Another what bike for me thread.

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Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

That gave me an idea but zero references. Know that I will be road traveling to Lynn to ride the goods. Everything outside 10 miles I will be using a vehicle to get there. Not sure if that matters...

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Good luck with the road traveling. You'll need it. As much as it sucks to load up your car and drive the 2-3 miles to Lynn woods I would strongly suggest it. There is just no nice way to get from Lynn beach to Lynn woods. I lived on Wave St. for a few years and would always just make the drive instead.

And... most trail bikes will survive riding Lynn once in a while but if you really get into it and ride there a couple times a week they will start to break in my opinion. It all depends what you want to do there; if you always take the b-line most anything with 4 inches of travel will be fine, but if you know you're the type of person who will start riding harder/bigger lines you'll want a burlier bike.

AM hardtails are fun for Lynn but beat the shit out of you. And as I found out recently, when switching to a FS, are not an advantage going uphill unless you have mad trials skills (which I don't).

Bikes..... Specialized enduro, pivot firebird, Santa Cruz nomad, and most other bikes in the category that I'm forgetting.

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Originally Posted by schuss

Yeah, honestly you can do the techy things at Lynn with a lot of bikes, I think it's just that strong wheels/tires are a must (though that's honestly true for 90% of fun new england trails). Even further, I think Lynn woods is most adapted to a freeride hardtail.

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x2. A lot of the super techy trails around there work better on a hardtail - they're almost trialsy. But for all around riding, the hardtails give up a lot of ground.

If you get into more of the freeridish stuff at Lynn, you can always throw beefier tires and wheels on a 4-5" travel bike. Those frames will hold up fine to light/medium duty freeriding, especially for someone that doesn't weigh all that much. And if you're just getting back into biking, it'll probably be a bit before you're hucking stuff where a longer travel bike will be an advantage. You can always switch to something else if that makes sense in the future.

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Originally Posted by toast2266

For new bikes that are around $3k, I'd probably look at a Giant Trance X1. Other options that might be worth looking at: Specialized Stumpjumper, Trek Fuel, Santa Cruz Blur. There's plenty of options; at a given price point, the big brands are usually going to have similar specs, so you're really just looking for something that fits you right and feels good..

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another vote for the Trance. Price/value can't be beaten, ladyfriend just picked last year's X2 up for $1250 on Pinkbike. Pedals great, feels great. Ride it and get a feel for what you want. I'd much rather have the Maestro suspension than a VPP fwiw...

Or get this http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1356687/

I'll even go test it for you

:biggrin:

^^ yup 5 spot would be a great bike...... for a lot of places. that seller has sold on here as well. I've never ridden there but sounds like the new banshee spitfire would be a bike to consider as well. similar price but might extend the 3k budget new

^^ I have a 2009 Spot, the only time I want something else is mocking down super chunder, big drops to flat, or big jumps. Of course, that's what the DH bike is for...

The Spot climbs much better than its "parking lot weight" belies; it climbs super well, it's kind of scary. I put a burly rear wheel with DT swiss's TA conversion and stiffened up the rear end nicely. Now I just need a 160 mm fork and 20 mm front axle, muhahaha

Seriously though, buy a high end used bike, it's worth it. At the same time, I gotta hand it to Giant, the Trance and the Reign ride very very well for the price.

ya an east coast buddy was just asking me about the same bikes today. I think he's lining up a 5 spot at this moment. 160mm 20mm would be money. I said I thought it was a work of art and in 8-10 yrs time it will be a viable bike that is still going strong

I grew up riding Lynn, and since 2004 was riding an Intense Uzzi SLX. I beat the snot out of that bike, and it kept coming back for more, but it was heavy, upper 30's. I recently went the complete opposite way and got a stumpy Evo (150mm front and rear), and built it like an XC race bike. Around 24 lbs at this point. I don't do any hucking anymore, but 3-4 foot drops are unavoidable if you want to ride the fun stuff in Lynn, as are the ups, downs, and rock faces. So far so good for the bike holding up. I am lightish (150lbs), and am a pretty smooth rider.

What I can say, is it really depends on how you plan to ride Lynn - including the crazy bits. If you are a smooth rider, and are not going to go bananas, then the lighter AM bikes make climbing the techy uphills SOOOO much better. I for one, love the ups as much as the downs, so the trade-off is worth it to me. You really need to understand what you are going to do with the bike, because it sounds like you already know what Lynn is going to do to your bike. I agree with a comment above that the AM frames will be fine - if you have a burly set of wheels/tires, that is what will absorb most of the damage.

I will be riding Lynn this weekend (and possibly today) around 2:30. If anyone is interested in hooking up for a ride, hit me up.

Shawn

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Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

I don't really have a budget. Lets say I would like to keep it under $3k.

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If you want to go new and current, and maybe future proof yourself a bit...


Altitude 750 ($3400 CAD)
http://www.bikes.com/main+en+01_102+...ATID=22&Y=2013

Altitude 730 ($2800 CAD)
http://www.bikes.com/main+en+01_102+...ATID=22&Y=2013


Ripping bikes with decent spec (750 is worth the upgrade IMHO) and awesome versatility with the Ride9 geometry adjust (http://ride9.bikes.com/). Make it XC geo or AM geo or FR geo. Takes about 2 minutes.

Up - check. Down - check. Technical - check. Small drops - check. A few smooth-but-not-so-small drops - check. Weight-sub 30 pounds - check.

IMHO this is the one bike to rule them all -- especially considering the price is ridiculously good, and they've had this bike in design and testing for 3 years specifically with the 650b wheel from the beginning of the process. This isn't a 26er or a 29er with 650b slapped on for the bandwagon.

I would have one already, except that Rocky is sold out, and won't give staff deals this year because customer demand is so high, and they're taking care of the public first. I will have one ASAP.

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Originally Posted by grinch

ya an east coast buddy was just asking me about the same bikes today. I think he's lining up a 5 spot at this moment. 160mm 20mm would be money. I said I thought it was a work of art and in 8-10 yrs time it will be a viable bike that is still going strong

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This is actually something I forgot. Do all you can to get a 20mm front, as the improved stiffness/tracking makes rock gardens more manageable.

I'm 5'8" 150, went $2,750 poorer last summer (actually about $3k after tax from local shop) and have been riding this thing every day. Nothing looks better, before even hopping on you know nothing is more fun to ride. Size M, weighs 27, X-Fusion front and rear suspension have been flawless so far (pro-pedal on rear seems ineffective but even for up I like it open, bike handles terrain better open whether up or down). I race on it, I "train" on it nearly every day. It doesn't win (20 pound HT 29ers) but it passes people on the downhills.

Ibis Mojo SL Special Blend

http://www.jensonusa.com/!93rkEp83LG...FWrl7AodHSMA8w

Buy Particle's bike.

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Originally Posted by flowtron's ghost

Buy Particle's bike.

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This. His price is less than buying just the frame new. If you don't like it, just sell it again for the same price on here. DW link is the tits for the rolling New England terrain.

I was at the Pivot Demo in CT. Rode the 27.5 firebird bike felt set up right from the get go. and the carbon 429er.
Both bikes handled the slow rocky rooted twisty ST. well. Should have rode one of there 26inch bikes for comparison.
If someone had 5 grand to drop on a bike you could not go wrong IMHO.
DW link felt very plush.
Coming off an 8 year old clapped out SC BLUR. So any new bike is going to feel great.
Be interesting to feel how the Pivot 27.5 compares to the SC And Turner 27.5 bikes.

Being an east coast denizen, and having lived/ridden around Boston for a bit...

Particles bike.

Or, if itching for new, Trance-X or Reign. Awesome bang for buck, pedals really well on the up/down/up/down nature of our trails. Go for the highest spec model you can/whatever feels and fits right.

If still not right, JRA will steer you right. Haven't dealt/ridden with them since around 2001, but the are solid folks who will treat you well.

Particle's bike.... Perfect compromise between a jump and drop hitting Lynn/Vietnam bike and a light weight ripper for smoother places around Boston.