Hey folks,
I am coming back to mountain biking after a long break. I'm 40 years old, 6'1, 180 lbs and in decent shape.
I had a ~2008 Specialized XC Comp for a while, sold it, sorta miss it. I didn't like having to lock out / open the rear to keep it riding how I wanted it, though. Now I'm on a 2003 Gary Fisher Tassajara (nostalgia / impulse buy) and it's a bit twitchy for me + I need better brakes. Coming in fast (fast for me, I mean) toward a banked switchback is exciting but not entirely in a good way.
I ride a mix of single track, fire roads, downhill flowy / switchbacky stuff, not super rocky or rooty, the trails aren't *real* tight where I'm at but I'm usually in the woods. I don't have any jump / drop skills at all and do not ever plan to get more than a couple feet off the ground. I just can't afford to get injured at this point – single dad, etc.
I'm in it for the exercise as well as the giggles, so it's important to me that I 'can' ride 20+ miles of XC and make the climb back up the hill without getting off the bike and pushing it. That said I'm not ever going to race it and I'd rather work harder uphill but be more confident going downhill than the other way around.
Northern California, dry / loose over hard, plenty of elevation. www.bonc.org has the trail maps for where I ride.
Budget is 2k at absolute max, but I'm looking more at MSRP around 1600 and shopping sales trying to spend $1,000 or, god willing, less.
So.. all of that being considered…
I think I want a hard tail trail bike.
Does that make sense? Should I at least consider FS at my price point, or is that setting myself up for shitty parts that won't do what I want to do as well as the hard tail?
by yossarian19
3 Comments
You’re on the bubble I think. If you really want to be towards $1k then your intuition is correct and I’d get a hardtail. Up at that top end of your budget tho, a FS becomes possible at $2k. At 40 you might appreciate it being easier on your body, YMMV. But you also might appreciate that extra $500-1000 in the bank.
Generally $2k is hardtail territory.
You could potentially find a ~$3-4k full suspension marked down, lots of sales these days but you’ll have to shop around for your size/preferred color.
On the hardtail front I’d just get a Trek Roscoe 7 (currently on sale for $1400), spend the remaining $600 on a (used) fork upgrade, bigger front rotor and nice brake pads.
Edit: good place to check out
https://www.jensonusa.com/full-suspension-mountain-bikes?price=1500-2000&s=price-discount
There are sales on FS bikes. A Marin Rift Zone 1 fits in/around that 1600 and a Rift Zone 2 on sale might come close. As someone a year older than you, a FS will give your body more relieve so you can ride a lot longer than a hardtail. For me, that rear suspension really allows me to ride rowdier stuff with less need to pick lines and it’s not nearly as hard on my body even on mellower trails.