Love this vid, it captures the genre's atmosphere perfectly! It would be really cool to have a fragment of Resident Evil theme song in it, though ;)

Andy01302, can you even read? Matt76 clearly wrote that he actually HAS ridden some 29ers. You haven't so it's him who has more right to state his opinions. I've ridden a 29er as well and I completely agree with Matt76: 29ers may be good for riders with poor technique because of the feeling of riding "in" instead of "on" the bike. On a 29er all you have to do is hold on and pedal, while on a 26er you have to move your body/weight around to make the bike do what you want. The latter is simply more rewarding for me, why would I bother to go mountainbiking if I didn't have to employ any skill in it? Besides, even the most pro-29er testers usually agree that the more technical and tight the terrain gets, the bigger the advantage of 26es becomes. There's a good reason bigger wheels always were thought to be better for road/cx/recreation than MTB. Now companies finally managed to adapt them to moutainbikes, but this does not make them better yet. It's just a way of convincing you that you need a new bike.

To be honest, this is long before even Johnny T's domination era ;), but I think teamdoa just meant to point out the skills difference, especially that Peaty started his pro DH career on a steel hardtail (or even rigid? probably someone will know better), just like Johnny.

Make them tanukis, mate, the kids need to go uphill to school ;)

In a way, they make access to water etc. easier by giving those people bikes. In some projects the bikes are to be used to get to school, but in others they serve as water transportation means. Besides, easier access to education means quicker development and a step towards getting out of poverty, and, as a result, maybe also a step towards less problems with food and water. Of course you can give them food, but they will just eat it and need more. IMHO it's better to help them develop and finally, in the future, look after themselves with no need for help from other countries. Peace.

Me too, the bike looks ready for some quality singletrack action.