Yes, another one of these threads...

My GF and I went mountain biking while on holiday and she really enjoyed it (so did I, but I knew that already) so now I'm looking at getting a couple of bikes to use once in a while. I've been looking at options and I thought I would check with the fine folks at BF to see what they think. I know it will be suggested so I'll say before starting that I have been looking at used options and will keep doing so to see if anything good appears.

Now to the good stuff. My max budget is $1,000 and I am not going a dollar over that. In fact, something between $600 and $800 would be best. Full suspension is, naturally, not an option. Obviously I would prefer a better frame over a worse one, I think I want hydraulic discs rather than mechanical (or should I not bother?) and an ok groupset, don't care too much as long as it is good enough (say, a Sora equivalent), I would also prefer a single chainring up front but I can live with a front derailleur. 29 or 27.5 wheels I don't really care much for.

Should mention that I'll probably be riding once or twice a month if I am being honest and since I'll be with my GF we won't be doing any hardcore stuff.

From what I've seen so far, my two favorite options:

Marin Pine Mountain 1: I think it looks cool, I think the drivetrain is good for the price (don't really know though, is it?) plus it is a 1x system so I like that. It also has the Shimano hydraulic brakes which is nice. Of course the main issue is that there is no suspension. Would I be missing out on a lot by going rigid? I'm assuming if I really wanted a front suspension down the line I could just buy a fork, is that correct? There is also the whole 27.5+ thing.

Raleigh Tokul 2: Another one with a 1x drivetrain, hydraulic discs (Tektros though), 27.5 tires. The fork is a SR Suntour XCR 32, which I have no clue whether it is any good or not. Seems like a good option from my uneducated perspective, but I am not sure which is why I come to you peeps.

So what do you think about those two? Which other bikes should I consider? Is going rigid a bad idea? Should I just get two 90s bikes for $100 and be done with it? Thanks for your feedback.

The Pine Mountain has + size tires which will help soften things up being a rigid but it will still feel like a rigid. It obviously has better specs overall due to them saving a lot of money on the fork. If you are just taking it easy on normal trails it will be fine. Once you start hitting rougher things you may regret not have a suspension. It is going to climb better if you are doing a lot of that being a 10 speed with that extra wide range sunrace cassette, can't go any wider than what the tokul already has on the 9 speed setup.

The tokul's big advantage is of coarse the suspension fork but it isn't a good one. Nothing under $1000 at a LBS anyway is going to come with a good suspension fork unless you get really lucky on a left over. If you are hitting rougher things or like going fast down hill then even that not so good fork will really come in handy.

Here is one big not so obvious PRO with the pine mountain. While the pine mountain has a rigid fork it has a tapered steerer so later on down the road you could always put a suspension fork on it. The tokul while it already has a suspension fork on it it has a straight steerer which makes upgrading the fork down the road to something good much harder too impossible. 27.5ers came around when tapered steerers were already the norm so nobody really bothered to make straight steerer forks for 27.5ers except in the lowend.

I wouldn't limit yourself to just 1x drivetrain setups stock. If you want a 1x setup all you have to do is remove the FD stuff and pop a narrow wide chaingring on your crank and bam you have a 1x setup.

Thanks for the reply. I do believe I will be mostly 'just taking it easy on normal trails' but who knows down the line. Good point about the upgradability of both bikes. That's what I was initially thinking of the Marin, that if I'm just going to be riding around it is probably good enough and if I ever really get into it then I could just buy a decent fork and slap it in there. Good to know about the Tokul's upgrade difficulty. Is the Suntour XCR fork that bad? That is one area where I know nothing. A Kona Kahuna came up on CL that looks good but I don't think I'm quite ready to buy just yet.

The Suntour XCR, XC, SC or what ever forks are fine for casual riding the trails,, as long as you keep your speed down and stay out of the black diamond single tracks.
IF you go Into those kind of trails lock the fork out and ride light......

The one I had, down low on the Inside of the fork leg had a sticker,,It was In Lawyer speak, something like, "Warning ! this fork Is Intended for light trail riding only"
Mine bottomed,
packed,
twisted,
wobbled, and drove me crazy as I started to ride faster...

If It's still available, the Suntour Upgrade program got me another season on my hard tail.
Got me a Raidon for $189,,It Is a $350 fork !

Turned my $600 Hard Tail Into a $1,000 Hard Tail right then and there, that fork was great,

SR Suntour North America

The whole 'cheap forks are cheap' is what made me think of sticking to rigid. Is the Raidon a good one then? I think it might be a good idea to do what you did (~$600 HT + fork upgrade.) Will definitely keep that in mind, thanks for the advice.

i would look at used bikes for 1k you should be able to find a deal

I'm keeping an eye on Craigslist but nothing has come up so far. Most bikes that pop up are too big unfortunately. Once spring comes more will show up I guess.

How 'bout the Marin Bobcat Trail? Is a RockShox 30 Silver fork much better than the Suntour ones?

I was in a dilemma years ago --- my race bike was completely trashed out (A PAramount PDG series full rigid) --- front suspension had been with us a few years but the world was just coming around to full suspension with AMP research, Pro Flex and others making light effective FS bikes

I was on a fixed budget,--- i really wanted to go Fs, but could only afford a framset , not a complete bike. I wound up buying a complete MArin Team bike, - full rigid Tange prestige steel. My thoughts were that i's rather have the boutique quality full rigid bike than piece together a nice frameset with a bunch of budget parts bin junk. The rigid MArin fork was "suspension corrected" so i could have swapped in a suspension fork at any time, --- but i never did

The rigid bike was light, responsive and fast ---- that said, at the time i was fit and flexible, but i rode and raced it everywhere ---
I'd get the Pine Mountain and not look back if i was in your shoes

--- but then again -- i might be a tad biased (same 1994 era MTB now does duty as a single speed -- talk about longevity )

Well one just arrived to my LBS yesterday and I'm trying really hard to avoid going in there and face the temptation. At the same time snow tomorrow makes me want to storm in there right now and buy the darned thing.

EDIT: Wonder how it would do as a cyclocross bike...

2012 Santa Cruz Nickel in ok shape for $950, is that a good deal?

Santa Cruz Nickel D review - BikeRadar USA

Unless there are many, many things wrong with it- that is a "run to the atm" price ---- I sold my '06 26" Superlight for that price a year ago, - so the brand seems to hold value well

If it is a basket case project though ---- still might be worth it, but if you have to re-build both ends of the suspension, plus replace the cassette, chain and tires right off the bat - that adds quite a few "nickels" to the project

Owner claims that "bike is ready to roll as is. Rear shock serviced, but likely will need full service soon. Fork has fresh seal rebuild. Crank and bottom bracket in great shape and spin super smooth. Shifters and brakes working great as well. Cassette and chain are a bit worn and will eventually need to be replaced." Also, it is a medium, not sure how well it will fit me. I'm 5'7'' or so.

Geometry:

Top Tube 23,0"
Head Tube 3.9" 4.3"
Head Tube Angle 68.0°
Seat Tube 17.0"
Seat Tube Angle 72.5°
WheelBase 43.4"
Chainstay 16.7"
BB Height 13.6"
Standover 28.3"

Don't really know much about MTB geometry. For reference, I ride a 52cm road bike.

I am 5'8 and ride a 53 road bike (Well, my current one is a 51 Cannondale but C'dale's sizing is weird) - so we're both a bit vertically challenged -- but this is a pic of my medium Santa Cruz -- it had plenty of height adjustment left and my positioning put the seat a smidge above the bars in a comfortable position for a sporty, cross country oriented ride



The bike that replaced it is also a Medium , but its a Yeti 29'er with 140mm of suspension -- you can see the difference in the handlebar height, but its because of the longer travel -- since this pic was taken, i have installed a 40mm stem and removed the spacers and went to a zero rise handlebar and the handlebar height is about even with the seat top --




Not trying to turn your thread into a personal "show n tell" thread ----- just posting the pics to illustrate that both these bikes, - whose heights are wildly different due to wheel size and differences in suspension travel -- fit and fit well

I think the Nickel is somewhere between these 2 extremes - it will be a little bigger than a 4" travel 26'er, but not as big as a 6" travel 29'er

The popularity of the shorty stems and wide handlebars now also makes dialling in the fit easier

Something to keep in mind -- the old rule of thumb about needing 3-4" of top tube clearance on an MTB is just that -- an old rule from when MTB frames looked like that pewter colored Marin i posted above --- now with bikes having 4-5-6" of travel, bigger wheels , and the frames designed to accomodate that -- this is no longer the case

Might be worth a flyer ... if the bike really is unridably too large, you could repost it for a little more than you bought it , and give the new buyer a "deal" by selling for what you paid. (It could be the first product offered through your imaginary virtual LBS!)

According to the link the bike cost $4K new and it really isn't old ... is the EBay where you are buying blind or Craigslist where you can test?

I would for sure check it out.

Unless the owner weighed 300 lbs and raced, the fork and shock should last a pretty long time, and he says he has serviced them, which is a good thing. According to the review the bike is pretty light and does everything really well, and Santa Cruz is generally considered to be b serious builder of serious mountain bikes. i think you have a deal on your hands ... but only inspection can really determine that.

Not sure how much you ride MTB, but expect a pretty upright seating position if it fits ... Seat-bar drop is generally minimal in the MTB world

Thanks for the feedback on sizing, does make me more confident that size should be ok. Nice bikes too.

Would be my first mountain bike since the rigid Cannondale I had when I was thirteen or so. I've only ridden a hardtail once or twice since, never ridden a full-suspension bike in my life.

He is pretty close from home so I think I might have to go take a look this afternoon.

Sounds like you are on the way ! 10 speed Cassette and chain are not a huge expenditure for Deore/SLX level stuff and not too bad for XT level either. Hope the bike looks good for ya.
Personally, i love the idea of a light and simple rigid bike and am considering having a local custom builder tig weld up a 29'er single speed frame --- but i havent ridden a rigid bike seriously since i jumped to dual suspension a few years back.


Once you get yours setup - whatever you decide on --- then it sounds like you have to get one for the GF too --- that might be 3x as complicated

That one is going to be the real struggle! I'm sure she will only want to spend like $400 tops and say that they all look the same.

I really suggest nothing below a 3 if you go tokul. The parts spec is just so much better. 1000$ gets you a pretty solid hardtail regardless.
But personally, after shopping around a lot and making the decision to keep saving for a full suspension I was looking at the tokul 3, diamondback sync'r and specialized pitch expert.

Nuther Li'l very unpopular secret I learned first hand, an old truth carved in stone..

"It Ain't the bike It's the Engine"

I know a guy who's on His second hard tail, He has gotten very fast.....

His first hard tail was a $500 entry level Trek something or other with that lowly suntour fork..
His second bike and current speed steed is a $700 Trek Hard Tail with a similar lower end Suntour such n such sx or scr sxr what ever low end fork.
When asked why he sticks to these low end bikes his answer is a simple, " I can't afford more than this, I love these bikes, I don't need more" Then he says,, 'Well ? are we gonna ride or stand here and waste the day?"

Did I fail to mention he has gotten very fast ??
Refer to the quote,,,,

A good bike with a bad engine is still a good bike.

Anyone know a good mountain bike for a casual biker? I've seen a lot of posts about mountain biking, and thought it'd been fun to try it out.

[QUOTE=AJMas;18540620]Anyone know a good mountain bike for a casual biker? /QUOTE] Yes, but it's mine and you can't ride it.

More seriously, as with any "What's the best bike" query, the answers are A.) the one that fits and B.) the counter-question, What's your budget and what kind of riding do you intend to do?

I realize that my question was a bit more broad that I was intending. I really don't bike as a sport, rather as a way of exercise but I'd like to get more into riding. Budget is $200 or $300, but I know that higher quality bikes might be significantly pricier.

The Raidon is actually quite a good suspension fork, especially for the price. I was skeptical but for $189 it was worth the shot. I am pleasantly surprised at how good it is. If it were me, I would buy a mtb in your budget even if it comes with the lower end Suntour fork. Ride with it a couple of times and see if you like it. If you are just riding on gravel and not hard core trails than you may get away with it. If you need to upgrade, than with the upgrade program, you are still in your budget.