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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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).
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.
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