Bit of a weird one this. I’ve kind of stopped riding my mtb because I can’t be arsed to put the bike in the car and drive the 20mins to the mendips, I always just grab the road or cx bike.

It takes about 35-40min to ride but I find riding my mtb on the road (carbon 456) really frustrating and slow.

So, would a 29er feel a bit more like the cx and reignite my interest in mtb or should I chuck in the towel, sell the mtb, shave my pins and call myself an ex-mtber?

I doubt it would make enough difference to change your view.

It’s mostly in the tyres I guess.

All I need are some tyres that are 32c on the road and 2.4 on the trail!

A new bike is always a good re-ignitor of biking mojo. 🙂

But before you flog the family silver, try sniffing out some local runs, from the door.
Try to keep an open mind, stringing a few little cheeky runs etc. Google maps is your friend.

456’s have quite an aggressive geometry, and certainly aren’t the fastest to peddle on tarmac. Wy not look at something (regardless of wheel size) which is a little more to the XC side?

Why not try riding the CX to and on the MTB trails? Surely you’d get the best of both worlds then.

I do ride the cx bike in that mode, it’s just not any fun on the dh trails or rocky sections, fine for bridleways and stuff though. Perhaps it’s time to go more xc after 10 years of getting slacker and slacker geos

Wy not look at something (regardless of wheel size) which is a little more to the XC side?

This, stop thinking wheel size is the be all and end all of a bike.

You need an Audi A6

I don’t think the geometry has much effect on the road, try a faster rear like a conti x-king and make sure your top gear is big enough.