I have had the privilege to ride the most epic mountain bike course in California two weekends in a row; "The Flume Trail". This trail is a great combination of long steep, sandy climbs + fun fire roads + ridge trail along Tahoe + granite rock formation rock gardens. The first week that I rode this trail I was on my trusty full suspension, aluminum frame, 26er. It was great and a lot of fun, but it was not until I rode Grammo's, full carbon, 29er the following week that I truly had fun.
The lightness of the bike made climbing a lot more enjoyable, enabling me to complete steep ascends without expending tons of energy. I also noticed that the rolling power of the 29" tire allowed me to cover more ground and obstacles with more ease. The angle of the top tube of the frame and the handlebar position set me up to be more aggressive downhill, without feeling like I would go over my handlebars.
The only thing that was different for me was getting use to bouncing on my seat when going through technical areas because I am used to the FSR effects and not hardtail. Once I learned how to respond to bouncing on my seat, the rest was gravy.
The Grammo 29er was an awesome ride and is definitely a climbing machine.
Pre order yours here: http://grammo-bici.com/ProductDesc.aspx?code=FR0020&type=3&eq=&desc=Toa-Frameset-Preorder&key=it
