realskiers

yeah 29er are capable mountain bikes. In fact I dare say more capable than the kids wheels if your tall enough to ride them.

26 inch XC bikes are dead, the demand is done for them. In a couple years all the major manufacturers will stop making them. 26inch trail bike will hang on longer but again in the larger sizes they will be dead.

the deal is a 29er hardtail can be ridden nearly anywhere, albeit quite slowly on road compared to anything else, and for alot of people on dirt road they usually are faster.

case in point, at the Hilly Billy Roubaix in Wv which is a 68 mile dirt road race the cross bike had their asses kicked by 2.0 tired MTBs. 8 of the top 10 were on a hardtail or fully rigid MTB running wider than most cross bike tires.  although I love cross bike and I think they can be right bike for alot of stuff it hard for me to see that they are faster than a 29er MTB even on pretty smooth dirt/gravel road. Larger tires roll faster off road and cross bike simply do not have the clearance for them.