Originally Posted by newport
Guys - thanks for the suggestions! I convinced myself that a HT was the way to go... I was bit reluctant on the fact that I would need to buy another FS bike in the future... But I did come back from my LBS and riding a HT over the FS really made a huge difference. The FS was way inefficient in terms of bobbing up and down on the shocks... (although maybe because it was a manitou black fork?) in a sense, I got tired after while over a long distance. Sure it did feel comfy over bumps, but long rides are tough.
The HT i rode was both a stumpy comp and comp disc. Both were excellent rides!! The only significant difference is the comp has FOX F80X and XT STI shifters compared to comp disc with hydralic brakes and FOX 80 RL. Boy the F80X does rides really well with the inertia valve though! Although I'm not sure if this is worth trading for the hydralic disc brakes... Right now, I'm leaning towards the comp disc, any recommendations though?
Another one I was looking at is the '04 EPIC comp disc with Fox float RL and rear Brain shox -- this would be the best of both worlds being that the rear would only activate when it hits a bump, otherwise it's basically a hard tail! Too bad it's WAY out of my price range though otherwise overtime work here i come...
I would actually disagree with everyone on this thread who says to go with the HT. I started on a Trek 7000 HT back in 2000 and I loved that bike but I upgraded to an '02 Stumpy FSR the first chance I got.
The fact of the matter is, you're likely going to be going down the FS road eventually (there's absolutely no reason not to) so how exactly is starting out on one a crutch? Sure, you do get the opportunity to hone your bike-handling skills on a HT when descending technical terrain however, if you’re going to be venturing forward on a FS bike eventually (and I’d be willing to be $1000 that you will…assuming you stick with the sport) you’re going to start relying upon the rear suspension to get you through areas you might otherwise walk with a HT anyway so why not utilize that technological advantage right out of the gate?
Chances are you’re going to upgrade several of your components anyway so why not start with a frame that will make you happy for several years rather than a frame that’s just going to serve as a “training wheel” until you’re ready for a new one. Remember, a new frame is not cheap and you’ll absolutely never get any kind of value by selling a used HT – people just aren’t buying them as much as they used to – so you’ll wind up spending a ton of money to upgrade the bike in a year or two rather than incrementally spending small chunks to upgrade components.
That’s just my $.02, hopefully it helps and good luck.