why does it have to be a vs thing?

Coshe’s male.

Can I throw a suggestion in?

96er?

Big smooth rolling front wheel where it matters.
Small easy to spin up back wheel where it matters.

Get the geometry right and it is ideal. Yes, I have ridden a 29er and also have 26″ on my other bike. I even ran 26″ front and 24″ rear on my SC Bullit for a while.

Try it and be converted.

why does it have to be a vs thing?

So we can have re-matches every year! 😆

So we can have re-matches every year couple of weeks!

96er?

Big smooth rolling front wheel where it matters.
Small easy to spin up back wheel where it matters.

To me that looks like the wrong way round.

Big smooth rolling back wheel, where the riders weight is, gaining more from the reduction in rolling resistance.
Small easy to turn and maneuver front wheel, where you need the handling.

Of course, I’m thinking hardtail. Rigid I’d be thinking full 29er. But what do I know, I can see the advantages, but haven’t tried one yet.

My 96er is rigid.

The big front wheel smooths out the bumps and ruts when the 26″ wheel just sort of hits them.

Rarely notice the wheel size when steering because the bike geometry seems to compensate although there is a little toe-verlap at very slow speeds when riding it fixed.

Small back wheel keeps the bike feeling nimble in a way the 29ers I have ridden never do.

se we can have re matches every couple of week day….. 🙁

cheers for taking the time to those that put there opinions up. interesting read. all i wanted to know was the benefits compared to (vs you pedantic tits) the standard 26. honest biker opinions count for more honest views than a magazine in my opinion. thanks again bikers