Originally Posted by
slowride454
This bike is very difficult for me to manual, even onto curbs, without excessive force.
It's those long chain stays. Great for keeping you planted on climbs, but a bear to get the front end up. I would look for sub-17" chainstays on a 29er hardtail.
It also sounds like you could go to something with a slacker HT angle than the GT to give you a little more stability in the steep/rough. The front end being heavy could be geometry and the stock fork is not particularly light(5+ lbs).