Originally Posted by
Bikernator
Interesting info. Is that a universal rule of thumb?
OP, if you haven't figured it out, no one is really a fan of your choice.
If $1000 is your limit, I would look at used. And open up to hardtail unless you have some sort of back injury or something that would really be best served with a full suspension. HTs are a lot of fun, too.
Yes, the higher the pivot the more anti-squat. But also the more the suspension will stiffen and the more pedal kickback. There is a reason the decent single pivot bikes (Superlight, Orange 5) settled with the pivot where they did- between the big and middle ring mostly.