JCL, I like the looks of the last Thule rack. My buddy has the same system lock down on his T2 rack (for a hitch). I may have to look into getting one of them.

AZX, I'm lovin' the 29ers! For me it's been a dream since I'm 6'5" and 270lbs. I've been beefing up my Stumpy over the last year slowly after replacing all the broken stuff on the bike. It's now pretty "Clyde proof". It's amazing how much abuse these bikes can take. I pancaked the stock DT Swiss rims pretty quickly and had a Salsa Semi rim built up and then decided that tubeless was the way to go. The Stans ZTR's with brown Chris Kring hubs have been the best upgrade to date. Absolutely no issues with the tubeless.
The Niner's are sick. My buddy's got the brown RIP and loves it. You'll have to post up the Vana White when she's built up. Red CK hubs would look great on that bike. Never mind they're great hubs. Have you looked into the Industry Nine wheels? Another buddy built them up with Arches in blue for his Salsa Selma and he uses them as his race set.
I don't know much about road bikes but would love to get into that as well. I can just imagine what I'd have to pour into that bike to make it "Clyde proof". I almost pulled the trigger on a TI Seven that has been sitting in my lbs for a while. It's just silly what they're asking for these bike now a days though.