Posted by: JBV
Posted by: DemonMike
I guess it depends on what you ride. I run out of bike one several trails I ride. That can be worse for crashes IMO. I only have one bike so. My next bike will be a bigger travel 29er.
i've loved short travel 29ers for all the reasons stated. frankly, they are probably, the most fun of all mtb's, most the time. i still miss my original Smuggler and may get one again some day down the road.
but.... like a number of guys on this forum (compared to others, this one seems to be more 'mature' for some reason) i've crossed the Rubicon known as 50 and i'm facing some realities. in every sport i'm on a long term decline. i can improve for sure, i can train for strength, etc, but the fitness limits, the fast twitch response and max output efforts are what they are. there's no denying it.
so my response to that was to get away from this concept of being 'over biked' and just get the dam machine that's going to offer me the most support, the most 'got your back' factor for hard riding. i ride the same trails as ever (well, new ones are springing up all the time here) but the new bike is simply easier and more fun on all the harder trails, where i'm still trying to push speeds and take the impacts and look for jumps.
i can still feel the trail, no root and rock goes unnoticed, but there is more comfort and control and i while i still feel totally exhausted at the end of a ride, i don't feel as beat up. my joints and back are much happier over all.
i've gone from 2 bikes down to 1 and presently, i'm happy for the decision. i'm hoping for a long ownership horizon on this bike and i'll reevaluate in 5 years or so. there are any number of bikes in this category, mine is a coil sprung Slayer 29 and i couldn't be more stoked with the choice.
I switched to a smaller travel bike.After being sidelined with shattered ribs/punctured lung. And a torn up shoulder and back. Both accidents sidelined me for over a year combined. The smaller travel bike was supposed to slow me down Hahaha . That didn't really work, as all my big bike PR,s got destroyed. Many without trying to .
As you mentioned the smaller bikes are very fun. And Hell YAY I agree by far my funnest bike to date. I,m 52 next month so I fit the Mature category as well . Most of the guys I ride with are similar age . With several in the 30,s and 40,s. They all ride bigger travel bikes. 120MM gets short on travel real fast on some of the rides.
The coil-sprung Slayer 29 sounds like a fun bike. Carbon or Aluminum?
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-2021-commencal-meta-tr-is-mini-enduro-a-thing.html
Just seen this , looks like a solid 1 bike ride.