Howards had several bikes on sale when I was in there Thursday.
Well I did go to Howard's. The guy that helped me was certainly friendly enough, not saying anything bad about him, but he was not overly helpful. I basically acted like I didn't know anything (not far from the truth) and by his measure, whatever he had in stock was just great. I asked about other things, like plus size tires, and he played it down, and of course naturally he didn't have any of those in stock in my size. Whatever he had there in the store was great.....if he didn't have one, well it didn't matter, not that different. He acted like plus size tires "slow you down" when everything else I've seen says no discernible difference over narrower tires. Bottom line I don't think this guy was a mountain biker, and he did not expand my knowledge outside some comments on where my leg should be at the bottom of the pedal travel I didn't know, that was useful.
While this relationship with a shop thing probably has it's merit in some situations, I've never been one to trust people who's business is to make money off my lack of knowledge. Lets face it, if they help you in a meaningful way, you don't need them anymore. I don't see me using any shop more than absolutely necessary.
I rode in the parking lot on a XL frame on 27.5 and a Large frame on 29. I felt like the XL frame was a bit better, but the Large may have had enough seat travel to be fine as well. The bike on 29s was a much nicer bike overall with a matching price, I felt it was a little low, I probably did not have my foot on the pedal correctly, (toe hanging off to far) but my foot hit the ground when I made a circle which made me feel like it was too close to the ground on the bottom of the pedal.
The XL/ 27.5 bike I rode was a Cannondale Catalyst 2, one of the bikes mentioned by
@Co-opski and I liked the price. The bikes I rode there are the nicest I've ever ridden, and realizing that it kind of brings home how it will be difficult for me to choose. Coming from someone who's only had a Wal-Mart bike, it's going to be hard for me to judge one from another when they are all so much better that what I've known.
I must admit I am tempted to just get that Catalyst 2, hit the trail, and learn from there. Not like I'm going to be thrashing it to death out the gate, I'm not in good enough shape to ride it very hard. With the amount of options, opinions, and preferences, I could easily spend another year thinking about it and not riding. Of course all the while I still won't have any real feeling for what makes one bike better than other, never having ridden any to feel a difference.