Just how bad are 29ers for mucking about?

I’m told that because 29ers have the dropouts positioned higher relative to the BB than 26er (or 27.5ers), they’re harder to manual. My own experience with my Stumpy 29er appears to bear this out,

At the risk of being contrary, another mate jumped on the Jeffsy mentioned above and commented ‘that’s the only bike I’ve ever been able to manual on’!
Although it may be that he’s about 6ft and jumped on a medium!

That’s got to be suspension though. 29er wheels don’t really change how a bike takes off much, other’n weight. A bit of difference with using roots or similar as a lip to take off but not really that much.

Dunno, maybe. I’d assume it’s just geometry/wheelbase/weight etc. I was definitely dangling too far off the back of my Meta which probably helped for hoiking the front wheel up 🙂

Depends on what you consider fun. Riding a bike is fun. As a bmx dirt jumper of old who also had a 26 DJ bike and now on a 29 RocketMax i can say that the bigger wheels do make a hell of a difference for jumping. Geo may make a bit of a difference but the the wheel size makes more ime. If you know what you’re at you can still jump about and make some shapes but it’s harder work and you don’t get the same amount of air time. Spinning jumps are a lot slower. For launching off jumps they are pretty good – very stable in the air and on landing. For manualing and dicking about etc suspension design/geo probably makes more difference than wheel size.

I really want one of these for dicking about on. bit expensive considering I already have a 27.5 FS trail bike and a dirt jumper

Intense Primer 29 Review: Is it really a 29er?!

These guys don’t seem to mind a decent 29’er

I’m told that because 29ers have the dropouts positioned higher relative to the BB than 26er (or 27.5ers), they’re harder to manual.

chainstay length more important.

BB height is more relevant to how easy it is to hold a manual, not pull one.

Ride a bike with BB above the axles trials bike. you’ll find that they are unstable on two wheels – incredably stable on one.

I was always anti 29 until I rode a couple. A cube carbon hardtail was soo fast round bedgebury & a Pivot 429 trail. I now own an XL Smuggler & love it. Also own an enduro bike but Smuggler is the bling bike.

I was really dismissive of 29r’s, then when I was looking for something to replace my 26″ transition bandit I got a killer deal on a 29″ bandit. Thought I’d give it a punt and
move it on if I didn’t like it.

Nearly 1000 miles done on the 29r now, love it, wouldn’t go back. It’s faster than the 26″ bandit pretty much everywhere. The only place it’s a touch slower is in really tight berms but not by much.

And this guy seems to be coping with the combination of big wheels and fatter tyres

Trek Stache 9.8 Review – An Unusual 29 Plus Hardtail on Test

Probably be selling my large process 111 shortly, if anyone is looking for a very fun short travel 29er.

A BMX is the best bike for mucking about on. As wheel size increases, a bike becomes less chuckable 😉
Even normal 26″ bikes look pretty awkward for jibbing and the like.
Something else to consider; 29ers are actually too big for alot of people aswell; they just don’t look right (a bit like Robbie Bourdon used to look on a 26″ bike).