Mountain Biking Cross-Satisfaction?

If you are in KY check out Brown County park, that place is so fun. 

New enduro MTBs can be set up to feel super moto. YT and Commencial are great direct to consumer brands with modern bike designs. Buy a full 29er especially since you are tall.   BUT you are buying a MTB at the right time. Company’s are seriously hurting and selling stuff CHEAP! MTB company’s are going out of business right now at an alarming rate. 
Enduro bikes ride just like a moto, throwing whips, dragging bars in berns and ruts and launching gaps that most guys on this forum can’t do on a moto bike, full moto stuff. Also scarier than most moto stuff. Cross country riding not so much, might as well buy a road bike.

Lucky you live in a spot that’s not all flat. There are a few rad shuttle parks around you

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzO7eh2svuW/

Check this out!!

Rode MX Saturday (YZ 134) and MTB on Sunday (Carbon Levo) For me the MTB makes my MX experience better, thus they go hand in hand.

In the summer I drive a CR 125 Shifter Kart and that also helps my MX as I'm used to the response of the kart turning 12K and the loose feeling - thus the muscle memory translates to some degree to MX coupled with 60 years of dirt bikes

Honestly I take the ebike out 9 times out of 10 these days. Moto is amazing but the amount of work before and after to ride is alot. With the eeeb just a helmet and a pair of shoes and I can have the most amazing day.

It definitely keeps the brain sharp as things happen fast and you can always find something that will scare the shit out of you and challenge you. I highly recommend the gen 3 turbo levo if you want to shred, or the trek rail 9.8 if you want a do it all kind of bike. 

I've been slowly moving over to the MTB more and more. I've found that I like it more for these reasons:

-It's cheaper. you can buy a very capable MTB for $3K, brand new. Also, I only replace brake pads and tires.

-Even the hardest crashes are less damaging to body and bike. More frequent, maybe. 

-You'll get into shape fast. Moto is way easier for me now. 

-You can ride all the time. I often find myself going out for an "after work" ride or a lunch ride. I could conceivably ride every day if I wanted to. Extra points if there's open space near your home. By comparison, loading up my YZ, stand, tools, chemicals, gear bag and gas can, then paying $35 to ride is starting to seem like a lot of hassle. 
 

I agree with Ob917 about the YT and Commencal brands. I have a Commencal myself. Some other notable D2B brands are Canyon and Fezzari.

i bought a canyon spectral ebike earlier this year and i find myself loading it up to ride way more than i load up my mx bike. its just easier and less maintenance plus you can go ride and not have to sit around and wait for your turn on the track.i have just as much fun and i can go ride 30 miles in 2-3 hours and be back home without being gone all day. 

When I lived in so cal I was 5 mins from elsinore,20 from perris and 30 to cahuilla and fox raceway. 2 years ago I moved to arizona and acp is 90 miles away and moto land is an hour. I mountain bike 1-2 times a week and it definitely fills the void. At 46 I enjoy a grind up a hill to get to the downs. Moto is 2nd now but when I do ride I understand I don’t get to ride as often and I need to just have fun and let some steam off and make sure I drive my ass back home. Arizona has some awesome trail systems and I’m home in a couple hours with a hell of a work out

I ended up selling my 125 to Get a ebike as a 2nd bike. A week later some chick hit my wifes 2 month old Tesla and totaled it. Used that money on a downpayment on another. Sold my sons mountain bike to build up a enduro hardtail only to have him total his ranger 5 weeks to the day later. I guess I wasent meant for a 2nd bike for now. Hoping for 2024 to get an ebike!

I can drive 5 miles and get on singletrack, there is no way I’m taking my mtb if the dirt is good and it has absolutely no “cross-satisfaction” for me, never will. 

Have you ridden a full powered long travel suspension ebike though?

I have been wanting to get into e  mountain biking for years and just bought a turbo levo a year ago and it has changed my life.....I'm all in and just got a deal on a giant reign that i bought out in California so I have something great to ride when I visit Simi......I couldn't care less about suffering and getting in crazy shape...I just want to blaze singletrack as fast as i can ride it......It doesn't take the place of moto for me but its getting closer every day as moto riding tracks take too much time and effort to get to. If it wasn't for this amazing Levo e bike, I probably wouldn't be interested at all in normal mountain biking.   I can do 30 miles of singletrack at a fast pace and not be totally spent when done....It is a perfect transition or addition  to motocross.....

 I'm a 54 year old intermediate mountain bike rider.....I'd love to hook up with some like kinds out in So Cal as I'm not used to riding in places where mountain lions can eat you.....   I mostly ride alone when i head out west. And I enjoy a fast pace.... ...I ride every day when i can. 

I fully committed to MTB amongst other activities, but nothing ever took the place of MX. I always gave them up after a while.

I do more off road racing (NGCC) than I ever thought I would. There’s something to be said for starting your 2 hour ride and once you finish, you don’t have to wait around for another moto or two.

I still ride MX most weekends for training though.

A Jeffsy is a great bike to start on, it will be great on most KY trails. But when you get faster and start riding more demanding stuff you will want something slacker with more travel. YT Capra if you wanted to stay with YT. By the way YT USAs president is a great guy, who rides moto bikes also. 
Really cool company 

In my opinion the only way to get the same feeling on a MTB as your moto is dependent  on the bike and terrain. 
Slack, long travel “170mm” and terrain with steep stuff or good man made features. Normal single track is just a boring pedal fest. While good to get you out in the sticks and for fitness it lacks high adrenaline like moto. I raced XC for years when that was popular . Now all my MTB bikes are set up like a full outdoor moto bike for high speeds and steeps with big jumps thrown in. So fucking fun, I probably ride Mtb five days a week. Moto one day. 

This is likely a West Coast only issue but I would recommend scouting out your local trail regulations before getting into e-bikes. While there are still far more ebiking trails around me than moto trails, enough trails are restricted to acoustic bikes only to deter me from ever considering an e-bike. 

Nope, no sort of pedal assist is allowed on the mtb trails where I live and I live in a town lots would consider a mtb mecca. 

Not to start a E bike debate but In my opinion all trail systems are going to be allowing class 1 pedal assist bikes soon. Since the forestry service just released their study that showed no negligible effects of pedal assist mtbs . Some of the trail systems in Southern California “Laguna” don’t allow E bikes, but there is 0 enforcement and you see mostly E bikes on the trails. Most places allow E bikes tho. Most days I ride my Transition Relay PNW

This. Enduro geo, long travel, E-Assist. Worth every penny. Enduro geometry seats you more "in the bike" than on top of it, and the capabilities of long travel modern enduro's are astonishing.

I re-iterate, bombing down a fast, flowing trail, on good dirt, with a bike that is more capable than you, is an amazing feeling, especially when gravity is pushing you so there is next to no pedal input. Stuff of dreams. 

Was kind of meh personally on mtb, and then I ended up riding downhill on a whim and it completely changed my outlook. That was a rush. Problem is that I can’t afford 2 primary hobbies. 

Where do you live and what trails are around you, I love shuttling and trail riding, but I would rather shoot myself in the foot than ride XC. Comming from MX and if your planning to ride solo more, a ebike will probably be better because it sucks a lot less on the way up. Riding will be what you make it, the faster and more comfortable you get, the more fun you will have. It's nice to be able to get a good ride in a hour or 2 rather than a half/full day plus a stop at the gas station, riding fees etc....

I tried it. I live right next to a famous trail system (wissahickon). Just didn’t do it for me. I’d rather ride moto once every other week than mountain bike all the time. You never get the feeling you get slamming into a sand turn, and jumps on a dirt bike are way more fun. 

The land of the free doesn't sound very free lol, that's crazy you can't ride pedal assist ebikes on mtb trails, what's the reasoning behind it? 

The mtb community is filled with the most pretentious assholes of any hobby sport unfortunately. Old white people with money and influence on local government give mini dads all they can handle 

The MTB community has no bearing on whether eBikes are allowed on trails. That’s like saying the Moto community is the reason riding areas keep getting shut down 

It's because e-bikes can be fast, and most trails in the city are multi-use, meaning there are hikers, joggers, equestrians, and mountain bikers sharing the trails.  I've had close calls both as a runner, and as a mountain biker.  I'm not saying it's a no-go, but there are assholes who have no regard for anyone but themselves, and they cause hikers and equestrians to complain about bikes, and get trails closed.  For those dudes, adding another 10mph will be a disaster.  For the rest of us, it's probably alright as long as we're not ripping around blind corners.

That makes sense, all our trails are mtb only or walkers only. 

I just ordered a new E-MTB to replace my 13 year old Specialized Camber Pro. I haven't really biked in the last 2 years, but went on a trail ride about a month ago. I forgot how nice it was to ride some good single track, they're building a new 21 mile trail 30 minutes from my house. It's crazy how many more mountain bike trails there are vs dirt bike single track. Personally I think they should all be multiple use, but mountain bikers are a snobby bunch. 

Hoping to get my 2 wheeled fix with the new bike, but I just went on a dirt bike ride over the holiday and I'm not sure anything could be that fun.

Actually probably much worse here on the east coast as far as e-bikes go. Allowed at any private or city park trails but once you get into the mountains (national forests) where e-bikes are actually useful they aren't allowed.

I always thought it was silly because e-bikes aren't really causing more damage to the trails by riding them. But the issue to me was very obvious during covid as new riders were able to get up climbs and into remote trails much easier and generally e-bikes make hard to access trails much more accessible.

These backcountry trails arent really built in a super sustainable way to be able to handle a ton of traffic. The e-bike covid crowd are the last people that would ever come out for a trail maintenance/build day as well.

Love my MTB but has two annoying items that my GasGas does not have .......PEDALS