Which bike

[asatrur]

First a little background
I am not new to mountain biking or touring, but am getting back into the off-road adv riding arena. I am male weighing in around 180-200 and standing 5'8 with long legs who tends to like stretched rides who lives and rides in CO. Wow, that sounds likes a dating profile.
I have some bonus money coming and was looking for some advice on bikes my budget for all this is around 1K. I currently have an old Specialized A-1 Stumpjumper with a front shock that might be a tad small at 17ish inches. I also have a unbuilt Specialized A-1+ frame at again 17inches. Now for my questions:
1. New bike or build what I have got out?. My old rides are not disk compatible, so v-brakes would be it.
2. For long bikepacking days, would folks go smaller, stay the same, bigger frame size?
3. Suspension or not? - I started out biking with rigid and miss it sometimes. Not a fan of FS
4. 26 vs 29 and why? - Ridden both and 29'ers are amazing at eating trail obstacles up, but I tend to still migrate to 26.
Thanks for the info.
Asatrur

[wahday]

1. If you are planning to bikepacking in areas with steeper descents, I would consider a bike with disc brakes. I switched over on my existing bike which has both mounts and I feel much more confident. The extra weight of bikepacking can make some rocky steep descents more than a little terrifying.

Personally I might recommend a new bike. I bought a used bike and love the frame geometry and performance, but have also spent a good deal of money replacing worn parts, converting to discs, etc. and in retrospect wish I had sucked it up and gone with a new ride (see below for my preference). Over a two year span it amounts to the same cost. Though there is some delight in fine tuning a ride to your personal predilections...

As I just posted in another forum, I have my eyes on Airborne bikes as the best bang for the buck and a ride that is good to go right out of the box without upgrades
(Especially forks). Money is definitely an issue for me. I like the Goblin for a 29er.

2. I can't really speak to the frame size issue for bikepacking as I don't have enough experience doing it with different sized bikes.

3. I think if you are primarily planning to bikepack, a rigid fork is worth considering. That said, personally, I prefer front suspension on a bike that will be more all-purpose. As passionate as I am about bikepacking the bulk of my riding is day trip trail riding. Nd i just can't afford to have a ride just for bikepacking. There are plenty of all rigid fanatics though and I used to have one as well. For some stoke on that check out the "pics of rigid bikes in extreme terrain" or something like that over at mtbr.com. It's inspiring. But more niche than norm.

4. For your height 26 might be a better fit, but it really just depends on your preference. Go test drive a number of options I would say. I would like a 29er and I am 6'1" but they are more pricey so that's how I ended up with a 26er. Someday.

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[texasjake]

wahday -

   checked out that airborne goblin 29er...awesome!! i see what you mean by ready "right out of the box".

[bartspedden]

1 - I'd go with a new bike - after market parts are pricey and at the price range you are looking at I would that the buying power of a large company for buying components in bulk would make your money go farther.
2 - I stayed the same size on my bike - no problems either.
3 - at $1K you would be well advised to go with a hard tail - a sub $1K full suspension bike will be heavy and the moving parts will wear out quickly
4 - I demo'd a 29'er before building my bike and opted for the 26'er because of all the climbing in CO. I'm a smaller guy and the 29'er wheels didn't feel right for me on long climbs. The lighter 29'er wheels won't be in your budget. On the flip side, I can't really imagine buying a 26'er hardtail now a days either because of the ride quality difference.

Here's an article on sub $1000 29'ers: http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/best-mountain-bikes-under-1000-30433/