I love my 26. It's extremely light, nimble and very fast. Am i just old school and getting left behind by the 29s? I have only ridden one once for a small amount of time, seemed heavier, it was a jet 9. I know i have pretty stellar components on my bike to begin with, XT ect. fox float r100 ect.
i have now cracked my frame where the top of the seat tube meets the main frame just above the mig welds. cracking down both sides of the welds, soon to snap. hopefully i am not on it. I need to decide if 26 where i want to stay or move to 29. what do you all think?
my current setup weighs roughly 27lbs
Since I've been wondering this, let me add to bingo's question - what is light for a current trail bike? (without going to a completely insane race bike). If road bikes are now hitting 15 lbs., shouldn't a decent hardtail be like, 21 - 22?
A carbon mountain bike might be in that range but not anything most people can afford to ride on a daily basis without having a hook up.
bingo, You could spend years reading mountain bike forums that discuss your question at length. They all end with "if you like your 26, buy another 26."
There's another thread with some good advice regarding wheel sizes.
Both sizes have their advantages and disadvantages. My own observation has been (having spent a reasonable amount of time on both) that the geometry of the bike has as much to do with wheel size. An example:
I rode a Redline 29er for a year or so, and found it generally pretty decent for the trails around here--it rolled well over stuff, but on some of the tighter trails, it did feel a little "big." Last year, I had the opportunity to ride a Jones Diamond frame 29er for a bit. That bike looked HUGE, and it even felt a little big, but on the trails, it handled as well as anything, and I had no trouble dealing with tight switchbacks and whatnot.
You can generalize about how a wheel size will handle, but the whole package really affects the ride.
650B...
I ride 26, but I didnt have the funds for anything carbon. I forked up a few k for a decent aluminum bike, and it's still on the heavy side. I checked both sizes out while making my last purchase, and the 29 just felt big to me. I'm not too great on a mountain bike yet, and struggle on tight switchbacks. I personally cant imagine using a 29, but that is completely due to lack of experience.
However, Ive ridden with lots of folks on 29s who speak highly of them. It is too subjective to take advice one way or the other I think.
Bill, you can hit low to mid twenties and stay around $2k on a single speed, mid to high twenties with gears. It also depends on what you want to do with the bike, as a bike built for trail abuse will be a lot heavier than one built for xc racing.
I'm about to buy a mt. bike and I'm going with 650B
