5'7" with hair, 30-31" inseam, 9.5 shoes ... love both my 29"ers. One is a 16" Karate Monkey, and the other is a custom Vulture with a 22.5" top tube. Both are awesome. The Vulture is the best handling mountain bike I've owned, and the Karate Monkey is a close second. Even short guys get the 29" benefits: rolling over objects better, being much more stable in rock gardens and around switchbacks, tracking straighter through sand and mud, better high speed stabilty.
The "29ers have slow handling" idea is a myth. If you get one with a decently short wheelbase (sorry, not a Fisher then) you'll find it handles just as fast as the typical 26" bike. 29"ers do handle differently: the increased gyroscope action can make them seem sluggish in the steering department the first time you ride them. But once you get used to doing more hip-steering and less hand-steering, you'll find it just as easy to repoint that gyroscope wherever you want to go, with lots more stability than a smaller wheel. Takes some getting used to, but once you adjust to the change you may not want to go back.
