awhile now, and together we've accumulated many miles and sore legs trying to figure this beast out. But we had plenty of questions to answer -- Is 650b the perfect compromise between 26" and 29"? Could we even detect a difference? Will it become a viable alternative with market support?
Our Ventana El Bastardo project bike was truly killer -- we spared no expense on the build. That in itself made the bike fun to ride, but far more interesting to us was the feel and handling of the bike, and its aesthetic with the 650b wheels. Our project was a medium (18"), and with the 650b wheels, it looked to have pleasing proportions. Our first experiences riding 29ers were skewed by the sight of the 29er's seemingly huge hoops. If it looked so slow and cumbersome how could it be fast? We fought to overcome our initial visual discrimination and got to know 29ers and their advantages. We rode El Bastardo and found that it may just possess that blend of characteristics we've been looking for.
El Bastardo is a five-inch travel trailbike, a capable machine for most any terrain. We rode it on everything Central Arkansas has to offer -- from paved bike path to sandy washed out ruts. It's a chunky bike path cruiser, and the Pacenti Neo Moto tires are a little burly for dragracing ladies pushing baby joggers. It feels like the wheels give a little of the flywheel effect reminiscent of a 29er. Once up to speed, it can be hammered along at a good clip. We looked forward to getting to the trail for the real test. Once there, the bike came alive. Tight singletrack was easily navigated, as the steering geometry felt great and inspired the confidence we needed to slam El Bastardo into loose corners. It steered more like a 26" bike. The feel was neutral and stable. The 650b wheels felt as if you could “steamroller” most rocks in the trail much like we can on a 29er. It didn't hurt that we had five inches of plush and laterally stiff Ventana suspension to deflect nature's insults.
On paper, 29" wheels roll faster than 26" wheels, once up to speed, due to the flywheel effect of added mass in motion. In reality, they do and we're believers. But 29er riders typically pay for that weight penalty. We know that by adding rotating weight, a bike becomes harder to accelerate. But by the same token, we know that they cruise over cobbles in the trail that will rattle your teeth on a 26" bike. The 650b wheels on the Ventana felt like a perfect compromise between the other two sizes. It's a tough choice to buy tires for a 29er. Too burly and they quickly become heavy pigs. The Pacenti Neo Moto tires on our 650b test bike had a hearty 2.3" casing, and they proved to be a good all-around tire. There were plenty of ramped knobs to keep us hooked up to the trail, but they still felt like they rolled fast and weren't a hindrance because of their weight.
We typically think about 26er vs 29er gear selection when we talk about our singlespeed setups. For the larger diameter wheels, we tend to gear down, which leads us to ask why hasn't someone made a compact MTB crankset for geared (3 x 9) situations? Not that we want yet another sku, but it seems like it would make good sense for most 29ers, and for those who don't use their 44 tooth ring on 26" bikes. 29ers sometimes feel as though they lack low enough gearing on extended steep climbs, and some folks just require lower gearing in general. All that to say -- El Bastardo seemed to be less affected by the stock chainring configuration (44/32/22) which was designed for 26" bikes. We used all of the 11/34 cassette ratio. We were able to conquer climbs in our middle ring on Bastardo that we're often relegated to the granny gear on our 29er, we were able to climb in our middle ring. On the downhill and in the flat, we spent much time in the middle and big rings. If a compact crankset isn't introduced, 650b bikes will be better suited for our existing gearing standards.
Our test bike had Velocity Blunt rims mated by Industry Nine to their Enduro hubset. While this made for a beautiful wheel, it was also a top performer. Industry Nine wheels use an aluminum spoke with a larger cross section than stainless spokes, ensuring lateral stiffness even in the bigger hoops. We often recommend I-9 wheels to 29er buyers for this very reason. We weren't let down with the 650b setup. We felt like the wheels offered the stiffness and strength to push El Bastardo to its limits, though we doubt that we did because we got home with too few bumps, scrapes, and bruises and our legs weren't so tired that we couldn't stand on our own. In theory, the 650b wheels combine the best physical attributes of the other two wheel sizes. Out on the trail, we felt like they did just that.
There are different horses for different courses. For a 100 mile race on gravel roads, a 29er will surely be advantageous because of the flywheel and smoothing effect they exhibit. On the flip side, a strenuous, boulder-laden, wonder garden-type trail would best be ridden on a 26" bike due to the strength of the wheel and the maneuverability of the smaller wheels and overall bike size. So is the Ventana El Bastardo the best bike we've ever ridden? It depends on who you ask. It's fun, it's fast, and it may just be the one singletrack weapon we've been looking for. It's a great blend of the strengths that we appreciate from each of the other sizes. We only hope that the market will continue to invest in this new wheel size format, so that folks like us, who are keenly interested in 650b, will have fork, rim, and tire options when we decide to invest in a new bike. We're just a few short weeks from the arrival of the Kenda Nevegal 650b, and a new XC-inspired Pacenti Quasi-Moto 650b design. Rim and fork rumors continue to circulate, and you can bet we'll keep you in the loop.
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