29er Review

I was in my hometown of Jonesboro this past week doing some repair work on my old house as it seems to be falling apart faster than I can nail it back together.  Anyway, whenever I'm in Jonesboogie I try to always get in a ride or two with Yancey and/or any of my other old riding buddies still living there.  This week Yancey let me test ride his new mountain bike that we just completed a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that when that crow is done baking serve me up a big plate of it because everything I have ever said and thought about 29er mountain bikes (without actually riding one) was all wrong.  I know this is old news to people who have been riding 29ers for the past 10 years or however long they have been out but this thing rolls and rolls fast.  I hadn't been on a mountain bike for at least 3 years, maybe longer, because they just seemed like I was dragging bricks behind me when I was on one and I just wasn't enjoying it, however this bike rode without any effort and it made things fun again.  This ride is fully rigid and I didn't even notice. It was like getting back to where it all started. The "no tube" wheels were also a first ride for me and they spin up really quick cause they're so freakin' light. Little ditches that normally swallow up your whole bike were hardly noticeable on this thing, you were rolling out of it  while you were still waiting for that big dip.  The SRAM Double X components are pretty bad-arse.  The shifters are spot on and the disc brakes are sweeter than the icing on a Honey Bun, (I had one for breakfast that morning).  I normally like my brake levers really tight so that the brake engages with just a little pull and these needed to be bled before they would be that tight however I started liking them alot after a little riding because I would just hang a finger over and have it pulled right up to the point of engaging and just ride like that until I needed it and then just give it a little hug and before you knew it you were sliding the rear end around the corner. When I opened up the box that contained that huge SRAM cassette I said to myself, "This thing is gonna weigh a ton."  Wrong!  This may be the lightest cassette I have ever held in my hand, its a trip. Yancey didn't have much tire pressure in the tires at the time and my body was fried already from working on my roof all day but for about 30 minutes I forgot all about my aches and pains and  I got a nice little dose of 29er and I can't wait to try it again.  Problem now is I want one.  Viva el 29er!