Spykez

So a couple years ago I bought my first real MTB, was great, was a Trek 820 Single Track, rode it forever then upgraded to a Trek Dual Sport 8.something.

Ended up selling those cause I was riding my Kona Zing more than anything. Hobbies and blah blah blah I'm without a bike.

I live in Madison, all I hear about is Trek, honestly, I can't stand them anymore. I work for a company that works with them and I've even bought a guitar off one of their engineers. Not interested in Trek.

I've been looking at these direct to customer companies. There's brands I've never heard of that have a good following. Heard most of these from google-fu that ended up bringing me to various forums for more recommendations. So.

Price. 650ish. I'm not like, crazy MTB taking my ride of some sweet jumps cause I'm a wimp and I never had anyone to show me the ropes so I just did a lot of trails that I found around the areas I lived. I'd love to get into cross country stuffs.

Anywho.

What I've found.

Airborne Guardian. I'd link the bike but their site is down but I'm confident you guys know about them. I know they have a really good following and most people like their bikes.

Bulls Sharptail 29 Talked via their IM for a bit, sounds like they have a really good customer support service, life time warranty on their frames etc. This one has my interest the most so far.

Ghost Kato 2 27.5 Kinda swaying against this because taxes will bring it up too high, but....local support if I needed it and REI is really good

Fezzari Lone Peak Haven't looked too much into them yet.

That's, kinda all I got now, still looking around. I've had all Shimano stuff and I don't really have anything against them, I use their fishing reels which are pretty awesome lol. Kinda wanted to try Sram, because why not.

Hit me with some more 411. Anything else I should look into? I have no hates or more loves between 26" and 29". Or 27.5 whatver. I liked them all.

Tulok

I bought the Motobecane Fantom 29er for $799 from bikesdirect.com. Personally I was surprised at the quality. I was going to buy the next level down, but they were out of stock. I'm glad I got the. $799 one because the brakes are absolutely amazing. The best thing was the tapered head tube that allowed me to upgrade to a much nicer Fox fork with ease. I'd definitely look for tapered head tube at a minimum if you're buying a brand new bike.

if you aren't into doing fast riding or crazy off-roading, I'd definitely suggest getting a rigid bike, 29 er. Save the money off of a fork and it will allow you to get some nice road tires to switch between. Depends on what you're into.

yadder

I like Cannondale 29er and Cube.

Maelochs

Good to hear this, as I have been looking at that also. What's the weight on yours, and what size, and how does it fit? The cockpit looks a little cramped, but I haven't looked at MTBs in so long my sense of proportion might be off.

oldpuck81

I also got the Fantom 29er 3 years ago. Good solid bike. Tough as nails w/ lots of good components for the money. Mine weighs about 30 lbs. I have the 18". The "cockpit" is not cramped. I'm 6'-0" and feel just fine hammering on the street or trail. It's aluminum so you won't get a big 29er like this much lighter without going to titanium or carbon, but that will cost you mucho dineros.

Tulok

I know this is years old..

I still have my phantom 29er. Sized XL. I’m 6’3”. I run a 40mm stem on it and I believe 710mm bars. I’ve been running it as a 26+ setup with a Fox 36 float rc2. Works great! The long wheelbase reallly really climbs well. I can’t say I’ve ever spun the back tire on anything except actual sand. I did have to get the brakes warrantied but that’s in the past. They still stop great. I would buy the same bike again but I’d just go for the top top of the line version and change the stem and bars to what I have now. No doubt that 29er is better for 90% of the riding around. My obsession with going down bigger and bigger obstacles is gone now that I have a child! Lol