Mountain Biking - What more should I be looking at?

EDIT:
Updated shortlist as listed in a post below:
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Santa Cruz Heckler
Specialized Enduro Expert/Pro/SX Trail
Turner 6-pack
Yeti XS-R

Please comment if you have experience with either of them. :)


ORIGINAL:
On my short-list at the moment are:
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Specialized Enduro SX
Specialized Enduro SX Trail
Santa Cruz Blur 4x

What should I expand it with? I'm hoping to find something that's light but still does well in freeride/light-DH and is decently jumpable. Likely, I'll spend more time on trails (going uphill as well as downhill) than DJ'ing (moving soon, so I don't know anything about DJ places - I'll move before I buy the bike though, so I will have time to find out). In other words, some days my brain tells me that the SX Trail is really the only one of those three bikes that I should be even considering, but my brain isn't always to be trusted :o.

Cheaper is always nice, but I'm willing to spend around $3000. I'd love it if I could get some more alternatives to the SX Trail as it's always fun to read up on what the options are.

all three bikes are sweet. if it were my decision, i'd get the sx trail, but only because it's got more travel than the other two and is a more all-around bike than the other two - not to say that the other two can't be used for everything.

tough decision though. good luck and have fun with whichever bike you choose! :D

Hehe. Yeah - I expect to have a lot of fun on the bike, whichever model I end up with. The Trail does stick out as one of the few that combines light weight, decent price and nice travel. Still, you know, the trails may end up looking more like long slalom courses (Ireland), making a 4x bike a sweet ride. I've only seriously ridden MTBs in the Rockies (COL) and the Black Hills (SD) so I have no clue what things will look like. The mountains will be more like hills, naturally, but even hills have steep sections so maybe I'm unfair to Ireland. Anyone ridden in Ireland (Limerick area) who knows? :)

Trasselkale,

I pm'd you...

If I were building an SX Trail for an all-around trailbike, I would ditch the 66's. Although the performance is great, they're too tall and heavy to make the bike a good climber, IMHO.

Trasselkale,

I pm'd you...

If I were building an SX Trail for an all-around trailbike, I would ditch the 66's. Although the performance is great, they're too tall and heavy to make the bike a good climber, IMHO.

Thanks. That's also something I like with the SX model. I mean, the fork can be set between 100-150mm and what I've read about the Fox Float 36 R TALAS has been nothing but good stuff. I've always ridden hardtails prior to this, so I'm pretty used to a lower back end. Maybe the SX is better still?

For an all-around trail bike you could do anything on, I realy like the Foes Inferno (http://www.foesracing.com/)

If you can go over your 3000$ then the Inferno would be a very, very nice ride.

Also the SantaCruz Nomad would be a good choice but again it will be over your 3000. You could get just the frame and shock and spec it your self to get the price down.

Lastley check out the Yeti AS-X and 575. You can get a compleat build for less then 3000 on the ASX and the 575 would run you about 2300 for the Enduro set up.

:beer:

Cool. Thanks. I've added them to my list now, together with the Enduro Pro. It's good to get some more alternatives, so if anyone has some more comments - I'd appreciate hearing them.

EDIT: In all fairness to the post I made below, the Yeti AS-X is on the heavy side (38.5 lbs listed on the website). The Enduro Pro, as far as I've seen, may also be a bit too expensive for me, but the Enduro Expert is better price-wise.

EDIT 2: Looking at the Yeti AS-X frame, I notice that I could easily build one up from scratch and end up somewhere just over 30 lbs. Hmm... interesting.

What about the Kona Dawg Primo or the Coiler series?

All sweet bikes for sure.

What about the Kona Dawg Primo or the Coiler series?

All sweet bikes for sure.
Coiler is a bit on the heavy side for me, but I have been eyeing the Dawg Primo and Dawg Dee-Lux as they are around the 30 lbs I'm aiming for (give or take a few lbs). From the reviews I've seen on them, they are more of XC bikes than they are lightweight freeriders. Personally, I haven't tried them so I don't know what to make of 'em.

The Dawg is more of a trail/light all mountain rig. It has a more upwright position then a xc bike but not quite as upwright as a freeride bike. It handles a lot of different terrain. If you will be doing a fair amount of drops or jumps I would say change out the air shock for a coilover. If not then it should work fine for everything else.

:beer:

The Dawg is more of a trail/light all mountain rig. It has a more upwright position then a xc bike but not quite as upwright as a freeride bike. It handles a lot of different terrain. If you will be doing a fair amount of drops or jumps I would say change out the air shock for a coilover. If not then it should work fine for everything else.

:beer:

Thanks. Changing the shock is not a problem, so if that would do the trick, then the Dawgs are an option too. What about light DH? I'm not a geometry wizard, so I'm not sure what it would be for that stuff.

I checked out what the ppl over at Ridemonkey (many of whom are active here also, I assume) had to say about bikes similar to what I'm looking at and there seems to be quite a hype regarding the Iron Horse 7point bikes (and some other models with the DW link). I'm still reading up on that system and what ppl have liked about those bikes, but since I haven't seen many posts here about them - if you have any comments on the IH bikes, please share. :)

I wanted to give an update to this thread if anyone else happens to be interested in a similar bike. It was started in an effort to expand my short list of options and I now feel very happy about the options I'm now looking at. As I'll be buying the bike without having ridden it in terrain, the decision process will have to be based on what others feel. I want to thank those who have answered my questions so far, on this thread and over PMs. I'll let this list sink in a bit more before I decide which model to go with, but if anyone has experience from these bikes that they haven't shared yet, I'd be very glad to hear about it.

The shortlist
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Santa Cruz Heckler
Specialized Enduro Expert/Pro/SX Trail
Turner 6-pack
Yeti XS-R (built with lighter parts than the std kit)

As you can tell, I finally gave in to my brain and ditched the 4x alternatives. I've talked with some people who ride where I'm moving and 4x wasn't quite as fitting as the stuff I have listed now. :beer:

Well, if you want to find some dh trails drop these guys a line Athlone DH Team (http://athlonedh.tripod.com/) and see if they could hook ya up (although they are a ways away). They might even help ya out with some regular trails or give ya some ideas on who to ask about the area.

:beer:

I'll do that, but the site hasn't been maintained since 2002, so I hope the email is still valid :)

I'll do that, but the site hasn't been maintained since 2002, so I hope the email is still valid :)

Last I got an email from them was in 2004 when we are planning a trip to Ireland. Have not tried since but hopefully the addy is still good.

:beer: