Bikes!!!! (MTB, Road, etc... just no motors)

Nice! that's awesome to hear Ken. Quite honestly if you've got the coin, get a full suspension bike. I've just hit 30 and I can no longer comfortably ride a hardtail. I feel it in my back the next day. I can rip hard on one but now I pay for it. hahaha. Full suspension bikes make a hard trail easy and it doesn't beat you up as much.

A good hardtail will run you $400- $4000. Sticking around the $500 area usually gets you a nice feeling nice riding MTB.

In any case... Brett got himself a really really nice bike. The stumpjumper FSR line is phenomenal. Unfortunately I have seen bike pricing creep quite a bit in the last couple years. I was looking through a couple manufacturers websites and there used to be a really competitive price point around $1500. Now it looks to be more like $2200. Yeeesh! That's a lot of coin.

If you can find one in a store somewhere, it would be 1-2 years old so you could probably get a good deal, I would recommend the Specialized FSR. Simple name. Not epic FSR or Stumpjumper FSR. Just the plain ol' F.S.R. They ran between $12-1800 with different part specs but were great full suspension machines. They didn't break the bank but got you a good balance of all mountain performance. I think the best priced bike I have seen that used to be in direct competition is the Trek Fuel EX 5. It runs $1850. Again, significant price creep.


People hate on the company KONA but they make some decent bikes I think. Their entry level Tanuki is right around $1200. Might be an option also. Let me know what local bike shops are near you and what they carry and I can try and recommend something from their line up.
 
Just for comparison a trek fuel EX 5 for $1850...
21462





and a Kona Tanuki for $1200...

tanuki.jpg




There are a lot of bike companies selling the same bikes with different paint and stickers for different pricing. There are differences here but, to the average rider these bikes look pretty darn close for $650 don't they?
 
My personal recommendations: We can get into nitty gritty detail if you want but these are good bang for the buck. Look at the difference in the frame shape, shock position, linkage angles to get an idea of major differences between companies. These two are similar.

All mountain performance:
Specialized Enduro Comp $3300

9888


Same bike but for $1000 less is the camber comp $2200

9838





my bish: 2010 S-Works Enduro Carbon $7200.
5965
 
lol, and what's the weight on the carbon compared to the ones above?
 
Frames only or whole bike? Cause ive got carbon EVERYTHING! Even brake levers. Usually its only a couple pound difference but at the top of the game that makes a huge difference. Mine comes in at 27lbs with pedals and a heavy remote adjustable seatpost. I could get it under 25lbs easily. The others will be at 29-31lbs. Ride quality is totally different also. With carbon they can "tune" weaves for stiffness or compliance in certain directions. 10K vs 3k weaves and so on. Mine is a very rigid 10k, 10m as specialized calls it, weave. I love the way it feels though compared to aluminum frames. Much more forgiving and it mutes a lot of the high frequency vibrations which lead to rider fatigue. More of a concern for road guys.


Dirty secret: There are 3 major pacific rim aluminum manufacturers who make pretty much everyones bikes. Giant, Fujita (who owns part of specialized), and I can't remember the other. That's why there are so many made in china/taiwan bikes with similar frame specs, drillings, geometry. It's essentially the same with carbon fiber but it's harder to find out who makes it. I believe most specialized carbon is made by Toray. Worlds largest supplier of PAN (Polyacrylonitirile based carbon fibers) They have japanese based plants and one in Alabama.
 
ahh I would have thought it was a greater weight difference. I lifted a carbon road bike (full bike) at a shop once and it was literally like a feather.
 
I used to be really into bikes. I worked in a bike store from 01-03 when I was in high school and I'm amazed at where the industry is now. I remember it used to be fairly easy to buy a US made bike with Japanese components for a reasonable price. It seems those day's are long gone. :(

Nix, what's your opinion of Trek overall? I used to sell a ton of their mountain bikes, and a lot of Giant's for road bikes.
 
I like trek. They make good stuff. Same with Giant. I only hate on em' when they go mass market and start selling at walmart, target and *****. Store that sells sporting goods which starts with D ends with Icks.

Things I didn't used to like about trek: They said unified rear triangles were the best suspension design ever! hahaha.

In all serousness: Outboard chain lines. Basically the bike tried to throw the chain off the outside of the bike toward the pedals on the drive side. The fuels had a very bad suspension design until the recent full-floater redesign of the linkage. Brake forces used to hugely affect the trek lineup. Brake jack mostly. Hitting the rear brake made the suspension stiffen giving the sensation of being pitched over the bars on steeps and locking out the rear shock. Made it easy to sell against the competing shop in town though. Their road bikes have been really nice for a while though. Can't knock em there. The new fuels are beasts.
 
$3300ish originally? Sick deal. That bike has a nice spec to it. Middle of the road drivetrain but definitely into the performance side of things. Rear shock is pretty good and it has the propedal settings, The frame tech is newer so that will last you and ride very well. Good brakes, nice fork, I'd go for it. But....

More importantly... what do you like to ride? Are you a trail 20 miles kinda guy or a hey that looks like a jump and I bet I can double this section of roots? The fuels are more of an XC bike. It may not jump as well as some of the other bikes out there. That said, you could definitely competitively race that bike.

More salesman questions..... How many bikes do you own? is this filling a gap for you?
 
Nix said:
Sick deal. That bike has a nice spec to it. Middle of the road drivetrain but definitely into the performance side of things. Rear shock is pretty good and it has the propedal settings, The frame tech is newer so that will last you and ride very well. Good brakes, nice fork, I'd go for it. But....

More importantly... what do you like to ride? Are you a trail 20 miles kinda guy or a hey that looks like a jump and I bet I can double this section of roots? The fuels are more of an XC bike. It may not jump as well as some of the other bikes out there. That said, you could definitely competitively race that bike.

More salesman questions..... How many bikes do you own? is this filling a gap for you?
Click to expand...

I am just getting back into riding a full suspension bike, and yes I do like to jump some larger jumps and don't cover a lot of distance right now. See my post on the last page about my DJ bike, lol. My local trail system is pretty rocky, lots of roots and fast with plenty of elevation change and some decent jumps if you have the courage.

This will be my ONLY bike so I need it to be a good all around bike. Something I could ride down the street to the store, hit up some decent jumps (nothing like what a DJ or BMX bike does though) and ride the trail systems on. My coworker rides a fairly well speced Stump jumper FSR, and he rides his all over. I realize I am trying to cover a lot with one bike, but I can't afford a down hill bike and a XC bike at the moment. I would say $2k-$2.5k is my spending limit right now.
 
Hmmmm.... nice price point..... Lots of options. $2700 on treks site so almost $1k off. I think the fuel while an awesome bike and a great price may be too XC oriented if you like to jump. That's why I got an enduro over a stumpy. I didn't mind the extra weight cause I honestly can't keep the wheels on the ground. Have you test ridden the bike? See how easy it is to manual. If you have good skills but find it hard to bring the front wheel up that may be an indication that it's not a good fit for you if ya like to jump.

What else do they carry?


GTG for a bit ill be back later Mr.Cow
 
I am over 50, and no longer have the stamina or can withstand body abuse like I used to. The hip replacement is being more of a mental toll I think. Other than that, I'm still in very good shape, and feel good.

To invest in the level of a Specialized is a waste on somebody like me. I'm not going to ride that bike near it's full potential. I want a full suspension bike that will be reliable. The Trek looks nice, although that is probably also a waste on the likes of me.
 
Hey cow, yeah I think either of those would probably work better for you. The Remedy and the Enduro are both a bit longer travel and have more "DH" geometry to them. They will be a little heavier than the fuel but they will jump better. You will still be able to pedal them fine and go for longer rides but the option of riding harder and hitting more stuff is going to be more fun and easier.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top