What about mullet? Does the 27.5 rear help with playfulness/agility? Going to find out myself shortly, but worth considering as it’s a popular build on 29er trail bikes of many types. One smaller wheel and tyre won’t make much of a weight saving, but more about ride feel??

I ride 29ers, and have had a few goes, back to back on my mate’s Orange Crush 27.5 and his Alpine 27.5. Both are noticeably more nimble than my bikes when ridden back to back. However when I’m riding my own bikes I don’t find them cumbersome.

AirDrop bikes. They almost exclusively make 27.5 bikes for the reasons you state. I’ve know idea what sort of travel counts as a trail bike nowadays but they do a few.

If you want a fast, fun, playful 27.5in trail bike, have a look at secondhand Orange Fives (and maybe Fours) from the last 4 or 5 years.

Think the Five Evo is the current version.

If I had the time and energy to ride more than one bike I’d definitely still have a full 27.5. It would be perfect for man made trails and ripping berms and jumps and stuff.

I’d like to test ride an Aether 7 or Airdrop Filter.

I have a 27.5 HT and 29 FS, both with modern geometry. From my experience the same rules still apply, bigger wheels = more stable, feel faster and smoother, 27.5 = more nimble and easier to shift about but can get bogged down so you need to not be lazy. The short chain stay on my HT make it much easier to lift the front too. 29ers are the better bike 90% of the time but the 10% is the most fun, imo.

Currently spinning around on a 2022 trek Slash (29) while my 2012 Ibis Mojo HDR (27) is out of action.

The Slash is a lot more travel and up to date ish Rock Shox kit rather than my dated (and reason it’s off road) Fox kit. I’ve always known the RS suspension is a bit plusher than Fox, and with longer travel, unsurprisingly the Slash is a joy on downhills and jumps, but I’m definitely noticing the slower steering. It’s still fun on the tech stuff but I’m having to think a lot more.

The Slash is a tad heavier than the Ibis but I don’t think there’s much in it and the 12th gear helps get up the tougher climbs.

I’m looking forward to getting the HDR back on the trails and seeing if TF breathing life into the Fox CTD brings the pop back to it.

PS – I tried the Cotic Flare 27 a couple of years ago and loved it, but it was a heavy beast. Not so much in the ride but I wouldn’t want to throw it over too many gates.

Whyte T130 RS for me – very agile 27.5 trail bike.

Also a newly aquired Trek Fuel Exe that i’m running with a 27.5 rear – currently thinking that mullet maybe the best of both worlds!

Picked up a Trek Remedy recently.
Love how it rides until things get quicker then it feels a bit sketchy. This is not down to wheel size though, it’s just a bit short for me. Totally my purchasing error there.

But as an fun agile bike it’s really opened my eyes.

Then I flipped the chip on my 29er and put the 27.5 wheel off the Remedy in the back… and my world changed again. My 29er does have super short chainstays so was already quite good, but with the smaller wheel it feels nearly as agile as the trek but still get nice amounts of stability at speed. Also encourages mild hooliganism off jumps, so it’s quite likely to kill me at some point.

I hated running 2.6 tyres on my last 27.5 bike. They felt fast over rough stuff and were supremely comfortable but I hated hard cornering. They squirm and fold too much especially on berms and hard pack. The big volume is also too much of an undamped spring and makes the bike rebound weirdly out of compressions and stuff.

I didn’t have inserts in those days though. 2.6 tyres with Rimpacts might be the ultimate combo.

TBH I just don’t think it’s really all <that> true… I’ve had 3 “big trail bikes” recently, no massive differences in weight but my Rocket was definitely a big slugger, way less agile, way less involving if you weren’t riding it hard, and sort of harder to turn it on. Not a great bike to have a low energy day on. But the Remedy 29 was agile and playful, more so than the 650b version of the exact same bike because you could actually use it better and get away with more, and my Bird AM9 a really good balance.

Wheel size is just one factor and you can make a big slugger of a 650b bike or an agile 29er. I think it’s more that if you’re making a longish travel 29er you’re just naturally more likely to lean into it and make it a big thumper of a bike even if you could make it more playful? Similar to how 29ers tended to lead the charge a bit into “long low and slack” just because it’s physically easier to package a 29er bike that way, whereas 650b bikes tended to be more conservative because they didn’t have the <need> for the length.

Still rocking my Pitch which, yes, is 26″ but hell yeah to a 650b. I have a 29 which does its job well but smaller wheels are always more fun. I’d have an FS BMX for the lols if I could justify it.

Banshee still do 27.5″ bikes and their geometry looks a bit more old school than a lot of “progressive” designs which potentially suck the fun out of a lot of trails. On a hardtail I like 29″ as it doesn’t hang up so easily on ruts, roots etc, but it definitely feels more “barge” like and slower to turn etc, I don’t have the same confidence on it on tighter trails as I do on smaller bikes. Not sure I’d want a modern geometry full suspension with big wheels as well, but if it’s not too long and slack maybe it’d be ok.

Banshee Runes have a 63.5º head angle and 76º seat tube angle, which I wouldn’t call old school.
It is a lot fun to ride. A 180mm fork certainly takes the edge off the hits as well.

After riding a 24″ wheeled street bike (steep angles short stays) and a 27.5 wheeled rigid MTB (brand x ht-01 frame exotic 29er forks) when i took my 27.5″ Bird Zero TR to the woods (for the first time in years) I did keep wondering why I couldn’t steer around puddles as expected – its quite a long bike. 2.4 Onza tyres on 30mm rims (zero tr) also bigger than 2.6 slaughter on 25mm rims (ht01).

Still never ridden a 29er. Not weighed my Zero TR yet either.

GF’s Trance SX kinda meets that criteria, although being an SX it has a 160mm fork, 140mm rear.

the bike I replaced it with (Orange Switch 6) is just far too capable in a dick-about-bike way.

I’ve literally just built one of these as (potentially) my main bike.

I am so excited about using it in anger.

chakaping – saw that you’d got a Switch 6 on the Instagrams (some Orange fanboi page or something).  It’s a fantastic bike, but the old medium sized 2018 Five was more fun at feeling on the edge and mucking about.  The Switch feels quite serious in comparison – super quick and composed.  I’m looking forward to my Marino arriving.

Having said all that, I think the 27.5 or Mullet thing is more to do with geo.  If I made a long and slack 27.5 I’m sure it wouldn’t have the flicky feel I’m after.

Pah, 26 ain’t dead….