All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

100 miles is no joke haha

Personally I’d stay away from YT given their current situation in Europe. That’s just me though. The specialized and Kona will be solid.

For a little more price wise you can get a transition sentinel alloy or ibis ripmo af. More all around bikes than the specialized status.

a couple others I’d consider if they have your size available. 130mm of travel is probably on the low side of travel for all around riding but depends on you’re trails. The Orbea occam is a dialed option though.

https://www.jensonusa.com/norco-fluid-fs-c3-bike

https://www.jensonusa.com/orbea-occam-lt-m30-2024-bike

 

Your best bet would be making it to an outer bike event or some other rental situation. Try a few different bikes and see what you like.

 

appreciate this - I'd seen the ibis ripmo af looking around; the sale price wasn't in my size, though I didn't expand my search for it too far.

I had considered this as well; I think a few of the shops in Santa Fe do ride days and I know they sell some of the demo bikes at the end of the season; same with our local ski hill -- though I'm not interested in DH specifically. I'm crazy but not that type of crazy (for now).

Santa Fe is only an hour from here as well. We do have a local "Tuffriders" group that ride together once a week in season -- for most of them it's their dedicated "sport" and have quite bling going on; a few might be willing to point me in the right direction and or offer up some old stock. lol. I'm mostly trying to source info/ideas from all around - thus posting here too to ask my taco peeps.

 

There are a few shops in Albuquerque that rent demos out as well, not sure if you are further north of Santa Fe. Or if you are in Durango soon, 2nd Ave Sports has a great lineup of rental bikes you can try out with a ton of places to ride.

Just a thought. Have fun shopping!

 

Cool!! Good to know. I'm further north - up in Los Alamos - everything is "far". I was just passing through Durango a couple weeks back but not enough time to stop/shop. Half of one of the teams I played with in a hockey tournament back in May live up there; we're trying to get together for a Durango tournament -- so perhaps I'll be up there sooner than I think. A few of them ride -- also part of what drove this idea in my mind; my hockey girls would rather bike than run with me.

 

Of all those hobbies, this one is likely the most expensive.
Honestly, I just saw the new Ibis Ripmo and Ripley AF in person and it's excellent. The price point is spot on.

 

So I also realize I've been looking at a lot of trail specific bikes -- perhaps more targeted at DH?

I'm wondering if I should be looking more at the XC side of things if I don't intend to ride down our ski hill... More like the Chisel or Chisel Comp?? (the Evo gets up there in $$$). So much $$$$....

 

it sounds like a trail bike is the way to go if your friends are riding downhill stuff. a trail bike can do the dh stuff, but is also easier to pedal for long days. if you like one over the other (dh vs xc), you just buy another bike later.

 

The 140/150 travel bracket is very versatile. They can be set up to do lots of different types of riding.
Right now sale prices on last year's stuff is amazing. The bikes are top notch. I'd say spend as much as is possibly responsible for you, get the best bike you can get that's got good brakes and suspension. The rest can be upgraded fairly cheap down the line.
Shop around, some killer bikes up to 40% off.