Mountain Biking - Mountain Bike help please

I’m in the process of educating myself on full-suspension trail/all-mountain bikes. I currently ride a 14 yr old Gary Fisher hard tail so I’m a bit behind (and overwhelmed at) the knowledge curve with all the new technology out there. I haven’t test ridden anything except the Jamis Dakar XCT-1 so far but I did have a couple technical questions.

1. I was looking at the Scott Genius 6.0 and wondered about the pull-shock. Since most (all) of the others I’ve seen are push shocks I wondered how the pull shock compares with regard to durability, maintenance, etc.

2. Some bikes have single-pivot rear shocks while others have dual(?). Is one better than the other? Or is it just preference with the dual typically having more travel? Is one more of a hassle maintenance/durability wise than the other?

3. A lot of the bikes use Avid disk brakes but some have shimano or something else. Are most of them pretty comparable or are there some that I want to avoid if possible?

4. Shimano vs. SRAM shifters and derailers? It’s pretty obvious to see how they rate on their own (i.e., I just went to their websites to see what was lower end to high end) but how do they compare against each other or is it just personal preference? (i.e., is a mid-range shimano comparable to a mid-range SRAM?)

Thanks

1. Haven't ridden one, so I can't comment on durability. The mountain bike market is so saturated that sometimes companies come out with unique designs just to seperate themselves from the crowd.

2. Preference. Some companies claim that their design is more efficient that others, but no one has built a suspension dyno to accurately measure the power lost between the cranks and rear wheel during suspension travel. Less pivots = less maintenace.

3. Avid, Shimano, Hope, Hayes, Formula and Magura are the major players.

4. Preferance. Shimano dominated the '90s, but Sram has totally caught up and in some ways surpassed them.

thanks

Some MTB rear suspension bikes-Giant NRS for one with dual pivot rear suspension-- claim to eliminate or greatly lessen bob which is the bobbing effect you get mainly from the rear suspension when you pedal with most simple-single pivot-rear suspensions.
The bobbing decreases pedaling efficiency.
The NRS does seem to work.

The bobbing decreases pedaling efficiency.


Some riders believe this, but there isn't any scientific proof to support this claim.

thanks

Some MTB rear suspension bikes-Giant NRS for one with dual pivot rear suspension-- claim to eliminate or greatly lessen bob which is the bobbing effect you get mainly from the rear suspension when you pedal with most simple-single pivot-rear suspensions.
The bobbing decreases pedaling efficiency.
The NRS does seem to work.

You shouldn't define a word with the word you are defining.