MTN Bike on a Budget

What is your budget? Less than 9K doesnt help.

I would look at any major brand (Giant, Cannondale, or Specialized), and look at your Craigslist for hardtails.

29 inch wheel (unless you are less than 6' in height, then look at 27.5" wheelsets), and disc brakes.

1x is nice, but not necessary.


10 or 11 speed in the back.

Hit that range, you should stay well below your $1,500 entry fee. Bike will be solid, and you can determine if you want to go a little deeper. You take care of that hardtail, and you should be able to sell it for most of what you paid for it.

As mentioned, look used. Check out pinkbike.com as well. If you're looking under 2 or 3k then your only option for a nice bike is a lightly used one that someone paid way more for originally.

I purchased a leftover YT Jeffsy this year and I love it. They are direct sales company so you cant try it out but the components you get for the money is amazing. Diamondback also has some good bikes for the money.

I have a Rocky Mountain bike I really like. If you look around you can find some in your range.

Check out.

https://www.bikeexchange.com/s/bikes/rocky-mountain

Marin Bikes
Norco

As the bike shops about demos. I bought a 4 star Ninner rip 9 rdo (full carbon bike, $8800 new) for $3000 and it only had a scratch on the fork bottoms. Its been an awesome bike and is a good way to get a high end bike on a low end budget.

for 1500 you can find a very solid used hardtail or a used entry level Full suspension for around that price range, but still a solid bike. Depending on your age, and trail type, a hard tail is more fun (IMO) and even faster most the time. if you dont plan to be jumping, doing drops over 1.5 ft, get a XC full suspension mtn bike. if looking to send it, jump tabletops, get an all trail mtn bike or off-road xc mtn bike.

if trail is really rocky and bumpy you might want to look for a full suspension and consider 29er wheels if lots of wide open straights. Oh and Giant, specialized, Cannondale and the like are good brands.

if you are taller than 5'7 youll be fine on a 29er.
27.5 wheel size is more nimble, lower top speed,

1500 used hardtail was probably like 2100 new
1500 used Fully probably around 2500 new.

entry level Giant talon 3 is like 599 new but only comes in 27.5 wheels unless you pay a few hundred.
Used is the way to go

I bought a Norco Nitro 9.2 hardtail. Great bike for the money, I've had zero issues with it since 2015.
I'm 5'7" and it's a 29er, the only time it's an issue is low speed tight turns, the arc of the front tire and the arc of the pedals intersect, but I get around it no problem. The 29" wheels roll over everything.

I bought a Canyon Spectral AL 5.0 at their end of season sale, saved a few hundred bucks. Love it!

Owned two Commencals now, happy with the customer service and product.

https://www.commencalusa.com/Mobile/meta-ht-am-essential-650b-shiny-gun…

When i was racing non stop, I bought a $149.99 mongoose from Wal-Mart. Yes i can have any bike i want but i wanted a heavy tank because I didnt want it to be easy at all to train for moto. I put good bars, cranks, wheels and xtr controls and pounded as many mtb tracks as i could in Florida. I owned a duplex and rented to an aspiring pro xc guy that would drive to all the trails during the week. I now have some of the hi end bikes but still have the mongoose beater that hammered so many laps.

I’ve bought a few used bikes from pinkbike. You have to filter those iffy ads but most are legitimate.

x2 on the direct-to-consumer brands. I bought a Commencal last fall myself and could not be happier with it.