So I’m in a somewhat similar boat here: I haven’t mountain biked in about 12 (yikes) years, and I’m looking to start back up again. I raced in the dinosaur age of mountain biking from the late 80’s to around 2000 (various Fat Chances, mostly), and briefly owned a full suspension in the late aughts until I sold it before moving to a very MTB-unfriendly city.
I have some flexibility on price, but this Specialized Stumpjumper Comp Alloy seems like a pretty great deal at $2499, plus I’d be buying it from a local shop and would have some extra cash for upgrades if necessary. I can spend up to a few grand more, and the local shop sells Specialized, Salsa, Rocky Mountain, maybe others?
I’m open to new, used, or anything that seems like it’d work. I live in VT and will be riding lots of rocky, rooted stuff, a fair amount of singletrack, and the occasional trip to Kingdom Trails.
The stumpjumper alloy is a great all-rounder. That’s what I went with a few years ago getting back into modern mtb. I wanted to save some money because I didn’t know if I would stick with it, so I went with the lowest spec. However, I ended up spending more in total trying to upgrade the base level stumpy than if I had just gone with a higher build spec up front.
Sram GX or Shimano SLX have the best cost to performance ratio. If your budget allows, find something with that level components and I bet you’ll be happier in the long run.
If you’re okay with a hardtail then the Specialized Chisel is the way to go for a more budget bike that will let you get the feel for MTB, have modern geo, and you won’t feel too guilty if you want to upgrade in a couple years but also not too guilty if you decide you don’t like MTB.
As for full sus, the 120-140 travel range is probably the sweet spot but that can incorporate a ton of very different bikes. The way the company designs the suspension layout can seriously affect the pedaling and downhill performance of the bike.
If you want more of an all day epic, good at pedaling end of the spectrum then Spec Epic, Revel Ranger, Epic Evo, YT Izzo, Cannondale Scalpel SE, Scott Spark, etc would be good choices. Basically beefed up XC bikes. (with the Epic being the most racy and the others trending to more comfy).
If you want more comfort and downhill performance at the expense of some pedaling efficiency, then go more toward the ‘trail’ end of the spectrum. Bikes like the Spec Stumpjumper, Trek Top Fuel/Fuel, YT Jeffsy, Scott Genius, etc.
Yup, excellent advice. Hardtails are easier to maintain, you get better spec for the same amount of money or, equivalently, components of the same quality for less. Modern aluminum frames are great, too.
I’d also consider the Chisel full suspension as a budget option if you anticipate riding any chunky trails. I know there are still hard core supporters of hard tail bikes and they certainly have their place, but FS bikes are so good these days that I’d struggle to recommend a hard tail unless it’s just gravel and smooth singletrack (or some very specific racing situations). If you have not been on a FS bike in a while, ride one back to back with a similarly equipped HT (and you’ll see the reason FS outsells HT by a wide margin these days). Yes, more $, but more fun and more forgiving in my opinion.
Full sus to get you hooked, then add a HT to the fleet when you start feeling like your local trails are no longer challenging enough. That’ll keep you humble and force you to focus on improving technique…… so the real answer is to get two bikes.
Yes, fullys are better than hardtails in most situations except for price (like you say). If you want to dip your toe in the water, I’d say they are fine. If you want to dip your toe in the water, a hardtail will do a great job.
