All I want for Christmas is a 29er!

In the "real world" I'm running 30+ mpw, swimming poorly (ehh not bad really, just cut down to 2x a week) and cycling with my LBS 2-3x, mainly shorter stuff. I'm hoping to go sub 19 in my next 5k (tentatively on January 1st... although that seems ambitious given my history with New Year's Eve party's.) and besides that (and most exciting of all!) I think I've finally narrowed down the Mountain Bike I am going to buy. If you haven't heard of these guys, let me introduce the Airborne Guardian and the Airborne Goblin.

Considering my history with staying upright, this may be a bad idea...

Oh look, a nicer version for me to break something on!

I haven't quite decided whether the Guardian or the Goblin is right for me (that is, if I can justify the extra $$$ for the Goblin) but either way, the Airborne's check off all the boxes I have for my first 29er. Those mainly being
- a Hard tail
- Aluminum
- Front shock (better than a Suntour)
- Full bike (I'm not ready to "build" my own quite yet)
- Under/at $1000.00

The Goblin breaks the $ barrier by about $250, but does have some significant (i think...) upgrades, primarily being the upgraded fork, (Air instead of Preloaded) the drivetrain, (x7 instead of x3) the brakes (Avid's instead of Tektro's) and the crank (x7 double instead of a truvative triple)

None of that is a dealbreaker for the much cheaper ($599!) Guardian... only the triple crank really bothers me. (For some reason I've always, probably irrationally, hated triples) I assume that most disc brakes stop with ample power, and from what I've read an Air fork is more of a luxury than a necessity for a smaller guy like me.

I've been leaning toward the Guardian since I'd hate to buy a $1200 bike and then never use it (ok... that's unlikely, but still) but I also don't much like the idea of buying a $600 bike and then spending $600 on it in the next month or two!  If any of you faithful readers out there have some input, I'd love to hear it.

Oh, and who is excited for the Holidays? This guy!

I know I know... It was 4a.m. on Black Friday.

Until next time, thanks for reading!
-Christopher Morelock