I mean, if you’re going off bike review buzz words. I don’t know what type of trails are around you either, but can imagine that you, as a bike racer, will enjoy going fast and for me, 29er climbs faster and descends faster.
I liked my mojo a lot, but my hightower transformed my riding as suddenly I felt stable and comfortable going fast over rocks.
I don’t have a ton else to go off of so far, but point taken. I’ll see if I can demo something. I liked the fast rolling of my 29er but I always had trouble with tight switchbacks, so something more flickable and responsive sounded nice. Stable and comfortable are important too for sure.
Hightower, ripley, stumpjumper, tallboy are probably the 29ers I’d want to try.
The trails here are mostly rocky and dry and vary in difficulty. I’ve never been terribly confident going down drops or jumps but would like to work on it. But I also don’t like feeling super slow on the climbs. Tbh some of the down country style bikes seemed appealing too. One of my main riding buddies has a 5010 and loves it but he’s also a bit shorter than me so maybe the wheel size suits him better.
We only have one local ibis dealer so that’ll be a quick yes or no on if I can try one out or even get one. Lots of specialized and my buddy works at a shop that carries both spec and sc
My impression of Santa Cruz right now is that the builds offer maybe the worst value for your money. Like they are offering SX bullshit with a recon fork at the price point where other brands are offering deore with Fox grip damper stuff. I’m not as hung up on spec battles for mountain bikes compared to road bikes because the frames matter more, but Santa Cruz frames are not going to be so much better than other brands that you should have to spend an extra grand for a comparable build even compared to, say, another super boutique brand like Ibis.
Ibis seems to have really fucking dialed entry level builds, imo. Most of them I think look pretty much ready to go straight out of the box.
I love my mojo 3 a lot and am past the threshold to sell it for most of what I paid for it, so I think I’ll be keeping it for a while. It’s a great bike for a very short person who just wants to enjoy himself and isn’t particularly fast, but I think next time I’m looking, I’ll be checking out the Ripley and other similar moderate trail 29ers.
But if you’ve not got a 27" cycling inseam, you should probably be checking out 29ers.
Thanks DFL, that’s helpful. I was just looking at SC because my friend likes his and I’ve heard good things, I don’t really have a great sense for component levels in the MTB world, particularly shocks and forks and such. Any other brands I should look at if I can’t find an ibis? I’m seeing a lot of folks talk about Yeti, are they alright?
what does your bike storage situation look like? I’d probably consider skipping the downcountry and keeping the honzo for the flowier stuff. I ride nothing like Jeff Kendall Weed, but he had some thoughts on shorter travel bikes and playfulness, and that the reality is a well designed longer travel bike will still pedal well and opens up a lot of the play features because you have more suspension for when things go a little unplanned. Personally it’s a mental game, but there’s stuff I’d try on my 150mm xprezo that I’m too sketched out for on the process 111. both bikes can do some of the same drops or jumps that are in my ability, but the long travel gets me more amped to push it.
Also, I have a 30" inseam and I’ve been buzzed a few times by the rear wheel on the process. Probably a matter of not riding steeps as often over the past year, but doing the same sections with a 27.5 rear I didn’t have the same problem.
My problems with the Honzo are that it feels a little big for me, and the components are pretty low end even for 2012 - 9 speed Deore, 1x9 with like a 36t cassette and a chain guide. The wheels are pretty heavy and the fork is 110x20mm TA which is hard to find a lighter cost-effective replacement wheel set for. I couldn’t find any set that was QR rear and 20mm front. I like it but not enough to fork out the money to fully upgrade it (e.g. new fork so I have a wider range of wheels, new groupset, new wheels, etc.). And even with all those upgrades it’ll be pretty heavy for a hardtail, pretty sure any modern DC bike or even a short/mid travel trail bike will climb just as well.
But yea it’s also getting a little crowded in the garage, and I don’t think I mountain bike enough at the moment to warrant two of them.
I know a few people that are happy with their Devinci Django. The Transition Spur is supposed to be pretty good as well. There’s also the Norco Optic/Fluid. Pretty much everything is coming spec’d with the Fox 34 up front and a matching rear Float. I’m not sure what SRAM did to miss the boat on that.
I’m personally looking for an XC rig. The Orbea Oiz or Scott Spark are currently on the top of my list. I mostly want the Oiz because I miss my old Orbea roadie.
Mtbs have also come a real long way since 2012…
I think any modern full squish with 120-150mm will prob be real fun for you. I’d still based on whats available to you as shop stock is real limited and if you can, rent /demo/etc. I never learn a ton from a demo, but you’ll at least know if it feels wrong for your needs.
Rode my dad’s and it’s great. Also stan
Got my stache together, in the pyb thread. Rode it and the slack feels really good at speed. Can briefly manual it and 180 it. Feels good man.
Quoting this for hella truth, basically blindly throw a dart at any new/modern mid-trail bike and you’ll have on hell of a good time. Maybe check out what PB thinks about the latest offerings in their value bikes test:
Sure this round up is on the 2020 trail bikes, but it still gives a good overview!
Backing this. It’s hard to go wrong right about now, especially considering the relative lack of availability of bikes under $6k.
I loved my Scott Spark, loved my Orbea Oiz TR, loved my Occam, loved my SC 5010, surprisingly loved my Cannondale Scalpel SE, and honestly? I love my cheap alloy BMC Twostroke hardtail I’m on now. Prolly going back to a full sus after this tho. They all scratched an itch I was looking for at the time but most of the trails around me are fit for short travel bikes, and I don’t see much sense in lugging around extra suspension if I don’t need it.
Backing Amy on this one too. I generally recommend 29" unless people know they specifically want 27.5, but if you find a bike in your budget that you think looks cool… it’ll probably ride just fine.
my 29 fuel isn’t thaaat much less playful than my old 27.5 fuel. i’m also not that playful on trail but i like to pop off the ground a little bit. for sure not as poppy/flicky but the better speed and confidence was a worthwhile trade off for me
The “green site” has also tested out som affordable full sus bikes recently, they often include som smaller brands like Fezzari that does fun/interesting stuff in the direct to consumer market on your side of the pond!
Last year they did a 2 bong group test:
My bike lawyer buddy/former teammate has a couple Fezzaris, think he may be sponsored by them or something. Could ask him if he can get me connected maybe, I’d just never really heard of them otherwise.
Really appreciating all the suggestions! I tried calling the shop that carries ibis here but no answer and no vm so I’ll try again next week or swing by some time. You’ve all convinced me that 29er is a good way to go. Also my buddy that has the 5010 is actually on a M despite riding much smaller road bikes than me, so I’m going to try his out next week.
I was JRA and happened to be in the neighborhood of my closest Orbea dealer. The system shows Orbea are sold out of all their 2022 stock.
hate to plug my bike shop… but we have a lot of Orbeas on the way.
Fuck it, plug your shop! We support each other here.
Unless your bike sucks.
I thought Alvs was certified as having some of the sickest katus
Currently running a 66º Hardtail with 140mm Sektor 32mm stanchion 27.5
Thinking of going 150mm Pike or 140mm Revelation for riding rougher stuff (both are 35mm, so really looking for stiffness in the feel) thoughts?