Advice for entry level mountain bikes

[atatu]

Just back from a week in Colorado, rented some mountain bikes with my son and really enjoyed it. Now I'm looking at buying an entry level mountain bike and looking online I had some thoughts: a) when did bikes get so damn expensive ?? I used to ride (road) back in the day and I don't recall bikes being so much ! b) Is there a bike shortage due to Covid ? Not seeing a lot available locally. Anyway if anyone has suggestions for a good entry level (less than $1,000) mountain bike, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Amazon has some reasonable price mountain bicycles $200-$500 range. More known brands will cost a lot more like Schwinn, Huffy. High end like Trek are pricey. You get to choice material of the frame, color, options, etc...

 

[LeeD]

Good starter is 2 grades below XT, hardtail with front shocks, previous year, between 7-9 hundred.
Anything less falls apart 2nd day in the trails.

 

[WildVolley]

... b) Is there a bike shortage due to Covid ? Not seeing a lot available locally. Anyway if anyone has suggestions for a good entry level (less than $1,000) mountain bike, please let me know. Thanks.

There is a huge bicycle shortage due to Covid. Bicycling is one of the few activities you can engage in without harassment.

In my area (a rather wealthy area) the big thing is electric bicycles. People go by me at 25 mph hardly peddling with electric bicycles all the time.

I just grabbed a rusty CroMoly bicycle (18-speed touring bicycle from the 80s) out of the neighbor's garbage the other day. Going to take me a bit of work to make it usable. I'm going to strip it down and do a budget paint job, given that the rust seems to be cosmetic and all the other parts appear to be in good condition except for the wheels.

 

[Dartagnan64]

Do you want to really mountain bike or just do some relatively flat off pavement trails? If you really want to "mountain bike" then you need to decide what category you fall into:
1) Cross country - mostly flat trails, minimal technical, good amount of climbing
2) All mountain - mixture of technical and trail, climbing and descents, minimal drops
3) Downhill Free Riding - Mostly descent oriented, steeps, drops and jumps

Cross country bikes can be low cost because of the minimal need for shock absorption. You can get by with a front suspension, Hard tail frame. Cost comes in lightening up the frame to make climbs easier.

All Mountain Bikes are generally dual suspension with beefier front fork and heavier frame to handle descents better. Pricey options come with lighter carbon frames and hydraulic drop seats.

Free Ride bikes are basically dirt bikes without the motor. Heavy frames, big suspension, descent oriented geometry. Best for only going downhill but a hell of a lot of fun in a lift serviced bike park.

Personally I don't think spending under $1000 is worth it if you are looking to really get into mountain biking. You can get a solid hard tail cross country bike in the $1000-1500 range like the Norco Fluid, Kona Kahuna. If you really want a great all-mountain bike, I love my Norco Sight. But your looking at $4000-$10000 depending on the bells and whistles.

 

[atatu]

Do you want to really mountain bike or just do some relatively flat off pavement trails? If you really want to "mountain bike" then you need to decide what category you fall into:
1) Cross country - mostly flat trails, minimal technical, good amount of climbing
2) All mountain - mixture of technical and trail, climbing and descents, minimal drops
3) Downhill Free Riding - Mostly descent oriented, steeps, drops and jumps

Cross country bikes can be low cost because of the minimal need for shock absorption. You can get by with a front suspension, Hard tail frame. Cost comes in lightening up the frame to make climbs easier.

All Mountain Bikes are generally dual suspension with beefier front fork and heavier frame to handle descents better. Pricey options come with lighter carbon frames and hydraulic drop seats.

Free Ride bikes are basically dirt bikes without the motor. Heavy frames, big suspension, descent oriented geometry. Best for only going downhill but a hell of a lot of fun in a lift serviced bike park.

Personally I don't think spending under $1000 is worth it if you are looking to really get into mountain biking. You can get a solid hard tail cross country bike in the $1000-1500 range like the Norco Fluid, Kona Kahuna. If you really want a great all-mountain bike, I love my Norco Sight. But your looking at $4000-$10000 depending on the bells and whistles.

I'd say probably #1, in Austin there aren't that many mountains. What do you think of something like this ?

X-Caliber 7 - Trek Bikes

Discover your next great ride with X-Caliber 7. See the bike and visit your local Trek retailer. Shop now!

www.trekbikes.com

 

[Rattler]

I'd say probably #1, in Austin there aren't that many mountains. What do you think of something like this ?

X-Caliber 7 - Trek Bikes

Discover your next great ride with X-Caliber 7. See the bike and visit your local Trek retailer. Shop now!

www.trekbikes.com

I was gonna suggest the Marlin 5

it’s $400 cheaper

Having been on most of the trails in Austin, you don’t need more than this one.

BTW as a brand Trek makes a great bike.

 

[Dartagnan64]

I'd say probably #1, in Austin there aren't that many mountains. What do you think of something like this ?

X-Caliber 7 - Trek Bikes

Discover your next great ride with X-Caliber 7. See the bike and visit your local Trek retailer. Shop now!

www.trekbikes.com

I was going to mention the Xcaliber, but my tastes go to the small MTB makers like Norco, Kona and Rocky Mountain. Can't go wrong with that. Bit of an upgrade over the Marlin.
If you are going to mostly be handling flattish trails, hard tail is fine. Don't need the dual suspension or raked back frame design. A 1x10 chain system is ideal to limit chain damage and derailments. Leaves you room on the handle bar to install a hydraulic seat if you want to upgrade at some point.

 

[movdqa]

Our former fitness center manager spent $5k and up for her bicycles. She was a national class cyclist and she’s been in a lot of races and I’ve seen web pages with her winning races. She also has a bunch of them. Kind of reminds me of people collecting tennis racquets.

 

[sovertennis]

Let me throw this into the mix, Atutu: Consider where and on what type of surface you'll be riding. If it will be on mostly wide dirt trails/paths/roads, then you may wish to look into a gravel bike instead of a mt bike. As well, a gravel bike would allow you more flexibility because you can also easily ride it on the road, which isn't the case with a mt bike. Further, you can buy a decent gravel bike for less than $2k.

It is true that buying a bike, new or used, is very difficult nowadays. Last year, when I bought a new mt bike (Canyon Neuron 9.0) I post my Giant Anthem 1 for sale and got zero bites. Last month, I again posted it, this time at a higher price, and got at least 20 inquiries within a couple of days, and sold it to the first guy who came to see it.

Good luck. Note: I've been riding and racing mt and road bikes for the past 25 years, so if you have any questions, please feel free to send me a pm.

 

[Harry_Wild]

I would just “rent one” when you what to go mountain biking!

 

[cortado]

I would just “rent one” when you what to go mountain biking!

I agree with this. Do you really need a mountain-bike collecting habit to go with tennis habit? First it's the bike, then upgrading gears, chain, seat, brakes, suspension etc. Rent it, then it doesn't matter if it gets trashed on the trail.

 

[onehandbh]

Is there such a thing as a fixie mountain bike? If you get one gear, what ratio would you want it to be? to be able to go up and down steep hills.

 

[Dartagnan64]

Is there such a thing as a fixie mountain bike? If you get one gear, what ratio would you want it to be? to be able to go up and down steep hills.

Granny gear. lol.

 

[tennisbike]

Just back from a week in Colorado, rented some mountain bikes with my son and really enjoyed it. Now I'm looking at buying an entry level mountain bike and looking online I had some thoughts: a) when did bikes get so damn expensive ?? I used to ride (road) back in the day and I don't recall bikes being so much ! b) Is there a bike shortage due to Covid ? Not seeing a lot available locally. Anyway if anyone has suggestions for a good entry level (less than $1,000) mountain bike, please let me know. Thanks.

I agree that bicycles in general has gotten much much expensive than before. In 80's when $1000 can pretty much give you a bike that a racer raced Tour De France. Now is considered a starting point.
I consider myself a cyclist at one point and I built bikes and wheels. I would shop for used bikes and recondition them. There are a lot out there, say from local CL. Take your time and you might still be able to get some decent bike for around $500. Of course it depends on what your are looking for, that window can go as low or as high as your idea of biking.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

Look at Giant Fantom 29 2

You will get a much better fork, and better drivetrain.

Other option is to look for one entry level bike (around 600 USD) and buy separately e good fork. Really, the fork is the single most important component in a bike, so invest in that.

If you are into such things, you can check Pinkbike or other MTB forums for a second hand bikes. Generally you will be able to buy a much better package for the same amount of money, but you need to know what you are doing to go that route.

 

[LeeD]

In 1985, I bought a Cannondale r-500, 105 parts, 20.6 lbs., for $600. Previous year.
Their top of the line, NOT nearly Cat3 raceable, was $6,000, around 15 lbs.
In 2014, I bought a Cannondale Caad-6, a Tiago part bike, 20.3 lbs., for $695. Previous year.
Their top of the line bike was carbon SuperSix, $9,000, and you could upgrade to $15,000, at 14.5 lbs.
A current Tour bike is worth $75,000

 

[Dartagnan64]

Their top of the line bike was carbon SuperSix, $9,000, and you could upgrade to $15,000, at 14.5 lbs.

I have 2 bikes. A touring e-bike (Riese and Muller Charger) and an all mountain dual suspension mountain bike (Norco Range). Price tag is $13,000 combined. Good quality bikes are not cheap. Both are a joy to ride.

 

[LeeD]

I'm a 600 buck bike guy.
G/F, in 2010, had two 14 lbs. road bikes, race and practice. DuraAce, carbon, carbon wheels....
When we met, I rode a 75 dollar, 24 lbs road bike.

 

[pyrokid]

I'm still riding an old Gary fisher Xcal 29er I got nearly a decade ago, 1x drive drive train, dropper post and huge wheels are the only things I'm really missing over the last few years. I'd check out the used market by you, I got mine for like 400 bucks

 

[Jay_The_Nomad]

Not sure if OP has gotten their bike yet but best option would be to stick with a hard tail mountain bike rather than dual suspension at the sub $1000 price point. Not even sure if anyone does dual suspension under $1000.

Look at the giant talon bikes. Very good value for money. If you’re looking for something a bit more fancy maybe go for the giant fathom.

Try to get something with a lockout for the front suspension fork.

 

[Traffic]

Sorry. My tennis hobby spending pales in comparison to my mountain bike habit...but I'll see if I can offer some useful info.

It really depends on what type of riding you want to get into. By your description of generally flat with minimal technical features, a HT or even a rigid bike with fat tires can do the trick. It really depends on how fast you want to ride. If you are generally not in good shape (tennis and biking shape are two different things...that can eventually compliment each other if you keep it up but totally different at the start).

All the FS stuff is a lot of weight to carry around for a little more comfort. So if you are not riding 2+hrs all the time or riding a lot of rugged techy stuff, then a simple bike with at least Deore components will suffice.

Try borrowing a bit.
Don't rent a bike from a shop. That's like test driving a Porsche when you are looking to buy a used Nissan Sentra.

 

[OnTheLine]

My hubby just went all-in on a bike habit.
Wow. Spendy.

Have a Specialized Xr (the replacement for the older stump jumper) that is about 15 years old. That is what he uses for mtn biking with about $400 in recent modifications ...

But he now has a Triathlon bike. Shocking to me what these cost. Cervelo P5X with a whole bunch of stuff I don't know anything about except what they cost.

Biking is a rich man's hobby it seems.

 

[Addxyz]

My hubby just went all-in on a bike habit.
Wow. Spendy.

Have a Specialized Xr (the replacement for the older stump jumper) that is about 15 years old. That is what he uses for mtn biking with about $400 in recent modifications ...

But he now has a Triathlon bike. Shocking to me what these cost. Cervelo P5X with a whole bunch of stuff I don't know anything about except what they cost.

Biking is a rich man's hobby it seems.

Road biking is a bit cheaper than mountain bikes. But yes, it can get up there... but it's all relative. A hobby could be cheap or expensive.

 

[fundrazer]

My hubby just went all-in on a bike habit.
Wow. Spendy.

Have a Specialized Xr (the replacement for the older stump jumper) that is about 15 years old. That is what he uses for mtn biking with about $400 in recent modifications ...

But he now has a Triathlon bike. Shocking to me what these cost. Cervelo P5X with a whole bunch of stuff I don't know anything about except what they cost.

Biking is a rich man's hobby it seems.

Yeah. It's gotten crazy. Cervelo is maybe a bit overpriced, but you also have brands like Specialized selling a $6k frame.

When I first started looking around 2009, you could get good entry level 105 spec'd bikes for $1k or less, now it's 1.4-2k before you get something like that.

 

[Traffic]

My hubby just went all-in on a bike habit.
Wow. Spendy.

Have a Specialized Xr (the replacement for the older stump jumper) that is about 15 years old. That is what he uses for mtn biking with about $400 in recent modifications ...

But he now has a Triathlon bike. Shocking to me what these cost. Cervelo P5X with a whole bunch of stuff I don't know anything about except what they cost.

Biking is a rich man's hobby it seems.

The cost of entry can be quite steep if you live near really nice trails like I do. Plus all the safety gear. But after that, it's just regular maintenance. It's not like I'm paying trail fees or have to buy a box of new tires to open up each time I go out like tennis ball cans, overgrips, strings...

I spend about $600/mo on club fees for my kids and I to play tennis (their tennis classes, court fees, etc). So tennis is a more spendy on an ongoing basis than mountain biking.

 

[OnTheLine]

The cost of entry can be quite steep if you live near really nice trails like I do. Plus all the safety gear. But after that, it's just regular maintenance. It's not like I'm paying trail fees or have to buy a box of new tires to open up each time I go out like tennis ball cans, overgrips, strings...

I spend about $600/mo on club fees for my kids and I to play tennis (their tennis classes, court fees, etc). So tennis is a more spendy on an ongoing basis than mountain biking.

I am likely just reeling from the set up costs.
The older mtn bike we have had for 15 years (bought new in 2005) ... dumped a bunch in "renovations"
The tri road bike is a new acquisition .. but purchased used (2019 model)
Then all the gear ... gloves, clothing, helmets, protective stuff, maintenance tools/equipment, etc. etc.
For the past few months, a new box of "bike stuff" arrives at the house every week and hubby gleefully grabs it and off to the garage to install it

But my tennis is not as expensive as yours .... no club fees, no kids' lessons, minor court fees ... just my stuff and my league fees

 

[Addxyz]

I am likely just reeling from the set up costs.
The older mtn bike we have had for 15 years (bought new in 2005) ... dumped a bunch in "renovations"
The tri road bike is a new acquisition .. but purchased used (2019 model)
Then all the gear ... gloves, clothing, helmets, protective stuff, maintenance tools/equipment, etc. etc.
For the past few months, a new box of "bike stuff" arrives at the house every week and hubby gleefully grabs it and off to the garage to install it

But my tennis is not as expensive as yours .... no club fees, no kids' lessons, minor court fees ... just my stuff and my league fees

It's all about upgrades and new tech. Electronic shifting, carbon wheels, other carbon parts... it's never-ending.

 

[Traffic]

Yes, if I had a Darling Tennis Center near me, my costs would be far less... I have to pay $130/mo just to access a tennis courts outside of July, Aug, Sept... plus your court fees are the same as mine as a member of a private club.

 

[Traffic]

I am likely just reeling from the set up costs.

Yes. It takes a while to get acclimated to the cost(s). Having been mountain biking year 'round for the past 12yrs, my wife didn't feint when I asked her for my last mountain bike for my 50th birthday present.

 

[Addxyz]

Yes. It takes a while to get acclimated to the cost(s). Having been mountain biking year 'round for the past 12yrs, my wife didn't feint when I asked her for my last mountain bike for my 50th birthday present.

It's never the last bike. Always N+1.

 

[Traffic]

It's never the last bike. Always N+1.

True. So true. My hot bike is a hardtail. And I picked up a used FS bike. But I'm sure I'll look to upgrade the FS bike sometime in the near future. It's a Kona Process 111 and I love it. But every once in a while, I wish I had a little more rear travel because I find myself going pretty hot downhill.

 

[loosegroove]

@atatu , did you ever score a bike? Shops are finally getting inventory again, and the used market isn't so ridiculous anymore. Seeing some good deals on FB Marketplace around me again, which wasn't the case for the past 6 months.

 

[atatu]

@atatu , did you ever score a bike? Shops are finally getting inventory again, and the used market isn't so ridiculous anymore. Seeing some good deals on FB Marketplace around me again, which wasn't the case for the past 6 months.

Not yet ! I'll definitely start checking out the bike shops again now, thanks.

 

[BillKid]

Just back from a week in Colorado, rented some mountain bikes with my son and really enjoyed it. Now I'm looking at buying an entry level mountain bike and looking online I had some thoughts: a) when did bikes get so damn expensive ?? I used to ride (road) back in the day and I don't recall bikes being so much ! b) Is there a bike shortage due to Covid ? Not seeing a lot available locally. Anyway if anyone has suggestions for a good entry level (less than $1,000) mountain bike, please let me know. Thanks.

Are there Decathlon stores in your country? That brand would be a good pick for you.

 

[loosegroove]

Not yet ! I'll definitely start checking out the bike shops again now, thanks.

Honestly, getting a nice condition used bike is probably the best way to go, though nothing wrong with supporting the local bike shop.

 

[18x20 ftw]

Have three bikes: triathlon (kestrel), road (trek), and mtn (specialized). Built them myself, with a little help from the bike store. I think that Trek Marlin or X Caliber would be a great fit for you. I would def go 1x10. I kinda wish my specialized had that.

I would really like a single gear bike for around town.

 

[Lefty5]

Is any place in stock with Mountain Bikes? I cannot find one right now for under $2500 or over $400.

 

[Addxyz]

Is any place in stock with Mountain Bikes? I cannot find one right now for under $2500 or over $400.

Good luck with that. COVID means most bike stores are sold out.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Is any place in stock with Mountain Bikes? I cannot find one right now for under $2500 or over $400.

Amazon!

 

[DaylightBlue]

Is any place in stock with Mountain Bikes? I cannot find one right now for under $2500 or over $400.

When I was still really into cycling and mtn biking, Canyon and Airborne were mentioned often for direct to consumer mountain bikes.

 

[ChaelAZ]

I have had a Trek 4500 since around 2000 and it has been excellent with very little issue. Funny I actually took it to the shop today for the first time to get the rails and gearing fixed. Also just put new tires and tubes on, brake pads, grips, etc. Anyway, I think I spent around $500 back then. I personal like Trek or Giant and both have entry level bikes in that $600 range. I just looked at the Marlin Series by Trek but don't recall the Giant ones (I was looking at upgrading a bit to the Fathom line there, but those were around that $1400 point).

I've bought a few off-brand ones for the kids and all have crap'd out pretty quick, so pay a little more for a better bike if you can.

 

[giantschwinn]

I just sold three of my 10 year old mountain bikes for top dollars. I got 300 dollars per bike more than what I would have gotten last year. It's a great time to sell if you want to get rid of old bikes that you aren't riding anymore.

 

[MathGeek]

I put 5000 miles on a Trek Marlin 6 before it needed serious repairs. Mostly on beginner trails which is about all my 200 lb 53 year old self can handle.

 

[tennisbike]

If someone has not mentioned it, make friends with your local bike shop. Better yet, find a buddy who is into bikes around you. I did. He was a real bikie, did lots of multi-day tours, worked in bike shop. So I hang out with him and learned from him. Ask more questions than he cared to answer. He just said, go find yourself a bike and ride the heck out of it. The mileage and the journey will teach you, if you are willing to learn. It is not about the bike, it is the journey. Have fun!