Mountain Biking - reccomend me a bike please

Hey, i could assume you get alot of people asking this...
i have searched around for about a week, and have not found bike that seems to be better than the malvernstar xcs 1.0 i already have.

what i do on my bike: i go riding alot, i go down trails on the weekend but would love to go down the more advanced downhill trails but dont think i could do it on my bike.
i have to ride 4KM to and from school everyday (and 2 times a week its 10K's to and from) and that is some bumpy roads and things like that so a road bike is out of the question. i prefer to have a lighter bike.. but if it allows me to hit some stuff harder and go down steeper tracks i would not mind.
my price range is $750+what ever i could get for the malvern (info below)
how much would you think i would get for a 2 yr old malvern star xcs 1.0... i can post images if requested.


and btw if i am breaking any of the forums rules please be kind, as you can see i have just signed up to the forum.

I can't recommend a bike to you, but one thing I would recommend if you want to get more into trail riding is to keep the Malvern and put some more road oriented tires on it. Then just use it for commuting. Then put some nice trail oriented tires on the new bike and use it for trail riding. If you currently have knobby dirt tires on the Malvern, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised what a difference the road oriented tires make. Your rides to school will be much easier and faster.

How much did you spend originally on the Malvern Star? I don't think you'd get too much out of a new bike for $750. It might be a bit better, but not by very much. My advice would be to keep riding the Malvern and just keep saving a bit more money. Maybe throw some new tires on your current bike, or maybe a new fork? I wouldn't spend too much on it though if you're looking to upgrade to a new bike in the near future. At least tires you should most likely be able to transfer to the new bike, maybe even a fork would still be transferable to the future ride. Something as simple as changing the tires can make a huge difference in the way a bike feels.

What other bikes have you looked at?

Zwebx, where are you located? Again, I can't recommend a bike, but I do think you can get a decent upgrade for $750 if you find that your current bike isn't performing up to your liking. I think I saw that the Malvern is ~$500 and the Giant Revel MSRP $690, for example. The Giant has better derailers, brakes, and slightly better fork. Those are basically the main items to worry about, so I'd say it's a definite step up.

At that price point, keep your Malvern and upgrade it!

However, at that same price point, you might also want to consider the Jamis Durango Sport or the GT Karakoram 3.0.

- Slim :)

PS.

That is to say, purchase a HT MTB, but upgrade the Malvern at your leisure while you continue your daily commute.