Originally Posted by cyccommute

I'd council against a front suspension 29er for a couple of reasons. First, there are, like I said above, reports of frame cracking issues with lots of 29ers out on the market right now. Giant has recalled some and Trek is reported to be having lots of warranty claims on them. It seems they pushed the idea before they had worked out the kinks.

The other reason not to use a 29 with front suspension is that the 700C wheel has more side deflection than a 26" wheel. This allows the front suspension legs to work independently which isn't good with the kinds of forks we use now. Add a load over the front wheel and the fork could get real noodly. You can solve the problem by going to a 15mm or 20mm through axle but that's a bit extreme for a 'touring' bike.

The 26" wheels use hubs that have been optimized for 26" forks so they tend to be more solid and less noodly.