[L8APXR]

I have what I consoder a pretty nice xc bike that I like riding on tame trails and even paved grenway with my kids. It's a 2013 gt sensor 29er expert, basically a 120mm travel FS.

There are a couple of places here in Houston that have jumps and other more technical features that I would love to practice riding (especially the flying through the air part...) that I just don't think the 29'er is well suited for.

So I am thinking of maybe buying a second bike with more travel for just those features. I wrecked on my 29'er about a week ago and broke some ribs and stuff, and partially blame the bike a little, since I was simply not able to make a mid-corner correction that ended up slamming me into something solid. I would say 80% riding skill and 20% bike is at fault. anyway, enough about that.

I am thinking of several paths:

- trade in the 29'er for a longer travel 27.5'er and have just one bike for everything
- keep the 29'er for cruising, and buy a cheap, used 26" AM/DH bike for the jumping and whatnot
-keep the 29er and also buy an additional (new or new-ish) 27.5er or 26 bike, something like the GT Force or something of that nature

I am kind of going in circles on this decision, and would love to hear thoughts or comments on what you guys think I maybe ought to do. I'm sure "learn how to ride the 29'er without crashing into shiz" will feature prominently in the feedback, but that's ok. I am not sure that the 29'er is the right bike to take to practice jumps and medium to bigger drops.

 

[slapheadmofo]

I think you'll find smaller wheels are more friendly in general when it comes to the stuff it sounds like you want to do.

Tough to make a call on a particular choice though, not knowing your trails. When you say 'jumping', are you thinking more of just natural hits and drops that you come along while XC riding, or is it more purpose-built type stuff? Any links to vids of some specific trails you're thinking of? It's not likely you're going to want any sort of DH bike, but depending on the application, there's a pretty wide range of possible choices of bike styles that could work.

 

[L8APXR]

these are purpose built jumps. one in particular with a nice downward sloping landing area where I think one could easily fly 10+ feet horizontal and maybe 6 or 7 vertical (or more) before landing, if one had enough courage to hit it hard (which I currently don't have lol, but I am working up to it).

There is another ~15-20 foot deep ditch that I like to ride down, that if I ride off the lip with enough speed I can float down more than half way before the wheels actually touch dirt. I am never actually more than a foot off the ground, but it does feel like I am flying a little. This is where I actually got hurt weekend before last, but not going down it, rather while turning around and coming back to do it again, lol.

I'll post some pics of the jump and whatnot when I get back out there (cant ride for a few more weeks). In my experience pictures don't really show steepness well... it can look nearly straight down over the handlebars, but in a picture it looks almost flat. cant figure that out.

 

[L8APXR]

ooh, I found a video of someone else doing one of the jumps i am talking about. let me see if I can figure out how to embed it.

 

[rangeriderdave]

Depending on how big you ,how hard you ride,what skills you have and the right wheels a 29er could do a jump like that. Any bike bike that leans more to all mountain would be better.

 

[gatorgrizz27]

Geometry isn't too much different between your bike and something like the GT force. 69 degree head angle is slack enough for mild jumps and drops IMO. I would try a 50mm stem and some 740mm bars first, I was shocked at the difference in control and confidence it made on my bike.