I have decided to go back to XC racing after a few years (8 or so….) out. My old race bike is a v-brake equipped Explosif. Which mainly hangs in the garage collecting dust.

My current bike is a Unit 29er that hustled round the Bonty 12/24 quite nicely. So well in fact that I would consider a Fisher 29er or a Trek 69er.

I should add that I'm 6'4" and the big wheel thing really makes a difference for me. Have any 'larger' XC racers on here got a recommendation from experience?

i'm 6'3, and riding a 26" wheels.
i don't like 29ers (and yes i've tried one/and a 69er) so its a straight forward choice for me.

xcracer have a 29er team this year though..

but i reckon 26 is better. depending where you are/what your local races are will vary the need for a bike that can handle tight twisty singletrack…

What size frame you riding Oli? What length tt and stem?

i ride both got a merida flx 3500 d for race duties and a gary fisher rig for hooning

If i could have got a superfly like the guys on the xcracers team id have snaffled it in a snap. All the benifits of the rig but with gears and carbon lovelyness.

Spent 2 years racing my rig exclusively and then moved onto gears which i couldnt afford anything in the 29er "light weight" range . a ferrous didnt really cut it when looking at an FLX 3500d for the same price.

at the end of the day its a bike – it has wheels – its light – thus with the right engine it will be fast.

sorry should add – 6 foot 3 here. 20 inch FLX and 19inch Rig.

something around 19/20 inch. whatever has a 24"tt, and a 100mm stem.

Cheers m'dear. Almost exactly what I ride, 26" wise. Which I'm thinking could be a tad small.

Think the Unit must either be longer or have a longer wheelbase as it feels more err, stable /rolly. *wanders off to take measurements….*

I've got a Scandal 29er and although I haven't raced on it I would imagine it would be perfect. But then I am a 29er "believer"

I'm about 6'3" and do a bit of XC racing on a 29" wheeled bike. I'm quite slow, but it's not about the bike… Steve on my team did a 38 minute lap at 24/12 on a 29er, and those Fisher 29er boys were tooling around as well. I guess the answer is that if you like 29" wheels for general riding l=you should like them for racing as well, they're certainly not a liability.