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Enduro-type bike on a budget at 6'3, 240 lbs

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Enduro-type bike on a budget at 6'3, 240 lbs

Old 05-19-19, 11:53 AM
  #1  
Albino Wino
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Enduro-type bike on a budget at 6'3, 240 lbs

Hi.


Got back into trail riding a few years ago and discovered how expensive mtb has become. I got a deal on a Salsa El Mariachi and rode that bike enough to discover all I really wanted to do was ride a handful of dh/flow runs we have in my town.


Frustratingly, I have been down for about a year and a half after one of the hardest crashes of a lifetime full of really hard crashes in skiing, cycling, dh longboarding, etc.

I had the reba on that el mariachi bottom out on a landing and the front wheel folded. I had to get myself home (I had ridden from home) by stomping the wheel true enough to roll, and riding home dizzy and pukey with one eye closed, in my underwear (shorts ripped off at the waistband)....blood everywhere. It was kind of a nightmare, and a hard way to discover why everything costs so much in this sport (because a $1000 bike will fold up under you). My wife and I are just finishing paying the medical bills, and I doubt my spine will ever be the same.


After that deal I cleaned up the El Mar and sold it at a loss, and bought a $700 55 lb DH bike, it's an old Sinister R9, fwiw...and I've done quite a few laps driving it over to the area, then walking it to the top. That $700 was a big chunk of money to me, and it's just nothing in the world of uphill-downhill type bikes.


I'm, I guess, pretty jealous of the majority of others I see riding there who are riding their enduro bikes to the top of this area....and I'm kind of working on trying to figure out how to afford a bike that's capable of pedaling uphill and also riding dh/flow terrain without mechanical failure. I'd really like to ride from home instead of dealing with driving my huge stupid dh bike there. Also, all the hardcore ******bags snicker about me with my full-on DH bike because I'm not out there hitting the big "features" and that's what you do with a bike like that. I just have it because I'm heavy and really don't want another bike to fold in half underneath me again.


In looking around for deals, there were Specialized Fuses being rented in town....but the wheelset on those is a 24h front wheel...so that's kind of sketchy, and adding the cost of a strong wheelset into that bike makes it no longer cost effective.


I had thought about maybe the Commencal Meta AM HT Origin at $1100. I'm nervous about any bike that cheap....but also that's my budget.


Is there an intersection of [dh handling]+[peddlable]+[extremely strong]+[sub-$2000] ?


I'm not a bike-industry guy, and there's no marketing that says "hey our bike is light and weak so don't ride it if you're heavy" so it's hard to know if there's anybody making a bike like this, or if it's all for skinny children with trust funds.
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Old 05-19-19, 10:16 PM
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jsigone
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Seems like you are looking to get a hardtail. Something with standard boost wheel specs would be my aim for upgrade path in the long term

santa Cruz chameleon
kona honzo
norco fluid ht2
salsa timberjack

listed in $$$$-$

most are running 120-140mm forks and 2.8-3.0” tires.

If I was going full suspension I’d be looking at the SC Bronson carbon. But I got a chameleon 275+ and happy with its diversity
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Old 05-20-19, 08:19 AM
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Originally Posted by jsigone
Seems like you are looking to get a hardtail. Something with standard boost wheel specs would be my aim for upgrade path in the long term

santa Cruz chameleon
kona honzo
norco fluid ht2
salsa timberjack

listed in $$$$-$

most are running 120-140mm forks and 2.8-3.0” tires.

If I was going full suspension I’d be looking at the SC Bronson carbon. But I got a chameleon 275+ and happy with its diversity
No love for the Commencal? Seems like a lot more travel and DH focus....which is really what I'm doing. It's going to be hard to go back to no rear susp after the DH bike, but the idea of an entry-level enduro bike being $4K is just laughable. It might as well be a million. I'm going to be in financial pain for years to absorb a $1500 bike.
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Old 05-20-19, 09:04 AM
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jsigone
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They are all in the same price range that one has a inch longer fork than others in its class but also might take away from climbing ability with the rake like that and long fork. You’d have to slam the stem just to get some climbing legs in it without the saddle up your butt on steep parts.

All compete in the same markets, I haven’t seen on of those in the wild or at races yet. But look in to warranty program of all bikes listed here. since it seems like you will ride the snot out of the bike.
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Old 05-20-19, 10:42 AM
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@Albino Winohere's my lizard, only a Fox 120 fork., The 2019s come w/ 130's on them now. Fox has a module to change the 120 ->130 I think for about $220

Life time warranty with SC and very stout frame design.
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