Whenever I see the 26” - 29” wheel argument, I never see any commits about the main reason I didn’t adopt to 29” wheels. The reason why I decided not to go 29” is because manualing is extremely difficult because of the longer chain stays and a bb that is lower than the wheel axles. I consider the manual to be a fundamental skill in mountain biking, not to mention it makes it way funner. Since it is hard to loft the front end, it is also makes it much more difficult to bunny hop the bike. When these two handling fundamentals are inhibited it makes riding less fun, more dangerous, and allows the rider less control when it gets technical. Ya, the 29 rolls better than the 26, but with 26 you don’t need this rolling advantage because you can simply loft and hop over obstacles.