Howdy folks! New to this sub. I did post a fair bit up on the Road sub when I was getting rolling with that.

I live in an area with almost literally infinite logging roads to ride, many of them gated (no cars). My road-riding buddy got a MTB and has been riding them and is demanding I join him. It sounds like a lot of fun. I used to ride MTB way back in the day (80's into early 90's) and did some fairly crazy single-track but this is NOT repeat NOT the plan this time. Now I'm old, break easily, and on top of that have had a severe enough head injury "in the books" that I am strictly verboten from bonking my head again. Obviously getting on any bike counters that advice, but it's all about risk management and if I stay on logging roads and not on trails I should be fine.

It's bewildering trying to shop for these things. Man have things changed. So if I could, here's a few specific questions.

-29'er? I'm a tall guy and most XL frames are 27.5 or 29" wheels it seems. For what I'm after here is 29" a plus or a negative?

-rear suspension. This adds a lot of expense, all else equal. Again considering my uses- worth it?

-shifters. I'd like to own roughly "105" level components to put it in road bike terms. Mid-level. Back in the day Deore was getting into the good stuff. Now?

-brakes. Looks like discs rule these days. Is there enough difference between mechanical and hydraulic to make that a thing worth worrying about?

-finally, specific bikes to look at?

-and finally finally..... what about a Bikes Direct Motobecane? Based on components it certainly looks like a guy gets a lot of bike for the $. For example, maybe critique this bike would be a good way to help me understand WTF matters and what doesn't with all the gadgetry these things have? For reference, this is an $800 bike. Shipped.

Save up to 60% off new Mountain Bikes - MTB - Motobecane Fantom 2729DS Disc brakes, Tubeless Compatible Rims

THANK YOU for any help or advice you have to give, and don't worry, I have thick skin, lay it on me, I just want to get to the truth here.

And get 29” as the frame will fit. That size wheel rolls over roots and logs and such, better than a smaller tire. 27.5 was provided for when you didn’t buy into the advantage of 29 but wanted to move on from 26. 27.5+ allows a larger/wider (3”) tire that can run less air pressure, has decent traction and is a poor mans suspension.

You are not going to see 105 level at $1000 unless it’s Bikes Direct. You also won’t see tubeless ready. SLX seems to be the mt. equivalent of 105 and is typically in the $1300 to $1700 range on an aluminum hardtail. Bikes Direct provides for decent frames, tends to put in nice drivetrain components - XT or SLX level, then skimp on the brakes and wheels, especially hubs, and that’s how then meet price point. Big manufactures like Trek, Specialized, Giant and Cannondale use proprietary wheels and sometimes house brand cranks to make price point.

You can somewhat carry over some fit dimensions from your road bike. ETT on a 29” HT is going to be longer, but they use really short stems, like 35-55cm. If the reach on your road bike - middle of saddle to middle of stem is 70cm, with a 60cm ETT and and 10cm stem, than you might see a HT with a 68cm ETT or thereabouts. Or so I’m discovering as I audition a new HT.

It it really pays to head to the LBS and trying on different bikes as a lot has changed in 10 years.

Great stuff and I appreciate it!!

I've been watching Craigslist for a couple months; I thought used would be the plan here. Problem is, I'm almost 6'-4", so I need an XL frame, and AFAICT tall dudes didn't ride MTB's 10-15 years ago! I mean that pretty much literally. I see big road bikes galore, and I see very RECENT high-end XL MTB's out there in the $2k and up realm but nothing from the era where the deals on a high-end used bike would come from.

Anyway, I'll keep watching CL, but assuming I go new bike, forget full suspension. I like that. Way less to go wrong. Rockshox Recon Air, got it. SLX, got it. I'm going to do some more googling here.

Remember guys I'm not doing technical stuff on this bike. This is a promise I've made to myself, my wife, etc. I simply can't risk another bad head injury and I'm carrying a glass ball around on my shoulders these days. It'll be old logging roads.

My road bike is a Roubaix Expert and I've got, of memory serves, 27mm tires on it now. I love that bike. It's a race horse. I'm not using it on the logging roads though. If nothing else it won't clear fenders with anything bigger than 25's.

Taking your above advice into consideration I'm liking this one now, if I went with a BD bike at least. Thoughts?

https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/..._elite_xvi.htm

Good catch! Crap. I was just looking at a Rockshox Recon and assuming that was an air shock. Guess there's multiple Recon's.

Hmmm

My buddy's bike is a Santa Cruz carbon 29'er that cost well over $3k. I've got other things to spend money on, like a bigger boat, haha, and again, the mission for this bike is mainly riding old logging roads. Nothing technical. I'm in it for the workout in the fresh air. I truly can't risk my bean riding single-track near trees, rocks, etc. It took 2 years to get mostly back from my head injury; I'm not going there again.

Assuming the damping is the same, I would probably take the coil version of that fork over the air, but that’s just me.

Thanks everybody.

They really have slackened up the front-end geometry recently, haven't they. Huh. Do I care? Not sure that I do. Or that I DON'T. Just don't know I guess. A little more forgiving, less twitchy up front...? My old-school Trek from the 80's is steep up front and is indeed scary twitchy.

I'm planning on hitting the LBS's this weekend to see/feel/ride any XL inventory they've got around. I did ride a used XL Rockhopper, a recent base model, that the guy wants $400 for. Given I could buy one new for ~$600 I passed. Plus, I know I've set a low max price point here, but truth is I'm a total gearhead and I'm swimming against my own internal currents to buy even a $1k MTB much less a $600 base model. I can get all spun out over the quality of the components... I'm a machinist, i deal with high-quality, precise stuff all day long, and don't like cheap crap. Then again I'm in my mid-50's and am basically carrying a glass ball on my shoulders; I can't hit my head, which means I can't be doing any downhill single-track, which means it's pretty stupid to stress much on components. Yet I do.

In short I'm one confused mofo right now. Hopefully hitting the local shops will clear things up some. Still leaning towards a Bikes Direct bike simply to get a 1/4 better component set at a given price point, or rather pay 1/4 less for a given group.

Ill be buying in the next couple weeks and will post up what I buy for ridicule.

before you go to LBS, you should check bulls bike at eBay.
it’s old bike but has nice components which is XT groupset (similar to ultegra group set) and fox fork.
they don’t offer warranty so you might need to get warranty from square trade (I am not sure how to claim the warranty though). If eBay offers coupon, price might go lower but still $800 is a good deal and last XL bike from them.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/BULLS-Coppe...IAAOSwtG9bCJ9J

Test ride a newer bike. I really like the changes.

Will do, and thanks for the heads-up.

There's a recent, used Spec Chisel within geographical reach. Hoping to ride a new one today to get a feel.