29er Sticker Shock!!!
 

Wow, went out looking for a dual sus 29er. OMG, you can drop $4K without a sweat on one of these. All it takes is telling them you want a middle of the line product, doesn't have to be carbon frame, a Fox fork, good quality wheels, doesn't have to be tubeless, decent components, doesn't have to be XT, and voila, write us a check for $4K!
I drive a beat up 96 Jeep to the trails. I'd be the only guy there with a bike worth about 3 times what my car is worth.
The old 07 Stumpy dual sus 26er is looking pretty good right now and I KNOW I'm not going to part with the 08 Stumpy, 26er hard tail. I still might go for a 29er dual sus, but I think I'm going to have to look harder and consider used.

bikes are spensive

ftfy... but yah I wouldn't drop 4k on my first 29er, I like to be familiar with a style before I pick up the matching bike.. or buy a cheap intro bike.

I attended a Specialized Demo day a while back and the $6500 dual suspension XC rig I rode sure was nice.

Norco Demo Day is this weekend. Woohoo for riding more plastic bikes I cant afford!!!

Dual suspension any wheel size is pretty expensive if you want a decent one. You can drop down to around $2k and still get a pretty good one.

Airborne Bicycles. HobGoblin


Well I see my link didn't work but anyway Diamondback has some decent full suspension bikes in the $2k range at online stores. Won't impress your buddies but they ride well, biased since I own a sortie 29er ;).

Yup. All those parts drive up the cost.

People think nothing about dropping 40K on a car and they complain about spending 6-10K on a tricked out dual suspension mountain bike.

If you can afford it, it seems to be line for what it costs.

I won a santa cruz tallboy frame in a raffle and built the bike out myself. $4K is easy to do for sure. I had to send off a brand new Fox shock to have it rebuilt with a remote lever and that alone was $250. Hell anymore a good fork and wheelset are going to run you $1300+ for the two. I also kept my crank and rear der from my 26er just to save on some money.

Now the $9000 Scott all carbon everything demo bike I rode a month ago was just crazy. Fast fast fast is all I can say about it.

Then again doing stuff DIY is going to save some real money.
Sourcing and building yourself can drop the price drastically, and what probably saves most is the wheels.
You can get a pretty bomber wheelset with carbon rims and hope hubs with about $700. It's not cheap but if it's well built it's probably as good as any commecial wheelset out there.
And of course while building yourself you can but value where it's needed like the shocks, wheels, frame and skimp on the stuff that works just as well in the cheaper categories but is a bit heavier (cassette, brakes, crankset, chain, etc)

But yeah, 4k is the absolute max I would ever put in a MTB but then again I don't ride a full squish so that brings down prices pretty nicely as well

My friend who owns a bike shop built my wheelset for just under $600

Stans Arch 29
Hope Hubs
DT Swiss double butted spokes.

Throw in the Rapid Rob Tires, rotors and stans sealant and it goes to around $700.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=400794

List on a Giant Anthem X 29er is around $2,600. That gets you the Maestro suspension, Fox at both ends and a serviceable SLX drivetrain.

$2,800 gets you a Transition Covert 29 3. That gets you a Kashima Float rear, a Fox 34 front and a solid, well-picked component mix for the money.

Or for a little less, they've got the Bandit 29 3; still with a Kashima Float shock, a little shorter 32 fork. Plus you get a company that's big enough to offer value and still small enough to care about their customers :thumb:.

Thanks for the comments. The Giant appeals to me. I've got a Giant road bike and find it's a great ride and very durable. Also, my ATF LBS sells Giant and Specialized so they'll work with me if I go after a Giant. Here's my one dilemma. At just shy of 5' 9", I ride a Small size frame on both my Stumpy MTBs. I find I'm faster and more stable on the small frame, but I like the Stumpy because the top tubes are just a tad longer on that model from Specialized. If I go Giant, or any other brand I don't want to move back to 17" frames. I know that's the size I'm SUPPOSED to ride, but I made the change to small frames over the last three years, I like it and don't want to go back. I'm looking at a lightly used 2013 Stumpy right now. But I'm going to look at the Giant Anthem too.

Buy the best (for your preferences) bike you can afford and ride it to the ground.
Starting out 'cheap' and upgrade is almost always more expensive then buying what you want right from the start.
Health benefits or riding (a lot) are fantastic & easily pays off the $4k+ a bike may cost.

Don't laugh, but a friend of mine bought a Mongoose Hatchet 29er Walmart bike used for $150 and then upgraded the wheel set, replaced the frame shock and front shocks with Rock Shocks, replaced the handlebars and brake levers, and upgraded the crank set and now has a very capable full suspension 29er for just under a grand.

+1, I completely agree. The way I saved when I bought the two bikes I currently ride, I bought late model used. I'm older, not fast and just ride for fun. I found the three year old Stumpjumpers (when I bought them), has better components that exceed my needs. I'd like to try a carbon 29er, but finding a used dual sus, small frame with a longer top tube at a reasonable price is not easy.

Definitely look around for something that has been lightly used. I picked up my Stumpjuper FSR Elite 29er last October. I searched around on craigslist for a while before finding what I was looking for in my size, Fox Fork, Fox brain rear shock, XTR rear, dropper post. I had to drive a couple of hours to get it, but it was definitely worth it. I was able to get a bike that was about 6 months old with what I would guess was less than 100 miles on it. The thing still looked brand new. The retail price on it was $4200 + tax. The guy gave me the original receipt that showed he paid $4300 out the door. I picked it up for $2500 cash. It still makes me smile every time I ride it.

Now I am looking for a full suspension ladies bike for my wife. It think this one is going to take a little longer to find.

Actually that is not uncommon at all. I have had nearly $10,000 worth of bike held by a $600 bike rack on top of a $1000 car many times :thumb:

Bikes are super spendy but the nice thing is a good quality bike is it should last for many years with minimal maintenance. You can get into nice quality 29er full suspension bikes for around $2,000 at most shops, even Specialized has a solid full suspension 29er for around 2k and they are normally on the pricey side of things.