Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

If you really like the bike you have, see if the fork has mounts for a disc brake. I added a front disc to my 20 year old Marin by getting an Avid cable unit and basically just bolted it on and swapped out the cable.
I still haven’t gotten around to mounting the back one - bought an adapter off eBay or Amazon for just a few bucks, but haven’t taken the time.
I’m not using that bike in the woods any more - it’s my general runaround bike now.

 

Trek Stache

 

All the major brands have something in the "affordable but quality" range. Big brands like Trek, Specialized, Giant, and even some direct-to-consumer brands would be worth looking into, YT, Commencal, a few others. I'm pretty sure even the smaller, boutique brands have something in the lower price ranges, just depends on the brand and what kind of bike you're looking for.

Where price really goes up is in the components that come on the bike. Pick something with a lower end component set on it, and then upgrade as needed. That's a good way to into something for less money up front.

Welcome to the hobby, we love new people!

 

A lot depends on what your definition of "ridiculously expensive" is. For some, that's a grand and for others, it's more than six grand.

Middle of the road bikes range from somewhere around $3500 to $6000. A Santa Cruz, Commencal, Trek and others offer bikes in the two grand range. All are suited for trail rides but will probably not last (or be comfortable) bombing down trails at North Star. None will be dual suspension and all will have inexpensive components.

Another way into a great bike is to buy used. If you're cool with an older bike, you can often find good deals on something just a few years old. There are even some bike stores that offer exclusively used.

Good luck in your search. Aside from riding, looking is always a lot of fun.

 

Somewhat to your point, I would say a "Middle of the Road" bike would be $2000-3500. For me, the sweet spot is $2500-3000 MSRP bikes. I feel that once you go above $3000, you start to get into diminishing returns on the price increase vs performance increase curve.

 

My Giant was $350 new back in 2008 (pretty sure it was on sale) for a privately owned independent bike shop that no longer exists; It is by far the most durable bike I’ve ever owned!

 

Almost all bikes are durable. If you're not the type to want the latest and greatest all the time, any bike you buy these days will last you years.

Most people upgrade not because their bikes fall apart or something, but because they just feel like they need or want the shiny new toy.

I've been riding MTB for 15 years, and I've had 3 bikes. A Specialized hardtail that I rode for a few years before I wanted a full suspension. So I bought a Giant Anthem that I rode for almost 10 years without really upgrading anything. Few repairs here and there and regular maintenance. Then about 4 years ago, I sold it and got an Intense Tracer. Been riding that very regularly since then, and I don't see myself getting rid of that bike anytime soon. If funds allow in the future I might add a short travel XC full suspension to my garage.

Long story short, these bikes will last you a long time, especially if you take care of them with regular maintenance.

 

@DarthPow

Seeing as there’s nothing wrong with my Giant aside from likely needing the tubes and tires replaced, I’d like to convert it to disc brakes; How hard is this to do?

I’m on the Trek website right now and I’m seeing a couple of really nice mountain bikes for under $1,100. I do enjoy riding bikes, but not enough that I could justify spending more than $1,500 on a new one.

 

I got some sort of stainless steel bike from my parents for Christmas in 2002; I forget what brand it was, but my parents likely bought it from Walmart or something, and not a dedicated bike shop. I rode the shit out this bike from 2002-2005, and I honestly forget what happened to it; I might have sold it. My
Dad and I just happened to go to Sports Authority one day in 2005 or 2006 and I saw this black and white Mongoose that had disc brakes (at least on the front; unsure of the rear); My dad had said he was going to buy a me a new bike, and he ended up buying me a new one. I was a teenager with little knowledge of bicycle maintenance, and I completely destroyed the Mongoose within less than three years. My parents bought me the Giant, which I still have, in the summer of 2008; I took the Mongoose apart purely out of curiosity and then left it curbside for the garbage men.

 

Key words there. What mountain bikes have you owned besides that Giant? Second question: Have you ever used that Giant on any gnarly descents in the mountains?

My point is that even your average Walmart bike will hold up for a while if you never ride it on tougher trails. If cruising around your local park is all you ever need, then less expensive and lesser equipped bikes are perfectly fine.

I personally wouldn't recommend a hardtail starter bike below $750 these days for any trails that aren't completely flat. Anything less than that would likely require too many immediate upgrades to handle tougher trails. It's actually a bit dangerous to ride low-level components on tough trails, so I wouldn't want to see anyone push their bike way beyond its intended use and get badly hurt as a result. Have you ever seen cheap cranks come apart on a descent? It's not pretty; and, even if you manage to avoid injuries, you're going to have to spend more money to repair/upgrade anyways.

Why not spend a little more up front to ensure the bike is suitable for the more difficult trails and safer for you while you're out there?

 

I picked that range because there are quite a few bikes that are well above six grand and if you include eMTB, almost to the fifteen grand range (cheap car range).

Regardless, the price range really depends on what any buyer wants to pay.

 

Trek's Roscoe 7 with its SRAM SX drivetrain is actually in the sweet spot for starter mountain bikes, and $1200-$1500 is a great range for both capability and peace of mind.

Another fantastic option is the 2021 Giant Fathom 29 2 with its Deore drivetrain seen here: https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/fathom-29-2-2021

Both are sweet hardtails that would be fun to ride and perhaps upgrade one piece at a time over the next five years.

 

My very first mountain bike ever was a 24” and also my first bike with gears; My parents bought it at Walmart in the summer of 2000. I forget what brand this bike was (definitely not a Schwinn), but it held up incredibly well. I never took it on any serious trails, but I rode the shit out of it and did stupid shit with it that you’d expect a preteen to do with a bike that their parents paid for.

I did not even ask for a new bike in 2002, but by this time I was 13 and growing quickly. My parents bought me another Walmart special that was 26” instead of 24”, and I think I either sold the 24” bike at a yard sale, or tore it apart purely out of boredom and threw the remains away.

I do not know what happened to the bike I got for Christmas in 2002, but I think I either sold it or traded it to a neighborhood kid for something else (not a bike). My dad bought me the Mongoose in 2005 or 2006 and that completely fell apart by 2008...

 

@PennSilverTaco - By the way, of the two bikes, I'd personally go with the Giant Fathom 29 for its more aggressive/modern geometry and longer travel fork. In fact, that's exactly what I just recommended to a neighbor who wanted to get into the sport for less than $1300.

 

@paleh0rse

My first real bike ever (as in not a tricycle) was this lime green/neon yellow deal that my parents bought me at Toys “R” Us in 1993 or 1994, when I would have been 4 or 5 (pretty sure I was 5). I did not yet know how to ride a 2-wheeler, but it came with training wheels. My parents took me to a church up the street from our neighborhood and taught me how to ride without training wheels in the parking lot. I did fall and scrape up my knee pretty badly at one point (Still have slight remnants of a scar even more than a quarter of a century later), but I was riding perfectly without training wheels before 1995!

We moved to from Pennsylvania to California in 1996 (my dad was in the Navy so we moved a lot). There was absolutely nothing wrong with the bright green bike, but I was growing rapidly. My parents bought me a slightly larger bike at Toys R Us in late 1996; This was NOT a mountain bike. I wanted a bike with gears, but my parents didn’t think I was ready for that yet. The bike I got had no gears and “coaster” brakes, and it was not a BMX bike nor was it a mountain bike; It had aggressive tires so it was competent for going off the pavement. I do not remember what company this bike was, but the model was “TECH 290”. I rode the TECH 290 until 2000, when my parents bought me my first mountain bike not long after we moved from Virginia Beach to Oak Harbor, Washington.

 

I was going to say the same thing -- if your budget is $1500, the Trek Roscoe 7 is a great choice. The Roscoe 6 has a lower-end fork that I would avoid. You might even be able to get an 8 in last years model within that budget, but bikes have been a hot item lately.

There are no full-suspension options I would go with that fit that budget.

 

The TECH 290 had its pedals removed and taped to the frame in an effort to maximize space on the moving truck. Whoever had done this had stripped the threads and I couldn’t get one of the pedals back in; My parents said they’d be buying me a new mountain bike so I took apart the TECH 290 just for fun. It sat in the garage for months until I gave it to a slightly older and incredibly attractive girl who lived around the corner, and who I had a crush on; She had plans to use parts from the bike on a go-kart or soapbox derby racer, but the plans never materialized and the bike (minus the seat, pedals, and possibly the handlebars) was still rotting in her backyard when we moved back east in 2002.

 

So the Fathom is suitable for both on-road and off-road use? My first mountain bikes spent more time on dry pavement than in the dirt, as my primary use for them was riding to friends’ houses...

 

Can’t forget about the DH steed. 2018 transition TR11. The race weapon, the park shredder, and all around fun ass bike!

If anyone lives in the Portland, OR area and wants to ride HMU!

 

Do you do any actual mountain biking on trails built specifically for that purpose? If not, I wouldn't really recommend any of these actual mountain bikes at all. They're all pretty inefficient on pavement.

Your best bet may be a gravel bike of some sort with road-like geometry, drop handlebars, "gravel tires," and no suspension. Just something to consider.

Example:
https://surlybikes.com/bikes/straggler