Best Mountain Bike under $1000
 

This should be a stickied post. Seems people keep asking this same question over and over.

https://reviews.mtbr.com/best-mountain-bikes-under-1000

What about 500-1000?

Thanks

most of the bikes in that list are in the 500 to 1000 range.

I just looked again they are all 1000 and above...for the 2020 version

Bordering on junk bike territory. You'll end up spending $500 on it then not too long after you'll be replacing components meaning you should have just spent more money up front.

People should understand that mountain biking and cheap don't go in the same sentence. Pick any hobby...fishing, golf, shooting guns, skiing, playing guitar, scuba diving, baseball...the good equipment isn't cheap if you want quality equipment that lasts.

It really depends on your minimum-good-enough tolerance.

You will probably get...
Fork with oil damping
Hydraulic brakes
Tubeless rims
Quick release frame and rear hub, with cup and cone bearings
1X drivetrain with clutch rear derailleur

Do you need...
Name brand
Air spring fork, not coil. Better forks than that also are much lighter with aluminum, not steel stanchions and steerer
More range and ratios in the drivetrain
Dropper post (only sometimes at this price)
Hollow spindle crank (not at this price).
Rear thru axle with cartridge bearings
Tubeless tires (you are not likely going to get "real" tubeless tires at this price but the cheapies that come with work okay-ish until you wear them out. Then you can get sticker shock on the real thing but they seal and grip the trail much better)

Added some edits I thought of after reply below was posted

Any suggestions?

You should definitely get a mountain bike.

Look for stuff on sale but also consider why it didn't sell last year.

The Marin San Quentin 1 2020 bike caught my eye. I believe this was designed to be used on jump trails.

The angle of the head tube is 65°

im a complete novice and just bought the dragonslayer sport. That may have beem one of the poorly selling bikes out there. Its difficult to tell why but i think the older style geometry makes the tope tube too high for a lotnof riders when modern geometry bikes have the lower top tube to accomidate the 27.5 and 29er wheels.

So the marin bike cost 200 more. But i think i got the nicer drivetrain with the jamis bike. Probably better for my overall use. But the frame on the marin bike looks pretty sick.

That's a weird bike. The Nail Trail is more conventional. You shouldn't worry about it as long as you can still get tires for your Jamis - if at some point you can't then it'll also make a fine 27.5 bike

Dragonslayer
 

I am about to pull the trigger on a 26+ Dragonslayer - driving a couple of hours on Monday for a test ride. Any ride impressions so far to share / recommend?

sorry i dont have any impressions yet. Mine is in-transit. Im eagerly awaitimg for it to show up. It took jensen about a week to ship it. I decided to call in the meantime to ask about the bike. The jensen person was super friendly and explained that they assemble the bike then re-pack the bike before shipping to ensure that its all good.

so, while im waiting im looking at all the other bikes in this price range wondering if i made the right decision. But i have a good feeling about it.

Ok so I think I narrowed it to:

The Scott scale 970

https://www.scott-sports.com/us/en/p...icle=274613008

and the specialized Rockhopper Expert 1x

Any thoughts pros? cons? one or the other?

Anything else to consider????

I know Giant has a bike but its 1155 Fathom 29 2

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/fathom-29-2

Pretty much a newbie to MTB but I love my Dragonslayer so far. I have already bought a set of spare tires just to insure the future. I got them on closeout.

Those three all have 100mm forks and pretty steep steering, ie they are XC not trail format... if that's what you want.

go with your gut all are equal and just pick one.

Well the jamis dragon slayer showed up yesterday. The bike looks awesome. I didnt clear the top tube as well i as hoped though. But the bike is really nice. I got the sport version on the jensen super bargain deal.

i may try to sell or flip the bike later becuase i didnt get the best fit on the 17" frame but for the time being its perfect for me to do more casual riding with it. Fire trails and stuff.


as for the bike my impressions are that its just very solid feeling. Nice drive train, nice brakes. Nicer than anything ive ever had.

the last nice thing i had was a 2010 trek 4300 disc stoeln sadly. This is far better than that in terms of components.

What size do you typically ride? If not sure, start with height and the inseam

yea, last frame i had was a small. I may have been overly optimistic in thinking Id be able to fit the medium size frame.
its too bad becuase even if i look at other bikes in this range i dont think theyre equiped quite as nicely as this one. But this bike is pretty nice. I should be able to sell it to someone without taking a huge loss.

oh well.

WalMart Axum

Lol.

Available in one size only.

https://www.bikemag.com/gear/mountai...-the-398-axum/

* brakes are not quite enough for enthusiastic riding
* chain drops since no derailleur clutch or retention system
* 35 lbs is pretty heavy for a hardtail
* the one size available is huge
* front shock is very heavy and hardly moves
* Schrader valve tubes is not common in mountain bikes and is more difficult to convert to tubeless

https://reviews.mtbr.com/schwinn-axu...e-weight-specs

seriously, the frame looks larger than the standard large of most bikes
In the past I've seen decent Mongooses for sale at Wallymart, this may appeal to 6 foot plus customers with little knowledge of bikes, and they should release a Small version to bridge the size gap

This is why we don't buy bikes at Walmart.

Looks like a decent bike for the price point. Not a competitive technical front runner but then again, not everyone is pushing the envelope that way.

When someone quotes schrader valves as a determining factor for a bike I have to roll my eyes.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5ad34ded1b.jpg
hey, its not a mtb... nevermind.