Chris and Root were at the shop and Chris discovered a 27.5″-wheeled bike. Chris found it more agile than a 29″, and noted that he could controllably wheelie it. He and I both noted that it was short-ish, but that was more a contemporary geometry thing. It definitely didn’t have as much of a toe-overlap issue as a 29″. Root said after riding it around that if nobody told him it wasn’t a 27.5″, he would have just thought it was a 26″, and really, when you look at it next to a 29″, that’s what it looks like.
So essentially, in reaction to the negatives and limitations of 29″, they came up with something that “undoes” those, and essentially ended back where they started. Unless you just want to have something new or different, what’s the point in getting the compromise when you can get either an industry-standard 26″ or 29″? I don’t think the 27.5″ was different enough from 26″ that you’d get any really noticable difference. Go all the way and get 29″ or stay with 26″.
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