mountain bike - my woods vehicle.

[JV3]

I have this same bike, but i don't get it out nearly as much as i used to since moving away from easy trail access. I miss it.

it's been a reliable bike for me and i still haven't outgrown it after owning it for several years now.

I need to get back into biking. Back in the 90s I was a bike officer. I was in Virginia. We did a lot of off roading. Vest, gun belt and bike bag. We were IPMBA certified.

definitely! i'll probably head out this weekend for my first ride this year.

This is my fairly new Gravity 29+ bike. I am really digging it so far, with about 220miles on it. Amazing how much you can roll over with the 29x3" tires.
Bruce

nice bike!

 

[jaseman]

Just saw this thread....

Just got back into mtn. bikes in the last couple of years. As a kid in the 70/80's I raced BMX, then moved on to moto-x and hare scrambles, but also bashed thru the woods on an old Diamondback Apex, then a GT to keep in shape. Fast forward 20+ years, and I now have a daughter who learned to ride a bike 2 years ago, so I bought a Scott Aspect 660 to ride with her.

Right now, I've just got road tires on it, but have been using it three times a week for cardio (about 7-10 miles at a time, depending), but am planning on either shoeing proper knobbies on it, or buying a second bike for trail bashing (eying up 29ers).

Any recommendations on a good, low budget bike for trails?

 

[Danke42]

Well I would say a Kona Cinder Cone or Kahuna. They'll be a solid platform that you can upgrade later with a dropper post or the other current must have parts. And they're both in the modern wheel sizes as 26" is pretty extinct.

 

[Barman1]

Just saw this thread....

Just got back into mtn. bikes in the last couple of years. As a kid in the 70/80's I raced BMX, then moved on to moto-x and hare scrambles, but also bashed thru the woods on an old Diamondback Apex, then a GT to keep in shape. Fast forward 20+ years, and I now have a daughter who learned to ride a bike 2 years ago, so I bought a Scott Aspect 660 to ride with her.

Right now, I've just got road tires on it, but have been using it three times a week for cardio (about 7-10 miles at a time, depending), but am planning on either shoeing proper knobbies on it, or buying a second bike for trail bashing (eying up 29ers).

Any recommendations on a good, low budget bike for trails?

Budget is relative to the buyer but there are many options out there right now.
For me low is $2k, mid 4k, upper limit would be 6k.
If I didn't already own a new 29 plus Trek Stache 9 I'd be looking at the 2017 Santa Cruz Chameleon.
27.5 plus is the ticket right now especially for a hardtail. Cushions the ride nicely and grips like crazy.
And with the 27.5+ a set of 29er wheels can be installed due to the height being similar between both sizes.
The Chameleon is pretty slack for a hardtail making it a very trailworthy ride.
I could go into all the tech aspects but it's hard to tell where you're at tech-wise.
If you don't want to spend that kind of money and want something trail worthy I'd suggest picking something up used.
You can get more bike for the money and sometimes they're barely used.
I picked up the Stache for almost 1000 off list and it was only 2 months old!
Can't beat that with a stick.
Right now I'm eyeing a 2017 Santa Cruz Hightower with 27.5+ rubber.
If only I hadn't just bought those 3 Hinderers last month....

Gratuitous picture of the Stache. I just finished spring overhaul and installed a 140mm fork to relax the geometry a little and a few other sweet parts as well. When the ice melts up here I'll grab some more photos and post them up.
I've got 2 other Santa Cruz mountain bikes as well but no decent pics.

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