Originally Posted by
Happy Feet
My experience riding the same trails with three different bikes is:
26" rigid old school mtb - slow and picking lines very carefully to avoid rocks/drops etc...
26 hardtail - still need to pick lines but more forgiving on the rocks/drops...
27.5 FS - Flowing over obstacles to the point of going way to fast for some corners until I adapted. Far less concern about picking lines in regards to rocks/drops.
+1 - when i went from a full rigid 26 to a FS (first a 26 then FS 29) i couldnt believe how much easier it was to bike with the FS. it covers up and hides alot of skill deficiencies. one needs to be a far better bike handler with a much higher level of skill to ride rigid bikes. alot of people nowadays that grow up cutting their teeth of FS bikes dont have near the skill level of us old timers that started - and rode for many years - full rigid bikes. just how it is.