Sol, based on your road bike dimensions, IMO you want a 23" or maybe even 24" frame. You would be able to get away with a 22" frame, but it would be on the ‘flickable’ end of the spectrum and feel more like a big BMX bike than a properly sized MTB, and the long stem / saddle setback and short wheelbase would make the more challenging stuff (i.e. where you’re leaning so far back your chest is hitting your saddle) a lot harder and less fun. Modern mountain bikes are moving towards longer top tubes and shorter stems (8cm) even on XC style rigs anyway.
23" you can get with some brands of 29er frames, like the Performance Access. Look it up on their site. Great bang for buck. Others are out there, but not very common.
Otherwise, I’d say go hardtail, decent front shock, and 2x9 or 2/10 gearing to get the full ‘XC experience’. Single speed is for maniacs who need something to prove or people with flat-ish terrain that are pursing fixie zen. Otherwise, the broad gearing lets you take on very steep climbs and spin in the saddle (necessary with suspension bikes), then click into big ring and haul ass on swoopy single track (the best thing about mountain biking IMO).
Singlespeeds make you coast an awful lot, and they get boring as fuck when all the gearies are leaving you behind on the fastest most fun downhill stuff while you’re practicing zen. If you want some simplicity, you can probably get away with 1x9 if you’re a strong cyclist and climber, but still, that’s going to make you suffer unnecessarily in some areas or give up some speed in others. Most modern bikes are going towards a compact 2x10 setup, but it’s easy/cheap to make a 3x9 go 2x9.
Get tubeless DEFINITELY. Stan’s Flows are good, so are the Bontrager rim/tire system and Halo/WTB have good sturdy cheap tubeless rips also. Get ‘tubeless ready’ tires when you can, they have stronger sidewalls and don’t squirrel around at low PSI. Awesome choices are Kenda Small Block 8 (on dry firm ground), Panaracer Rampage (mixed conditions) or Bontrager 29-2 (dry compact to loose).
Um, nobody uses a lockout that way. They turn them on for long, grinding climbs up fire roads and other situations where it’s nice to stand once in a while.
I would take bb7s over cheap tektro hydros any day. Shimano or Avid hydros are a major upgrade over the tektros or mechanicals. I havent bleed Shimanos, but Avids are super easy with the bleed kit.
I am a much fatter version of Sol so I might be able to help on the size. I own two 29ers, 21.5" Gary Fisher Ferrous geared, and a 22" IRO single speed rigid. If your dimensions are anything resembling mine you want a 25"(635mm) + top tube. I did the shorter top tube with a longer stem and hated the handling off road.
Try to find a big one to ride,but that might prove tough.
While I wouldn’t recommend getting a bicycle that isn’t both frame and wheels disc compatible, you definitely don’t NEED hydraulics disc brakes, and you definitely don’t even NEED disc brakes. I’ve used and raced v-brakes for about 10 years now. Are there disadvantages? Yes, but do I often ride around saying “damn I wish I had discs”? No. All of that on the plate, I think hydro’s while certainly the best, are probably overkill for you, and for your budget, you’ll be hard pressed to find a bike that has hydros on it. PLUS, they’re complex for your abilities. (though they’re basically the same as a car brake system, so maybe you’ll know them better?). But a mech system will be just fine.
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You don’t ride the kind of terrain that we do here. The longest descent within 8 miles of my house is 2200’ over 6 miles. When pushing 45+ down a fire road or double track I can overheat my disc brakes very easily, it would destroy a rim brake or force me to ride MUCH slower. The only maintenance I’ve ever needed to do on the two sets of hydros I’ve had is replace brake pads, which are very easy to do and probably easier than on BB5s.[/quote]
Right, but we’re talking about sol. Not gnarly mcgnarlesalot.
I would pay so much loot to see sol get a hybrid, and throw a rock shox sid on it with some hydros. Sick upright style, but baller components in case of real talk.
[quote=solbrothers]idk anything (iknorite) about mountain bikes. i want something i can ride on a bit of dirt and not scare of flat. get me into how to size a mtb frame for solsize. how big they do get? i want biggest (thats what she said) right? disc/canti (is that even a question?) mech vs hydraulic disc brack? rigid vs hardtail vs fs?
Honestly what seems to constantly get missed in MTB discussions is whether you want an XC or a trail/AM bike and I think that’s pretty important. After having ridden an XC bike with a 72 degree HTA and now owning a trail bike with a 68.5 HTA I’ll never even consider touching a fucking XC bike for the kind of riding I prefer to do. Likewise, I don’t think this bike would be all that competitive in an XC racing environment as comparatively speaking it’s a bit of a pig climbing up hills, that kind of distinction is pretty damn important IME
xc is a bit smoother terrain and a lot of pedalling fast to go fast and if you’re going to do anything longer distance you’d have more fun on an xc bike, while trail/am is more technical terrain with more difficult and technical downhill sections. Basically, pointing a cross country bike down a steep hill covered in rocks and roots feels awful to me, and riding long distances with a lot of climbing is a lot more fun on a cross country bike than an all mountain/trail bike.
