I’m considering giving a hardtail 29er a go, but would it be better for me to buy a whole bike or would a frame/forks/wheel set with the existing 26 er running gear be a better option? your thoughts please?

I think you would be better attending the 29er day advertised on the home page of STW – if you convert, you’ll likely want new chainrings and cassette, bars and seatpost eventually, so it’d be better to buy the whole bike IMO

buy a whole bike or would a frame/forks/wheel set with the existing 26 er running gear be a better option?

pros and cons to both. i bought the frame wheels etc. ended up replacing bar stem as well. saved some money, and sold the 26″ parts.

what would you do with the 26″ bike/ parts.

I had a similar dilemma a few weeks back and ended up getting a complete 2011 bike in a sale. It all depends on how much cash you want to drop on a frame/forks/wheels, obviously an On-One frame is perhaps the best budget option. Personally I demo’d and really liked the Pace RC129, but my budget just couldn’t stretch to one in the end (looking at about £1850 in the build I wanted).

I ended up getting a 2011 Giant XTC29er for just about £1250, and I’m over the moon with it – not just a good 29er, but an extremely good bike full stop.

p.s. oh, FWIW, I can really recommend the Hope hubs/Crest 29er wheelset – replaced the OE wheels on my XTC with ’em and they’ve noticeably perked up the bikes acceleration and handling.

I did exactly that. I got the frame, wheels and fork and then used everything from my ti456 and built up my 29er Scandal and never looked back. I then sold the ti and rev’s.