So I been riding my Trek 820 and I love it. I know it's only entry level and I can only do so much on it. I'm not going to ride it until it breaks. I'm only going to put it through what it's able to go through.

So basically I bought it because it was my first bike in 11 years and wanted to see if it was something I wanted to get back into and would enjoy doing with a couple friends. We hit up a XC trail nearby and had a BLAST.

That being said, this bike is heavy. We rode and pushed so hard it took both of us to lift the bike into the truck at the end lol! Wiped out once the other day and the rims are already out of true and had to adjust the front brake. I don't want to destroy the bike since I can use it as a backup or sell it to put torwards another bike.

I like hardtails. I want to try a 29er. I'm going to upgrade to something I'm not afraid to beat on a little harder.

Trek Mamba

or

Cannondale Trail SL 29ER 4

I only know a few of the big names. Last time I knew mountain bikes are now the companies that are easily accessed at Wal*Mart lol.

These are who I looked at

Trek, Cannondale, Specialized, Giant, Focus (German company, Focus to Germany is Trek to the US from what I read)