ColinL

Be careful that it clears your frame. Many hybrid forks can clear a 29x2 with ease, but where the chainstay meets the bottom bracket shell can be much tighter. The seatstay / seat tube junction can be tight as well.


I ride my Quick CX on XC trails like qmsdc15 posted as well as technical singletrack. This place is 15 minutes from my house and free to ride:http://vimeo.com/18488340
It's on private land that is publicly shared as long as you adhere to their guidelines-- stay on the trails, don't ride if it's muddy, and ride the direction that is indicated by the sign at the entrance. (Clockwise some days, counterclockwise the rest.) It is quite fun even though I'm not that good.

Regarding durability and jumping, my uncle rides singletrack and raced BMX a lot as a teen. He was pretty good and still likes to jump anything with two wheels. His 2010 Trek/GF Kaitai, unfortunately, has started weeping oil from the fork. I think his wheels are fairly round and he hasn't busted any spokes yet. He weighs around 180 pounds-- if he weighed a lot less the fork might be fine, and if he weighed 250+ I'm sure he would've taco'ed a rim by now.

Every hybrid can ride qmsdc15's trail just fine as long as you don't have 25mm road slicks mounted up. I have never seen a cyclocross road bike at Miller's Meadow (video above), but I'm sure it could be done.

Hybrids that have a suspension fork, especially higher-end ones, do have big advantages once you get into bumpy, root-filled trails. Wider tires have more air volume and thus you can run less air pressure, which gives you better traction and soaks up the terrain better. A tubeless 29x2 could ride that trail
at 20-27 psi depending on rider weight. A 700x32 would need more like 50-55psi to avoid feeling the rim or pinch flatting.