Any MTB riders out there?

[rushca01]

I've spent almost 100% of my bike time on a road bike and a buddy and I are going to get into MTB riding. We decided on 29er hardtails do mostly to our local terrain etc.. Through all my years on a road bike I have only crashed once and it was my own and very embarrassing fault. I walked away er rode away with no injury to me or the bike just my ego. My buddy who rode MTBs before getting in road racing said he crashed 29 times in one season of riding on a MTB! Never serious, just bumps and bruises. Sounds exciting....!

I bought a yeti big top that has all SRAM XO components. Can't wait to get out and ride.

So who else rides?

[An Undocumented Worker]

Hell yeah, Just got back from a trip to Moab, most amazing place ever, I've been riding for 18 years and still came away from moab a better rider than I was before. Anyhow just understand that if you aren't crashing every once and a while you aren't riding hard enough. Lean the bike more than you lean yourself, point with your belly button through the turns and if you let your eyes fixate on that which you wish to avoid you will hit it.

[williejc]

Does your bike have a motor?

[brickboy240]

Long time MTB guy here.

Have two older Gary Fisher 26" bikes that have been upgraded over the years. I also have a 26" full suspension KHS that I ride now and then. Still not totally sold on full suspension - complicated and somewhat heavy.

I really want to try a 29-er but with a 30" inseam...I am worried the bikes might seem a tad tall.

-brickboy240

[chuckman]

I started when all there was were hard-tails and stiff forks, and the number of mountain bike brands were under 20. I have ridden a Gary Fisher XCaliber hard-tail for years, XTR, and love the hell out of it. I used to ride some on the road, for fitness, but honestly traffic scares the hell out of me, so I have it up to ride off road exclusively. The irony is that I have separated my shoulder twice in mountain bike crashes......

[TehLlama]

Yup, avid MTb rider (though at my size, an XL sized FS 5" travel 29er works for what I do. Albuquerque is a hidden mecca for MTB stuff (as far as diversity of convenient stuff).

brick - try some (the lighter ones) if you want something XC-Trail oriented, otherwise find an intelligent 27.5/650B setup. The lighter efficient FS setups are tons better than anything you have as a reference (a Giant Maestro setup is damned impressive, their alloy stuff is actually priced reasonably).

The other fun part is trolling road bikers in spandex on my MTB while in basketball shorts - if I can keep up or pass them, I know I've suceeded at my trolling for the day.

[brickboy240]

Yeah...it appears that you have to drop big money to get a decent FS mt bike. To get one that is light and is more adjustable...that is. I guess people really are paying 3-6 grand for a bike.....ugh! LOL

I am seriously considering selling my KHS FS bike and going with a Cannondale 29'er hardtail that I have been eyeing. It is much more responsive and since I don't ride where there are tons of rocks...I can totally live without FS. It comes in for slightly under a grand.

Currently, I am re-doing my 94 Gary Fisher Aquila for my 15 year old daughter to ride. V-brake upgrades...new tires and re-building the old Rock Shox air-oil fork. It will be a lively nice little ride for a beginner...no doubt.

Things change wildly in this sport! 27.5'ers...29ers. Now...people are moving back to flat pedals while I am sticking to SPDs and Shimano pedals. Old habits dies hard.

-brickboy240

[chuckman]

Yeah...it appears that you have to drop big money to get a decent FS mt bike. To get one that is light and is more adjustable...that is. I guess people really are paying 3-6 grand for a bike.....ugh! LOL

I am seriously considering selling my KHS FS bike and going with a Cannondale 29'er hardtail that I have been eyeing. It is much more responsive and since I don't ride where there are tons of rocks...I can totally live without FS. It comes in for slightly under a grand.

Currently, I am re-doing my 94 Gary Fisher Aquila for my 15 year old daughter to ride. V-brake upgrades...new tires and re-building the old Rock Shox air-oil fork. It will be a lively nice little ride for a beginner...no doubt.

Things change wildly in this sport! 27.5'ers...29ers. Now...people are moving back to flat pedals while I am sticking to SPDs and Shimano pedals. Old habits dies hard.

-brickboy240

I am a heavy guy, and FS and aluminum frames feel to squishy for me. I like Cannondale and you won't go wrong. That Gary Fisher, I remember when they were new...that was a solid "mid-level" bike in its day. Now it doesn't scratch the surface of "entry-level."

As for paying that much money for bikes...back in the late 80s I worked in a bike shop and a lot of the local college kids wouldn't think twice about dropping a couple grand for the latest bike on the market....all to use as a "campud cruiser," which never got dirty. Made me sad.

[El Vaquero]

I have a 2013 Trek Marlin 29er which I enjoy. I'm real curious about those 27.5ers. Anyone have any seat time on those?

[rjacobs]

Ive been eyeing getting into MTB. Im a road biker and just bought a Trek Domane 5.2 with Ultegra. That bike is sick. No way can I afford to spend 3500 on a mountain bike though. I looked at a few Trek's last time I was in and for under a grand they had a ton to choose from. I would love to get a 29'r, but I am short and worry its to big of a wheel so I am looking at the 27.5's with shimano shifting and mechanical disc brakes for like 750 or so. Might pick one up, but I need to recover from buying my new road bike before I buy another bike.

[brickboy240]

I am 5ft 9in and maybe 172 pounds...so the aluminum Cannondales feel right to me. Some do not like their stiffness but I think it gives good "feedback" and can deal with the hard tail.

The thing I am most worried about is the 29" wheels. Seeing that I only have a 30" inseam...the 29ers might seem too tall and harder to control. Will have to try one to see.

The 27.5s are still too new and I am afraid to buy one...then they stop making 27.5 tires and tubes. Lots of things come and go in the MTB world....remember when all the cool bikes had their rear brakes down on the bottom bracket? That is long gone. This type of thing keeps me from a 27.5. the 29'ers are here to stay...but I don;t know about 27.5 bikes.

Yes, the Fishers I have were made before Trek bought Fisher and sort of watered down the brand. Gary Fisher stuff was cool and hip back in the mid 90s.

-brickboy240

[El Vaquero]

Ive been eyeing getting into MTB. Im a road biker and just bought a Trek Domane 5.2 with Ultegra. That bike is sick. No way can I afford to spend 3500 on a mountain bike though. I looked at a few Trek's last time I was in and for under a grand they had a ton to choose from. I would love to get a 29'r, but I am short and worry its to big of a wheel so I am looking at the 27.5's with shimano shifting and mechanical disc brakes for like 750 or so. Might pick one up, but I need to recover from buying my new road bike before I buy another bike.

The only thing I don't like about the 29ers is they don't steer/corner as tight as the 26ers. They go over bumps, rocks, roots, etc great. That's whay I'm real curious if the 27.5er is a happy median.

[brickboy240]

I am also worried about that too. That the 29'er....for someone shorter like me...will seem huge and not as easy to toss around on tight trails. Less agile.

I might just look at their 26" offerings and skip the whole 29 thing. For the many years I have done this...I have never really been out on a trail and thought, "man...if these tires weren't only a bit taller." LOL

There is probably some weight savings in 26 vs 29 as well. Easier to find tires as well.

[El Vaquero]

They're definitely not as agile. Before I purchased I rented a 29er from my local bike store and rode it on some decent trails. My LBS then applied my rental fees toward the purchase of a new bike. Not a bad deal. I'd see if a store in your area will do that. Test a 29er and a 27.5er. I didn't find the weight to be that big of a difference. I have had no issues finding inner tubes. Even my local Walmart has em.

[TehLlama]

The only thing I don't like about the 29ers is they don't steer/corner as tight as the 26ers. They go over bumps, rocks, roots, etc great. That's whay I'm real curious if the 27.5er is a happy median.

Get one designed and sized properly, they handle brilliantly - a little bit of low speed maneuverability and tight radius stuff is lost because of the longer wheelbase of any 29er with much travel, but is only a trait of the ones that aren't designed to function like trail whippets (XC-Trail focused setups are super maneuverable in practice).

The difference to me on those is wheelbase-chainstay ratios and amount of bottom bracket drop possible - until you're looking at it in those terms, saying one wheel size is 'better' than any others is usually ignorant or based on skewed data points (characteristics of particular bikes, experiences). It makes literally as much sense as judging validity of complete weapon systems based on the length of the barrel.

For my preference, Shimano brakes are ideal (nobody makes better brakes for the money, the Avid/SRAM are high lemon rate units, and the Formula brakes have just awful feel and are even worse in every iteration I've tried - 7 bikes test rode with those brakes and had three failures, and zero desire to run them ever again). Drivetrain just about anything works - unless you need lightweight, the Deore/SLX or X5/X7 mixed stuff is really great for the money, I'm on SLX/XT stuff right now and it's better than I need, if you live somewhere relatively flat going 1x10 with the cheapest mid-cage clutch derailleur setup is going to be amazingly light and quite effective.
Other part is dropper posts - they're getting better and cheaper, on a budget where weight isn't an issue the KS eTen is unbeatable, but once you're spending over $2k then you'll want the KS Lev/LevIntegra or something similar. As dumb as it sounds, having a dropper post has done the most for being able to safely handle choppy stuff once I was no longer using garbage brakes anymore.

[rjacobs]

I think ill try my hand at some trails with my cargo bike we just got done building!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/rjacobs1/204.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/rjacobs1/media/204.jpeg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/rjacobs1/0922141736.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/rjacobs1/media/0922141736.jpg.html)

[Honu]

used to own a bike shop :) was a big time roady never anything great cat 3 that was it mid pack kinda guy but did about 400 miles a week did a lot of touring every summer for a month at least
also got into mtn bikes when they were starting like 35 years ago so converted a mongoose kos cruisers into one etc... last 7-8 years have not ridden much since moving and packed on some extra weight in those years have to get off my belly haaahah ?

also used to ride trials had a IBIS and Haro and GT trials bikes and was pretty good at it had a course out behind our bike shop so was a lot of fun
also did some freestyle riding with our team again nothing great but picked up a lot as we had a top ranked team so the guys had fun the owner would ride with them could not get past vert on ramps though :) a bit to freaky for me :) hahahahaha

so my mtn biking was more technical then all out bombing speed likes the hard tech trails more have a specialized FSR or something that is about ten years old now ?

been wanting to get back in and the 29er look super cool and thought for a camping bike a fat tire would be fun to go around the camping areas we go

[JBecker 72]

I had a pretty hopped up Fuji when I lived in CA and rode it a lot, but sold it when I got to VA. I want to get a new FS bike, really want the Yeti SB66. I miss riding my mtb.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s73/hownowbrowncow_02/Bikes/IMAG0215.jpg

[TehLlama]

been wanting to get back in and the 29er look super cool and thought for a camping bike a fat tire would be fun to go around the camping areas we go

I'm not sure if it's really out yet (my RockyMountain Instinct is one of the closest for capable) but the 27+ rim/tire combination (a 27.5" fat rim in the 27-25mm class with a big 3.0-3.8" tire) can be an almost-fatbike setup, but it works on otherwise normal 29ers. The issue is tire clearance on the rear triangle (happens to be that the almost Horst-link setup [Specialized FSR is horst link] on the RM Trail-AM line has room to spare), but I think that might be a viable two-wheelset option for a general use 29" user who wants to be able to run really big volume stuff for sand/snow.

Otherwise, the cheaper Motobecane fatbikes are probably the place to look up front if it's just something to tow, and then have a good time with. They're a crapton of fun, but the cheap ones are quite heavy (noticeable even with my 240lb fat self on them).

[chuckman]

Ive been eyeing getting into MTB. Im a road biker and just bought a Trek Domane 5.2 with Ultegra. That bike is sick. No way can I afford to spend 3500 on a mountain bike though. I looked at a few Trek's last time I was in and for under a grand they had a ton to choose from. I would love to get a 29'r, but I am short and worry its to big of a wheel so I am looking at the 27.5's with shimano shifting and mechanical disc brakes for like 750 or so. Might pick one up, but I need to recover from buying my new road bike before I buy another bike.

You don't need a $3,500 bike. With today's technology and prices you can a great mountain bike that will do what you want for $1,500. Hell, even a $750 bike today is far better than the $2,000 bikes I used to sell.

[JBecker 72]

You don't need a $3,500 bike. With today's technology and prices you can a great mountain bike that will do what you want for $1,500. Hell, even a $750 bike today is far better than the $2,000 bikes I used to sell.

I don't know, I can tell a big difference in ride quality between a low end bike and a mid range bike. Mid range being $3500. I also don't tear up components as bad. Most of the $1000-$1500 bikes have crap suspension, brakes, derailers, wheels and bottom bracket. They just don't hold up to serious use.

My friend rides a $7000 Ibis and that thing is an amazing machine. If I had the dough I'd buy one.

[TehLlama]

I don't know, I can tell a big difference in ride quality between a low end bike and a mid range bike. Mid range being $3500. I also don't tear up components as bad. Most of the $1000-$1500 bikes have crap suspension, brakes, derailers, wheels and bottom bracket. They just don't hold up to serious use.

At my size and willingness to launch off any obstacle shorter than I am, I found that I needed to spend $2500 or more to stop breaking all the parts off the things... the difference is that I have a bike now that would have been a DH capable setup of the late 90's yet pedals better than XC stuff of the same vintage over the rough stuff - it's just the sub-Deore/X5 level stuff that tends to be so poorly made that stupid problems arise more than the design being inadequate for the task. A $750 hardtail with X5/Deore parts is really a solid proposition if it comes with a solo air fork and usable hydraulic brakes, but most that meet those two latter key items are more in the $800-$950 range (e.g. Trek X-Caliber 8 is wholly better than the 6 just because the fork/brakes are better, and it happens to come with nicer pieces across the board).

It's like AR's - you don't have to spend a ton to get something decent, but there is a floor under which they're really only useful as a two-wheeled pedal thingy that shouldn't be depended upon if used hard.

[rjacobs]

You don't need a $3,500 bike. With today's technology and prices you can a great mountain bike that will do what you want for $1,500. Hell, even a $750 bike today is far better than the $2,000 bikes I used to sell.

Yea I understand that and for my entry into MTB I know I dont need all the high end stuff. Now with my new roadbike, I am at a level that I can actually appreciate the Ultregra components, monster brakes, huge BB90, semi-aero wheels, etc... compared to my old aluminum bike with shit wheels, Shimano Sora shifters and de-railers, crap brakes, flexy rear drop out, etc...


A $750 hardtail with X5/Deore parts is really a solid proposition if it comes with a solo air fork and usable hydraulic brakes, but most that meet those two latter key items are more in the $800-$950 range (e.g. Trek X-Caliber 8 is wholly better than the 6 just because the fork/brakes are better, and it happens to come with nicer pieces across the board).


The Trek X-Caliber line was what I was looking at. Is the X5 stuff THAT much better on the X8 than the Shimano is on the X7, enough at least to warrant the extra ~$150 cost? I know I want at least the Fox fork and you have to get into the X7 to get that. When I was researching a new road bike a lot of my buddies ride SRAM Red, but most bike shops I talked to said they prefered Shimano for road and SRAM for MTB.

[JBecker 72]

At my size and willingness to launch off any obstacle shorter than I am, I found that I needed to spend $2500 or more to stop breaking all the parts off the things... the difference is that I have a bike now that would have been a DH capable setup of the late 90's yet pedals better than XC stuff of the same vintage over the rough stuff - it's just the sub-Deore/X5 level stuff that tends to be so poorly made that stupid problems arise more than the design being inadequate for the task. A $750 hardtail with X5/Deore parts is really a solid proposition if it comes with a solo air fork and usable hydraulic brakes, but most that meet those two latter key items are more in the $800-$950 range (e.g. Trek X-Caliber 8 is wholly better than the 6 just because the fork/brakes are better, and it happens to come with nicer pieces across the board).

It's like AR's - you don't have to spend a ton to get something decent, but there is a floor under which they're really only useful as a two-wheeled pedal thingy that shouldn't be depended upon if used hard.

Exactly.

The bike I posted on the previous page was probably a $2200 ride. It came with Shimano XT derailers, SLX wheels and brakes, and Deore bottom bracket. The forks were Fox 160mm travel Float RL 32mm and the shock was a Fox CTD (not shown in that pic). It was a pretty solid ride and it took plenty of abuse.

My next bike will probably have all Shimano XT components, Fox 34mm 160mm travel forks and a better Fox shock, and I really want a dropper seat post.

[chuckman]

For the record, and what it's worth, my pre-Trek Gary Fisher X-Caliber I upgraded to XTR, and everything was Shimano. I do not like FS so I never got one. When I started riding front suspension forks were new and of the devil, and $4,000 mountain bikes were not invented yet. Today my bike is worth, oh, about $500; new it was $1,800 and high-end. I stopped hard riding when I started having kids 13 years ago, and I have not worked in a bike shop in any capacity since the mid-90s, so I readily admit that my data is dated.

Just like the AR analogy, figure out what you want to do with it, then figure your budget. Most people who get higher end bikes simply do not ride them to the point of breaking them. Like the use of ARs, the bike dudes here ride harder than the average rider.

When people mention the words "Trek" and "X-Caliber" together it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Gary Fisher was a great dude, very nice, until he sold out.

[JBecker 72]

It's amazing how much the industry has changed since the 90's. I worked in 2 bike shops from about 99-02 and back then $1500 got you a nice ride. Now you are scraping the bottom of the barrel with that kind of money. All Chinese components, no sealed bearings, heavy wheels made of pot metal, and pogo sticks at both ends.

Most companies full suspension flagship models are as expensive or even more expensive than a brand new Japanese motocross bike. My friend paid more for his Ibis last summer than I did for my brand new 2013 Yamaha YZ250 in April of this year. My Yamaha is made in Japan, his Ibis frame is made in Taiwan. It's gotten pretty ridiculous honestly.

Don't even get me started on road bikes. $10k for a bike? F off...

[chuckman]

It's amazing how much the industry has changed since the 90's. I worked in 2 bike shops from about 99-02 and back then $1500 got you a nice ride. Now you are scraping the bottom of the barrel with that kind of money. All Chinese components, no sealed bearings, heavy wheels made of pot metal, and pogo sticks at both ends.

Most companies full suspension flagship models are as expensive or even more expensive than a brand new Japanese motocross bike. My friend paid more for his Ibis last summer than I did for my brand new 2013 Yamaha YZ250 in April of this year. My Yamaha is made in Japan, his Ibis frame is made in Taiwan. It's gotten pretty ridiculous honestly.

Don't even get me started on road bikes. $10k for a bike? F off...

Had no clue. Thanks for the education. My road bike was a Trek OCLV with mid-level group and it was $1,500 back in the day, bottom range of a mid-level bike. A buddy of mine with whom I work is a huge triathete, does a couple full Ironmans a year, his set-up is around $5,000 and he calls that "cheap."

[JBecker 72]

Yeah most roadies I know are running on $3000-$5,000 bikes and they seem pretty happy with them. But they are always talking about how that want whatever top of the line model that the magazines rave about. And I'd say the average mountain bike I see on the trail is at least a $3000 ride in my area. Most of the carbon bikes are $5000 or more. I see quite a few of the high end Trek, Specialized, and Santa Cruz bikes pretty regularly.

[TehLlama]

Yea I understand that and for my entry into MTB I know I dont need all the high end stuff. Now with my new roadbike, I am at a level that I can actually appreciate the Ultregra components, monster brakes, huge BB90, semi-aero wheels, etc... compared to my old aluminum bike with shit wheels, Shimano Sora shifters and de-railers, crap brakes, flexy rear drop out, etc...
[/QUOTE]

That sounds like the road bike I use as a fitness tool (since I actually care about mountain biking almost to the exclusion of road stuff).



The Trek X-Caliber line was what I was looking at. Is the X5 stuff THAT much better on the X8 than the Shimano is on the X7, enough at least to warrant the extra ~$150 cost? I know I want at least the Fox fork and you have to get into the X7 to get that. When I was researching a new road bike a lot of my buddies ride SRAM Red, but most bike shops I talked to said they prefered Shimano for road and SRAM for MTB.

Both make solid stuff above a certain point (for SRAM it's the X5 with X7 Rear Derailleur where they start to run well, Shimano it's the Deore with SLX that starts to really work well. I'm still a much bigger fan of the shimano brakes, for everything else they're pretty similar until you're into X01 price territory. The real bonus is the wheelset, fork, and small parts that improve a ton, but having better drivetrain is virtually always better. I didn't feel I needed SLX stuff everywhere on my bike, but now that I have it I really appreciate it - the MUST have in my case were the brakes and suspension parts which somebody on my weight I really want SLX or better and a solid solo air fork with solid pedaling support. Sounds like that shop is at least switched on for road stuff (I run 105 FWIW, and it works even with me trying to cyclocross the thing on rocky dirt mountain trails).
The Altus/Acera stuff on the crank is still the garbage square peg pedal crank, and I know I make enough torque to strip them to pieces in hours regardless of how properly assembled they are - the non 10speed fixed cassettes are also a bit horrible unless you keep up with adjustments and lubrication. it does work, my buddy rides a bike with exactly that stuff, but he really only gets away with it because he weighs under 180 with a full pack and water.

[Honu]

agree on pricing :)
especially like myself when you come from owning a store its hard to swallow :) I got some good deals though being a large volume store IBIS was small when I knew the guys and I got a full custom bike to me for $500 :)

I still have my custom Rossin road bike old school cool :) a neat old Woodrup Touring and my outdated FSR with XT gear on it

my buddy has over 3K into his bike ? the prices as I see are out of control for what you get compared to what you could get not to long ago and they don't seem to align with other inflation

I want to get a new bike at some point but when I do will look for a closeout and not care how old it is figure last 5 year even and try to do some low ball offer in a store where things are sitting and they will move

I wonder what the set margins are these days ? I was a specialized dealer and know they used to be very particular about things same as Trek and a few others



It's amazing how much the industry has changed since the 90's. I worked in 2 bike shops from about 99-02 and back then $1500 got you a nice ride. Now you are scraping the bottom of the barrel with that kind of money. All Chinese components, no sealed bearings, heavy wheels made of pot metal, and pogo sticks at both ends.

Most companies full suspension flagship models are as expensive or even more expensive than a brand new Japanese motocross bike. My friend paid more for his Ibis last summer than I did for my brand new 2013 Yamaha YZ250 in April of this year. My Yamaha is made in Japan, his Ibis frame is made in Taiwan. It's gotten pretty ridiculous honestly.

Don't even get me started on road bikes. $10k for a bike? F off...

[JBecker 72]

I'm also a fan of buying left over models to save money. That saved me $600 on my new Yamaha. They had the exact same bike sitting next to it except it was a 2014, but the 2013 was the better deal.

If you do want a good deal on an Ibis you can buy their demo bikes toward the end of the year for a good discount. I've thought about doing that.

[TehLlama]

the prices as I see are out of control for what you get compared to what you could get not to long ago and they don't seem to align with other inflation

I want to get a new bike at some point but when I do will look for a closeout and not care how old it is figure last 5 year even and try to do some low ball offer in a store where things are sitting and they will move

I wonder what the set margins are these days ? I was a specialized dealer and know they used to be very particular about things same as Trek and a few others

I figure margins on the newer stuff have to be insane, especially since virtually every high end bike is made exclusively in Guangzhou or Taipei with US design; and nothing else is made out of anything but 7075/6061AL or relatively simple carbon fiber layups. I realize there are some hefty R&D costs, but looking at stuff like the rear suspension designs Steve Peat has won with, obviously none of what they're putting time into changes the riding experience as drastically as advertized. Trek/Specialized are still really the picky manufacturers on MAP pricing and stuff, not sure about Giant; but the beginning of season prices on bikes and end of season closeout prices have an absolutely enormous gulf which tells me there are some healthy margins built in - arguably even more so on the lower end stuff since all the development cost has been paid for, and the cheap manufacturing is in place and ironed out.

[brickboy240]

I heard that Giant, Trek, Specialized and a few other bike names are all built in the same factory over in Asia...is that true? My older Fishers were built in Trek's plant in Wisconsin. The Gary Fisher bikes now offered by Trek are watered down bikes and not of the style and type that Gary Fisher used to make when he was on his own.

I agree on pricing...mtb prices have gotten insane. I am sure the 4000 dollar mtb rides well...as I am sure the 4000 dollar Wilson 1911 also shoots very well. However...I have a mortgage and a child to feed and this is a weekend and after work hobby! LOL I swear..I don't see where these zit-faced college kids get 3-5 grand to drop on a mt bike. That is mostly who I see riding these expensive bikes these days. I guess they live at their parents house and do not have any other bills so their paychecks can go all towards their bikes...I dunno.

I also agree that if you are not willing to blow at least 2 grand on a bike...stay away from full suspension. I bought a 1300 dollar KHS full suspension bike and wound up swapping the rear shock for a better unit and it still is not as nice as the 2 grand and up FS bikes. Mt KHS is way too heavy and the suspension is still not as "lively" as the 2 grand and up FS bikes. Lesson learned!

In the 1000-1500 range you can get a hard tail with a decent fork that you can upgrade later as you get better or as you wear it out. I also agree about Shimano components. All 3 of my bikes run Shimano stuff and I have no reason to buy Sram anything.

The 1000-1500 range also gets you into decent brakes and derailleurs. Ones you can live with and maybe upgrade a piece at a time as you learn and wear them out. The forks and brakes on the 500-600 dollar bikes range from barely useable to completely horrible if you ask me.

-brickboy240

[JBecker 72]

Yeah there are 2 or 3 large factories in Taiwan that manufacture almost all of the major companies frames for them. They are still designed and R&D'd here in the states though. Oddly enough the Fuji I had was a Specialized design and it had a Specialized sticker on the rear chain stay. But it was marketed as a Fuji and built in Taiwan by the same manufacturer who built the Specialized.

[bnanaphone]

I got into MTB a little over 2 years ago and have been having a blast. I definitely fall once in a while but nothing some super glue or a beer can't fix... I have been riding an entry level Trek Mamba 29er hard tail and have beat the crap out of it. Granted I am a 225 lb guy who isn't easy on his gear. It is a great way to get out and clear my head while testing my skills.

I really want to try a Fatbike and see what that is like. Those just look like a lot of fun.

For anybody looking to get into the sport or upgrade, most manufacturers have demo days around the country where you can try several bikes for free. I have found that my improved abilities are helped by a full suspension bike on the trails around my area.

Bobby, there is a Trek demo day in Castlewood on 10-25-14 if you wanted to try them out.

[brickboy240]

My KHS also has a Specialized decal on the rear suspension. Apparently it was the older S-Works Stump Jumper's rear suspension that KHS bought the rights to and put on their FS bike.

Still too heavy and not worth it...