What's new in last 15+ years? Need a new bike.

[XXX-er]

its harder to tell by just riding but take a 26 and a 29, with riders that are comparable is best, go ride and swap, the difference will be noticable and apparent IME

I did that with my kid and he said well yeah it doesnt feel any different to you but I could just ride away from you on your old 26er while I had to work a little more with you on my 27.5

Did it with my GF and she noticed it was easier to keep up on my 29 while I was on her 26

look on CRC at tires and rims that come in 26/ 27.5/ 29 to see whats available, its pretty obvious where 26 is at

[forty]

i suppose since all my dirt biased bikes have 26in wheels allow me to channel mr sanders for a moment...

disagree about xl being obvious for 29

no tall bmx rider is on 29
no short xc racer is on 20
its about the right tool for the job
its not about scaling wheel size to body size, thats bs logic

yes its true its easier to shove 29 wheels into an xl frame than a xs one
but it does not mean all xl frames are inherently better with 29 wheels

if you want to do 360s and backflips 20 or 26 are gonna make life easier
if you want to monstertruck over terrain and be efficient for racing then 29 is the ticket
but if you enjoy picking your line and engaging the terrain 27.5 is a great option

trails dont get bigger because im taller, and xl bikes are already pretty damn big and heavy, larger wheels just makes it even more liking trying to pilot a battleship, if you can afford fancy carbon bits and get weight down then your still at 30lbs, and if you arent on a dentist budget your closer to 40, so fuck 29 on xl frames, it makes them even slower and more boring to ride than 27.5, if i want to sit and spin i get on my road bike, mtb is for fun and smaller wheels are more fun to some of us, including tall folk

end rant

[phatty]

I got out yesterday on my new (to me) modern geo bike. My last bike was a 2008 Giant Reign X, which was slack for its time. I bought a 2020 Specialized Enduro, which is still a very big, fairly heavy bike. Even at its size, it's close to 5# lighter than my old bike.

Man, it was awesome. According to Strava I saw huge improvement both climbing and descend speed. It was a ton of fun and I want to get out soon again. I need to get used to having a dropper, but it's life changing. Also need to get used to flats, but did much better on the climb than I thought. Pedal strikes threw me off a bit.

My only advice is to take the plunge. Get something with a dropper and I would say a 1x11 (I have 1x12 and the extra gears were appreciated).