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Hardtail, Lightweight, Light to Race-level XC

826 views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  MJcka 
#1 ·
Hey all,

Well a couple years ago I quit riding simply because my bike was stolen. Before that I had been biking for about three years every weekend in local (VA, MD, and WV) trails, almost all single track, predominantly rocky, technical stuff.

So, I'm moving back up to VT and quiting paintball so that'll alleviate quite a bit of funds, and I'm really excited to get back into riding. I figure I have a budget anywhere between $1200-$1500, and am really looking for a solid, lightweight ht with quality parts.

Unfortunately my LBS is severely limited and how do you say, not to be trusted?, as they've been accused of some seriously shady business dealings in the past.

So unfortunately, I'm really up in the air in this one. I'm not sure if building the bike piece by piece would be as cost effective as buying a whole bike and improving from there.

I'm roughly 6'1 and 180 lbs, if that helps, and am really open to anything. Any help anyone could give me in pointing me to the right direction or sharing opinions would be of a huge help to me. My previous bike, the one stolen, was a Rockhopper Comp Disc, and it really was a dream riding it, however the quality of some of the stock parts were lacking.
 
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#3 ·
If you are going to be racing you should probably take a look at Giant XTC, Specialized Stumpjumper HT, Trek 9.8 Carbon Fiber, Kona Kula and maybe GT Zaskar. There are probably more people racing HT's with these bikes than any others. A typical race build will usually be with XT components and a Fox F80 fork.
 
#4 ·
MJcka said:
Hey all,

Well a couple years ago I quit riding simply because my bike was stolen. Before that I had been biking for about three years every weekend in local (VA, MD, and WV) trails, almost all single track, predominantly rocky, technical stuff.

So, I'm moving back up to VT and quiting paintball so that'll alleviate quite a bit of funds, and I'm really excited to get back into riding. I figure I have a budget anywhere between $1200-$1500, and am really looking for a solid, lightweight ht with quality parts.

Unfortunately my LBS is severely limited and how do you say, not to be trusted?, as they've been accused of some seriously shady business dealings in the past.

So unfortunately, I'm really up in the air in this one. I'm not sure if building the bike piece by piece would be as cost effective as buying a whole bike and improving from there.

I'm roughly 6'1 and 180 lbs, if that helps, and am really open to anything. Any help anyone could give me in pointing me to the right direction or sharing opinions would be of a huge help to me. My previous bike, the one stolen, was a Rockhopper Comp Disc, and it really was a dream riding it, however the quality of some of the stock parts were lacking.
for 1200-1500 USD...

my favorits would be

Kona Kula Series

Scott Scale Series

Specialized Stumpjumper

Gary Fisher Big Sur

or an Yati ARC (frame with a decent buildkit, not sure about the final cost though),...

good luck. have fun shopping.
 
#6 ·
thats funny quitting paintball lol I just did the same thing. I sold my angel A1 to but my bike and sold my infinity legend to buy new brakes gotta love pbnation. I agree even with sponsorships paintball was still pretty expensive, I like how with the bike i can go ride for free. Good luck bike shopping.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Ok, so I basically spent the whole day looking at bikes, and I learned quite a bit, and I really think I have a somewhat good feel as to what I want in a bike.

I am either looking for a solid bike with a nice, light frame and LX-XTR level components, or a dirt cheap bike with a nice frame that I can slowly build up with XTR level components.

Ok, so I did some more searching, and I'm coming up torn between The FSRxcExpert and the SJ Comp, both exactly priced at $1750. I'll compare them tomorrow.
 
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