Talk one of your friends into letting you test out their bike. (don't thrash it). This should be a quick decision maker for you. A good shop might set you up with a test ride of something similar also. The Epic Comp is a nice bike; it'll take you as far as you need to go with riding. I had one and it was considerably faster than my Titus X 29er. I always picked the 29er for rides and let the Epic go.