Mountain bikes

[peterb]

I know this is supposed to be MTB content but I recently picked up a mountain biker's "road bike": Ibis Hakka MX.

Nice!

I found a good deal on a used Niner RLT RDO a couple of years ago. It’s been great for dirt-road and mixed-surface rides. We’ve got a lot of nice dirt roads in NH and VT.
I’m running a 46/30 front and 11-34 cassette. It came with a Shimano road compact crankset(was pre GRX), and I knew I wanted lower gearing, so I decided to experiment with the Absolute Black subcompact oval ring set. I like the ovals, especially for climbing standing — for me they seem to smooth out the dead spot at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

[jc000]

Nice!

I found a good deal on a used Niner RLT RDO a couple of years ago. It’s been great for dirt-road and mixed-surface rides. We’ve got a lot of nice dirt roads in NH and VT.
I’m running a 46/30 front and 11-34 cassette. It came with a Shimano road compact crankset(was pre GRX), and I knew I wanted lower gearing, so I decided to experiment with the Absolute Black subcompact oval ring set. I like the ovals, especially for climbing standing — for me they seem to smooth out the dead spot at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

Very cool! I went with the 1x (Ibis factory configuration) so it's 40 x 11-46 (Shimano XT cassette). The build is their GRX spec, but since they were out of the Enve carbon cockpit, I just went with the Ibis aluminum bits. I absolutely love this bike, but it is a little harsh on rough pavement. Gravel / dirt is fine. I'm using it for road training rides with my son, and as my "just pedaling around" bike. I may race cross with it, but I need to get into cross racing shape first!

[taadski]

The fall colors are kicking and the dirt is tacky! From a quick pre-work ride yesterday am.

[Duke]

If you have to stick bikes on a small suv- LoLo rack Is the way

Pretty spendy. Made 100% in Oregon

Nothing on each bike contacts any other bike

[Suvorov]

I got my first Mountain Bike in the early 1990s, a Trek 6000, and it has served me to this very day. I was a fairly active rider for the first 15 years and then hung the bike in the garage for the most part until I had kids and it became my fatherly duty to start riding with them. Over the past few years I have been riding more and more, introducing my boys (especially older boy) to mountain biking, riding for exercise and even tackling some trails with a friend that are more technical and challenging than anything I have ridden before. My rigid 26er is comfortable to me but the other day I rode on a trail with my biking friend that made me quickly realize I was in over my head. First the accent kicked my ass and by the time I got to the top I just didn’t have any legs left. The way down kicked my ass even more as the lack of mechanical suspension along with my tired legs resulted in much of the decent being an exercise in me riding my groaning rim brakes down at a very slow speed. My friend on the other hand had the advantage of a full suspension bike as well as better conditioning. The conditioning is all my fault but the desire for a modern bike has peaked.

I just purchased my older boy his first real mountain bike (a Trek Marlin 4) and I got looking at entry level hardtails for me as well. Today I went to a couple of shops and rode a few different bikes, the Marlin 5 and 7, the Co-Op MTB1.1, and Specialized Rockhopper. These all seem to be decent quality upper end entry level bikes and according to everyone at the shops - “a nice upgrade to my Trek 6000.” I’m on the edge of pulling the trigger:

- Is buying a $700-$1000 bike going to allow me to handle some of the more advanced trails than my rigid 26er and in general allow me to enjoy the sport more? Common sense says yes but then again I keep coming across articles that say bikes with suspensions promote lazy riding and 26” rigid bikes will make you a better rider. I’m kind of seeing this as the gun analogy to having a S&W Model 15 and wondering if a Glock 19 is really going to help me enjoy the shooting sports more?

- It seems that the trend is toward single gear front derailures. Are there any downsides to them besides cost? Seems to me that going from a 21 speed drive train to a 10 speed is a regression but I realize that there are a lot of redundant gear ratios on a traditional 21 speed bike. It seemed to me that the 1x bikes had a little more noise, is this typical or do the bikes just need adjustment?

- One thing I would like is a seat post dropper. None of the bikes in my price range come with them. I know they can be added aftermarket but do aftermarket work as well as factory?

- Lastly, I have a sentimental attachment to my 6000. I realize that scientific rationality is the creed of P-F such things a sentimental attachment is looked down on, but the bike has been with me most of my life. Should I just sell it or do some of you keep your old bike around for other uses?

Thanks….

[0ddl0t]

While your old 6000 should be able to handle any cross country trail just fine, you'd probably enjoy things a bit more on something modern. Suspension is very nice on rougher trails, but imo your biggest upgrade is stopping power going from what I presume are cantilever brakes to disc's or even v-brakes. I guess I see it kind of like going from a Ruger P-series to a red dot Glock?

1x are nice and generally an upgrade, but you lose a little range and a tiny bit of mechanical efficiency in gears where the chain line isn't super straight. I'd lean towards 1x (less weight, better ground clearance, simpler, gives you a nice spot for your dropper, etc)

If you have the space, I'd probably throw slicks on your 6000 and keep it as a commuter. Being the bay area, bike thefts are common and I'd rather lose it than a new bike.

Speaking of new, have you considered used full suspension bikes? Something like: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/bid...398709268.html

[Doc_Glock]

Keep your 6000!

I still regret getting rid of my original mountain bike.

Plus it’s basically worthless. Except
to you. Make it into something different.

[idahojess]

I'd keep your hard tail 6000 and keep it running. I gave my old 1993 Stumpjumper M2 (light/fast in its day) to a relative a few years back and I wish I still had it. Now I'm looking at hardtails, if nothing else for muddy weather and easy trails.

If you can afford it, try to go full suspension for a newer bike. Since you know you like to mountain bike, and think you want to get back into it, it is probably worth it for the downhill capability.

I'm still ambivalent on droppers, but I think they make sense with the modern geometry, large wheeled bikes. I'm 5-8 and it helps with the center of gravity on my 29er.

I could not get used to the slow cable actuated Specialized branded post on my 2019 Stumpjumper, so I splurged and bought a SRAM AXS post in April. It had to go back to the shop for months, but once I got a new one it has been very nice. (Due to a weak right hand I run all of my controls on the left side and the push button of the AXS post works well). Anyway, you can add a dropper later if you want either with an AXS (expensive) or with a bike that is set up for cable routing.

[peterb]

A 26” rigid bike may teach you to be more careful about your lines, but the punishment for getting it wrong can take the fun out of riding. If you get a more capable bike and feel like you need a challenge, there are always harder trails…..
I think you’ll enjoy the improved rollover of the bigger wheels. Descending with confident 1-finger braking instead of a death grip also makes riding more fun.
Set up your old bike with slicks or other fast tires as an urban weapon.
PNW has reasonably priced dropper posts. No direct experience other than a friend’s recommendation. https://www.pnwcomponents.com/collec...p-all-droppers

[OlongJohnson]

Keep your 6000!

I still regret getting rid of my original mountain bike.

Plus it’s basically worthless. Except
to you. Make it into something different.

This. I got an S-Works M2 when fall clearances hit the year I graduated from college. It's had worn-out and broken components replaced, some multiple times, so most of it is newer, but it's not going anywhere. I keep smoothies on it and it still makes me happy. Got tired of obsolete forks having to be replaced, so I put a hard fork on it. It's a "mullet," with a disc in front and rim brakes in the rear. It works, and people who don't know bikes are still impressed with it. But the hard fork sucks on any kind of terrain. The fork on my hardtail makes it soooo much nicer. I will definitely do full suspension next time around, though. I'm ready, with hardware in my spine.

For me as a recreational rider, the $1200-1700 range is about the sweet spot of performance/price. Not top end, but nearly as nice with all the smoothness and durability. I'm a bigger guy (not fat, but 6'4" and not twiggy), and drivetrain stuff wore out about 2x as fast as for my normal-sized buddies when I lived in SoCal and was riding a lot. I've broken stuff that you'd never expect to break. Worth paying for just-below-top-tier stuff, IMO.

I looked at getting a new bike last year. Ended up looking at Giant Stance 29, but there weren't any available, and then I saw something else shiny. Don't imagine I'll sell my current main hardtail (built up from a Kona frame custom built for a sponsored racer who's my height, and thus impossible to replace short of buying another custom frame).

The 1x thing threw me for a loop, as I built my current bike when the cool kids were 3x10. I'm still not sure I buy that it's optimal for every rider, given my climbing physiology. I benefitted greatly from the resolution in ratios provided by a 3x9 cassette. It's entirely possible that the 1x conversion is a case of the whole market chasing what works well for the top 5-10 percent of riders. But all the quality bikes have gone that way, so it's what you're going to get if you buy a good bike these days. Or you could go older. The downside of that is I'm not sure about how long I'll be able to buy quality drive parts for a 3x9 bike like my hardtail.

Definitely get disc brakes. If you're looking at a new mountain bike with rim brakes in 2021, you're not looking at a bike that a grownup should be buying for himself. After running out of heat capacity on a long downhill repeatedly, I upgraded to a 210mm front rotor, and had no more problems.

A few good CA-based businesses:

https://www.wheelworld.com/

https://www.jensonusa.com/

https://blueskycycling.com/

I would always check these plus another one that's gone out of business before I bought anything.

Plan to buy tools and learn to work on the bike yourself. Paying a bike shop to do it for you is a waste. There's nothing on a bike that a mechanically competent person can't do, and fairly quickly. Because it's an off-road vehicle, it requires a lot of maintenance, with frequent adjustments and repairs. Just part of the program. Having to deliver it to a shop, pay them to work on it while wondering what they're actually doing, then having to go pick it up, etc., is way worse than just taking care of it in your own garage. Get Leonard Zinn's book.