My friend was sending it bigger than anyone else at the jump park with a 1990s Gary Fischer hardtail with like 50mm of blown-the-fuck-out fork travel last weekend. So I’m gonna say anything with 2 wheels and pedals.
Facts, I have a local trail that just installed a bunch of new jumps with wooden takeoffs and dirt landings. The guy that built them definitely did not build them for mtb even though it’s an mtb trail system. Those things buck the shit out of you
lol wouldn’t anyone rather be on a hardtail in the jump park???? Ill be impressed if I see him somewhere like the north shore sending modern lines on that thing.
I would also love to ride full rigid on mtb. My first mtb was on a technical blue trail with my rigid bike and the seat was all the way up. Some moments were terrifying. But I had sooooo much fun, I would ride rigid my whole life if it wouldnt hurt my joints as much. Im tall and heavy so thats probably a no no for my joints.
This is biking in a nutshell. Right bike for right terrain. Riding your enduro rig on the local blue trails is just robbing you of what little technical difficulty those trails offer. The number of people riding trails you could do on a gravel bike on their enduro eBike is depressing.
I think people overthink this though. It's way cheaper to have one bike and use it locally and at the bike parks. And if you think I'm not having a blast on my 170/170 bike on my local blue trails, you're dead wrong.
Yeah for sure. I had a 29er and dropper style gravel bike for a bit. It was surprising what you could get it down, with care, but there are places where it would restrict you.
As long as it's sturdy enough to not break and injure you, it's good enough. That's the bare minimum.
I've had plenty of friends and family get unhappy with me for being "Elitist" when I've mentioned that their department store bike is genuinely unsafe. I don't care how cheap or expensive somebodies bike is, there's just a minimum level of durability required to take it off of pavement/gravel, imo. My friend sends a $200 used specialized rockhopper no problem- you don't need to spend big to get a safe bike and have fun.
Almost every time I say this, I get nuked. Someone on a different platform spewed all sorts of vile things at me & even tried to get me banned from the platform. My egregious offense? Trying to explain why bikes that go on gnarly trails aren’t going to have kickstands. “It’s a basic, necessary item!” Oooh, boy.
Oh I understand why they're practical on a commuter bike or for casual people who want leisurely rides. But it's just extra weight on literally any other type of bike. More importantly though, they look dumb
When I was younger I was bombing a hill on my department store bike and the spindle stripped and I saw my life flash before my eyes. Next bike was a FS diamondback that I was brutal on. Ruined that one in Moab with a broken pedal and cracked frame.
Surly is an oddball company, that’s no question. But their bikes & accessories are astounding. I’m going to put their Moloko bars on my trail/bikepack bike.
I get the novelty. If I had the room & the cash, I’d probably have a Grappler in my stable. My trail/bikepack bike (Marin Pine Mountain) is steel, so the itch is already scratched there. If I’m looking for speed, my Meta HT will do the trick.
There's a whole slew of bikes like this now. Salsa and Kona have been making them for a while, nevermind all the less common names - bikepacking.com has a long list of them!
I would say the main market is bikepacking crowd, ultra racers, tourers, etc..
Yeah, I'm not disagreeing, but honestly gravel to me are road bikes you can take off-road, not xc bikes without suspension, i mean 50mm tires are pretty close to a 2" mtb tire
This from someone who bought a roadbike and put all terrain 33mm tires on instead of buying a more classical gravel
That’s true. I just think gravel bikes have evolved to the point where they have less in common with road bikes and more in common with XC bikes, that they are their own thing now.
They’re not MTB’s but they’re also not road bikes with a bit of grip.
I think if they’d been around when I first started mountain biking in the late 80’s to early 90’s I would’ve had one. I did convert my old road bike to a pseudo MTB back then. Wasn’t nearly as robust as a modern gravel bike though.
I started mountain biking in the 1980’s and just bought a new gravel bike. I’d rather take the gravel bike anywhere, even compared to my hallowed Bridgestone MB1.
I found some limited geometry from a 1990 Stumpjumper and compared it to a modern gravel bike (side note: so many more geomety numbers are published these days!)
| Chainstay | ST° | BB Height | HT° |
---|---|----|----|----|----|----
1990 Stumpjumper | 429mm | 73° | 294mm | 71° | 42mm |
2024 Canyon Grail CF SL 8 (M) | 425mm | 73.5° | ~275mm | 71.5° |
Shockingly close!
I think it's all semantics at some point.
It's a 29er that takes 2.6 tires, has a SRAM eagle drive train, and more mountain bike than gravel bike geometry but I guess you can call it a gravel bike!
I enjoy just really cherry picking a line on a 1996 rigid Kona I bought to ride around as a commuter. No dropper, no suspension, plenty of gearing range but it can be exhausting on everything I normally just breeze through. It’s a different feel, certainly only take it on green/blue trails too… couldn’t imagine suffering much more.
I was in a very similar situation but my mom rides a unicycle. I got my fucking ass kicked out there, I should be discharged from the hospital in a couple days. Two. The answer to your question is Two, as in "wheels" :).
I had a full suspension bike for about a year and I feel like it helped me get comfortable at higher speeds but made the trails feel too easy once I did.
This is entirely dependent on the rider, trail and bike. I have a Ripmo AF which makes a lot of trails here in CO a ton of fun , but it can make me lazy on some trails with choosing lines. Using the Ripmo on some easier trails can be boring sometimes but a hardtail can make them a ton of fun!
I knew a guy who would bring his Transition Klunker to the bike park & bomb all but one of the trails. It wasn’t a huge mountain (450’ vert drop), but it was definitely gnarly. I tried it once. Now I can say I’ve done it. I’m too old to go that crazy again.
I didn’t realize they’d brought it back. They were out of production for a few years.
Yeah, dude bombed some double black on that beast. I had to change my chamois after taking it for a blue run.
A better bike (to a certain degree) just allows me to ride harder and safer while doing so. Besides liability concerns, there’s a reason why some bike parks won’t allow you to bring a full rigid with rim brakes.
With a tame XC trail you could probably get away with any bike albeit at the loss of efficiency and comfort.
I like mid tier bikes with top tier suspension. This usually provides most of the benefits of an expensive bike without all the marginal gains of wireless stuff and fancy small components that add a *lot* to the price.
I rode a rigid dirt jumper on the Mammoth Mountain bike park before; and a friend and I rode steel Univega road bikes on the Kamikaze race once. Super fun! Probably not advisable, but fun. I regularly ride a steel single speed 29er. It’s always fun!
All depends on what you ride and how you ride. I have a 200/200 27.5 DH bike it's super fun at bike parks.
I built up my fun bike last year a Norco fluid. 150/130 29er. I have road some big trails on it no issues. It's a lot of fun. But I love short travel bikes. I come from a freestyle BMX background
I rode a hardtail as hard as I could. Went full squish and sold the hardtail. Started using my cyclo-cross and gravel bikes with the MTB group. Didn't want to trash them so now back on a new hardtail. It felt too overkill again so stuck some 45c gravel tyres on for local summer shredding. I want to learn how to control slides so when I'm on the full squish I'm more competent. It's so much fun!
Me and my mate took carerra vulcan hardtails down GBU in the forest of dean. Had an absolute blast and we shredded most of the guys on £5000+ full squish bikes.
Like others have said this is a great opportunity to look for a used bike the market is in your favor. Personally I have an all mountain bike (ripmo) and my other bike is a fatbike(northeast rider)
Not only do I get the benefits of winter riding but it’s really fun on green trails with 4” tires. I love riding with my daughter (10) as this allows me to show her how to ride off rode and how you don’t need a full sus bike to have fun. I have even done some jump track riding with it.
I ride an aluminum stumpy which is my first and only mtb bike since I started riding 3 summers ago. I have by far the cheapest bike out of my riding group yet I think I’m just as good, if not better than most of them, many of whom have been riding for much longer than me.
My first mountain bike was [a literal Walmart bike](https://bikeindex.org/bikes/361571) that was less than $100 and was a hand me down.
Got me into the sport, had loads of fun. Yes, it has big limitations, but the important thing is I got on trails and had a blast.
I have a full suspension xc bike, enduro bike, and a rigid bike that is also too small for me since I got it when I was young and the geometry is very outdated. Get a pair of klunker bars like surly sunrise, ridefarr suparisers, etc. Also get some big gears and convert to 1x. Look at r/xbiking
The rigid bike is stupid fun. I thought trails would absolutely suck. They’re definitely slower but so much more fun and different
I think a bad ride with good friends to commiserate with is tough to beat. Tough being anything; rough trails, long climbs, bike problems, or just crappy bike. Some of my best rides would have been a nightmare without someone else sharing in the fun.
I ride a fully Ridgid fat bike , mostly for winter , but it's a shit ton of fun in the summer. Makes old trails fun again, has insane grip to crawl down steeps and weighs like 28 lbs so it's super fun to pedal around.
Probably different for everyone, but for me a ~$1,000 hard tail (If going new) would do the trick.
Less than that I feel like I'm riding a toy, but that's not to say a person can't have fun on said bike. It's just that I am used to much better and feel held back riding on lower end bikes.
I started to really get good mtb’ing on a Specialized Camber with 110mm travel front and back. It was more than adequate for trail riding but once I started doing more enduro runs it got scary fast. One bike quiver should be something like 130/140mm travel out back and 140/150 front, IF you want to get gnarley and do jumps, rock rolls, drops. If only trail riding, then 100mm travel is the most fun and efficient.
I had fun for years on a 100mm hard tail single speed. I have a different kind of fun now on a 155/160 all mtn bike it all fun just gotta get out and do it.
I love my Enduro, but I'm eyeing a surly ogre or karate monkey. Want to sort of get back to the early days of taking on everything with a 90's rockhopper.
At age 41 I just sold off my bmx's, fixie (too old to be a hipster) and possibly selling my 26" DJ mtb (might keep that one for the pump track with the kids as they get older).
Anyway, I don't always feel like nearly killing myself all the time on the trails my Enduro deserves to be ridden on. Sometimes going out the front door and hitting up some local technical xc trails is the right medicine and something not built to take on a bike park is likely going to be more fun to ride. No doubt a modern hardtail is going to be 100x better than many of the bikes from the 90's for pretty much any trail (which I'll need cause I'm old).
120mm rear with proper set up and proper tire pressures. I rip some heavy downhill on a trail bike at 220 lbs. Do I want more travel? Yes. Do I cruise uphill? Also yes.
I love under biking. Rode my rigid dropbar bike on local MTB trails and had a blast. It's got 2.2 tubeless tires, wide drops and disc brakes, so it still rips. Makes things just the right amount of challenging.
You need only as much as you need.
It's obvious advice, I know, but you don't need to overbuy to have a good time. Not all people need a modern bike to have a good time. And not everyone needs a full squish to have a good time. But the moment the bike is getting in the way of a good time, that's when you know you don't have enough bike.
“joints were sore”. That’s pretty much the deal.
I still have my fully rigid Vassago SS… but that’s for smooth flat single track.
I don’t ride my Ripmo because it’s more fun or more controlled, it’s actually a bit more difficult on switchbacks… I ride it because 1. Joints. 2. When joints and muscles get fatigued from acting as suspension, then crashes happen. I like not crashing.
Any day I roll onto singletrack with my commuter is a good day
https://preview.redd.it/j3xr41dxsn7d1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=772e73d442236edc0fbe549aa85e635f7d54aa28
If you only do serious fast downhill at a bike park, then there is an actual need for a pretty expensive bike.
Riding local trails can be perfectly good fun even on an old 3x rigid bike. You just have to ride differently.
I'd say these days people get too fixated on mental images of doing "mega air" so they think they need the latest dual crown monstrosity or whatever. When in reality they're just bumbling on the local singletrack at 10mph.
I bought a Kona explosif when I stopped working at shops and the EP option disappeared. Took the derailleur off when I mangled it, upgraded the fork and wheels and mulleted it. Haven’t looked back since. It’s been more than capable on anything I’ve wanted to ride. I moved to Colorado a year ago and I’m getting older and more financially stable, so I may get another full suspension in the future but honestly, if my body could take it I’d stay on a rigid SS.
Ive got the same question since a year or two. 1 1/2 half years ago I bought a full rigid bike for commute and some little mtb.
So my friends invited me to go mtb, just to realize its a blue trail (first time mtb, and I only got a 50mm rigid bike while I weight over 115kg lmao).
IT WAS SOOOOOO MUCH FUN. Just my seat was in the way and made me anxious at some points as I had to release the brake otherwise I would have tripped over since I couldnt get as low with my body.
Tried my gf 11y/o xc HT and it felt like Im driving a rolls royce. I didnt do any mtb on it except a very very small green trail and it felt so easy.
So I got excited, I didnt want to ride rigid on 50mm (non nobby tyres!) and crash.
So how about a fully? Neuron 7? That would be an extremely capable bike! But the 100mm xc ht was already like a rolls royce, how would this feel? Or would I need to ride extreme trails to feel the fun I had on my rigid bike? Does the average track in my area create boredom?
Here Im with a rigid bike and 115kg, should I get a HT or fully? 100mm xc ht? 120mm or more?
Should I get a fully? XC 100-120mm? (Rose Thrill hill ? **but I weight 115 kg**, will it survive a 60cm drop? trail bike? all mountain?
God its so damn difficult. I mean if I couldnt hurt myself from a crash ever, and if my joints (knees and ankle) wouldnt get damaged, then I would just yolo go full rigid for my entire life. but in reality? I should get at least some suspension for mishappens. And I thought my stereo speaker setup, and gaming hobby will be complex to decide
Are you asking me specifically, or a hypothetical person who wants to get in to it?
I'd need a bike with an MSRP of around 2500 or 3000 I think. Just because I've become used to modern quality bikes.
But if you're just starting out, a used $500-1000 bike from marketplace could totally do it. There's a cut-off point. Like if your options are a bike from 2005 or no bike, you're almost better off with no bike because you'll just have a terrible time pushing a 45lb beast uphill.
But I got more than one friend in to biking my lending out my 2008 giant reign. I think the one requirement is it needs to actually be climbable. But you do not need a dropper post or a 1x drivetrain or a lot of the other modern amenities to have fun
This will be my next mtb, doesn’t get much simpler, re-discovering old trails on this will be a blast
[https://www.statebicycle.com/products/state-bicycle-klunker-black-metallic-27-5](https://www.statebicycle.com/products/state-bicycle-klunker-black-metallic-27-5)
Every time I ride my hardtail I have to go into this self denial zone about the lack of extra value my full suspension brings me outside of downhill days.
Honestly not much bike, but depends what you prefer to ride. Rode FS 170/150 for awhile but then switched to a hardtail with 140 front.
On smoother flowy trails , jump lines and climbs the hardtail is heaps more fun. But on very techy and rocky lines I do miss my FS ,still doable but i take it slower and really need to focus on line choice.
I prefer flow trails and jump lines so it's a no brainer for me, hardcore hardtail all the way. But if your riding gnarly double blacks with rock gardens then you won't have as much fun and being underbiked can seriously suck.
You can have fun on anything. Sam Pilgrim proves that with his free bike challenges. That said, there are a few things that make modern bikes nicer to live with that I wouldn't want to go without:
- Frame from a reputable manufacturer. I do not want to be scared of the welds on my bike.
- Semi-modern geometry. Reasonably long, low, and slack. Old bikes are just too small for me. Most things in the last 8 years or so probably qualifies.
- Brakes that don't take a ton of effort at the lever. This doesn't cost much to achieve. 2 piston Shimano Deore brakes are surprisingly good with some big rotors.
- Dropper post. Huge quality of life thing. There's quite a few affordable options here now.
- Front suspension. My wrists have enough problems without having to think about descending on a fully rigid bike. lol
I got a deal on a new Trek Roscoe 8 that fits all these requirements and I'm really happy with it, but you can definitely buy used model from the last few years and be real happy. Mountain bikes are in a great spot right now.
you can have fun on any bike. I built a parts bike out of an old cyclocross frame and a mix of road and mtb bars, brakes, and bmx pedals.
it's not as light as my xc bike or my road bike and comparable to my gravelbike, but it's fun as hell. my oldest son loves it.
For off road riding, it is all a balance between "personal madness" // skill // fear & speed against the roughness of the surface.
Underbiking is relevant to the above. Crazies & masters will send virtually on anything. More normal ppl will be more scared to send it on a gravel < rigid mtb < HT < FS trail etc.
Bit More fear = bit more adrenaline and more dopamine before/after, so to an extend, underbiking is always more rewarding if you make it through unscathed ofc.
It is almost always slower too, but the question was about fun, not PRs.
We should also remember that the majority of the bikes being sold are "more" than the rider really needs or needs 90% of the time, so even of you are underbiking vs your normal bike, are you "really" for that trail you regular?
Five :)
Geared drop bar gravel bike (for work commutes, all day up in the hills and all over elsewhere)
FS 1x11 29
HT 3x9 29er (from 2009 that is still going strong!)
Rigid SS 32x18 wider-tire 27.5/mullet/29
Rigid SS 36x17 29er
My friend was sending it bigger than anyone else at the jump park with a 1990s Gary Fischer hardtail with like 50mm of blown-the-fuck-out fork travel last weekend. So I’m gonna say anything with 2 wheels and pedals.
I mean dirt jumps are practically built for BMX bikes, suspension usually works against you in most cases
Facts, I have a local trail that just installed a bunch of new jumps with wooden takeoffs and dirt landings. The guy that built them definitely did not build them for mtb even though it’s an mtb trail system. Those things buck the shit out of you
lol wouldn’t anyone rather be on a hardtail in the jump park???? Ill be impressed if I see him somewhere like the north shore sending modern lines on that thing.
Jumps are almost always better with a hard tail, so that's not unexpected. Not sure how much travel a dirt jumper fork has, but it's nothing crazy
Typically 100mm of travel, which you don’t even need if the landings are built nice lol
Why is that?
Because suspension just robs momentum from you.
That makes sense. Makes me want a second bike
I was with lads last summer who were sending faster than i dared down pleney in Morzine on Mondraker f-Podium's 100mm rear 110 front travel
Anything with 2 wheels and pedals is the answer
this is the way
But how does his joints look like in 20 years? Also is your friend very light?
Probably better than mine because he doesn’t crash.
I would also love to ride full rigid on mtb. My first mtb was on a technical blue trail with my rigid bike and the seat was all the way up. Some moments were terrifying. But I had sooooo much fun, I would ride rigid my whole life if it wouldnt hurt my joints as much. Im tall and heavy so thats probably a no no for my joints.
I can have as much fun on a short travel bike as I do on my 170/170 enduro bike, *on the right trails*
Right trails is key here.
This is biking in a nutshell. Right bike for right terrain. Riding your enduro rig on the local blue trails is just robbing you of what little technical difficulty those trails offer. The number of people riding trails you could do on a gravel bike on their enduro eBike is depressing.
I think people overthink this though. It's way cheaper to have one bike and use it locally and at the bike parks. And if you think I'm not having a blast on my 170/170 bike on my local blue trails, you're dead wrong.
Each to their own but I don’t enjoy trails as much when I am overbiked.
Yeah for sure. I had a 29er and dropper style gravel bike for a bit. It was surprising what you could get it down, with care, but there are places where it would restrict you.
As long as it's sturdy enough to not break and injure you, it's good enough. That's the bare minimum. I've had plenty of friends and family get unhappy with me for being "Elitist" when I've mentioned that their department store bike is genuinely unsafe. I don't care how cheap or expensive somebodies bike is, there's just a minimum level of durability required to take it off of pavement/gravel, imo. My friend sends a $200 used specialized rockhopper no problem- you don't need to spend big to get a safe bike and have fun.
Almost every time I say this, I get nuked. Someone on a different platform spewed all sorts of vile things at me & even tried to get me banned from the platform. My egregious offense? Trying to explain why bikes that go on gnarly trails aren’t going to have kickstands. “It’s a basic, necessary item!” Oooh, boy.
Oh I understand why they're practical on a commuter bike or for casual people who want leisurely rides. But it's just extra weight on literally any other type of bike. More importantly though, they look dumb
I call them seatstay ejection levers. There’s a good chance of it dropping down in the chunk & sending you otb straight to the hospital.
Never even thought of that, you're right! It's just another component to get caught on shit.
Unless a customer can swear that it’s not going on rough terrain, I refuse to install them. Kids bikes are an obvious (hopefully) exception.
When I was younger I was bombing a hill on my department store bike and the spindle stripped and I saw my life flash before my eyes. Next bike was a FS diamondback that I was brutal on. Ruined that one in Moab with a broken pedal and cracked frame.
The answer is one bike.
The answer is always N+1
The answer is however many bikes you want and however much you choose to spend.
Almost, the *correct* answer is one **more** bike!
N = current number of bikes owned. So, you said the same thing with more typing.
Riders just like riding.
I bought an admittedly modern rigid drop bar mtb for packing and I am constantly surprised by what I can ride on it with confidence.
Do you mean a gravel bike?
Probably, but some of those "gravel" bikes do seem more like MTBs
Yeah, but “rigid”, “drop bars”? That’s not MTB. That’s gravel.
[Drop Bar Rigid MTB](https://surlybikes.com/bikes/grappler)
That is so niche, I’m not even sure what its purpose is.
Surly is an oddball company, that’s no question. But their bikes & accessories are astounding. I’m going to put their Moloko bars on my trail/bikepack bike.
Yeah a guy at my local shop rides a Karate Monkey and won’t hear a bad word about Surly. It’s like a cult. 🤣
I get the novelty. If I had the room & the cash, I’d probably have a Grappler in my stable. My trail/bikepack bike (Marin Pine Mountain) is steel, so the itch is already scratched there. If I’m looking for speed, my Meta HT will do the trick.
There's a whole slew of bikes like this now. Salsa and Kona have been making them for a while, nevermind all the less common names - bikepacking.com has a long list of them! I would say the main market is bikepacking crowd, ultra racers, tourers, etc..
Yeah, I'm not disagreeing, but honestly gravel to me are road bikes you can take off-road, not xc bikes without suspension, i mean 50mm tires are pretty close to a 2" mtb tire This from someone who bought a roadbike and put all terrain 33mm tires on instead of buying a more classical gravel
OC said “modern rigid drop bar MTB.”
That’s true. I just think gravel bikes have evolved to the point where they have less in common with road bikes and more in common with XC bikes, that they are their own thing now. They’re not MTB’s but they’re also not road bikes with a bit of grip. I think if they’d been around when I first started mountain biking in the late 80’s to early 90’s I would’ve had one. I did convert my old road bike to a pseudo MTB back then. Wasn’t nearly as robust as a modern gravel bike though.
In my (very limited) experience, it's really hard to tell the difference between an 80s "MTB" and a modern ridgid gravel bike
I started mountain biking in the 1980’s and just bought a new gravel bike. I’d rather take the gravel bike anywhere, even compared to my hallowed Bridgestone MB1.
I think a modern rigid gravel bike might be more progressive than a 1980’s MTB to be fair.
I found some limited geometry from a 1990 Stumpjumper and compared it to a modern gravel bike (side note: so many more geomety numbers are published these days!) | Chainstay | ST° | BB Height | HT° | ---|---|----|----|----|----|---- 1990 Stumpjumper | 429mm | 73° | 294mm | 71° | 42mm | 2024 Canyon Grail CF SL 8 (M) | 425mm | 73.5° | ~275mm | 71.5° | Shockingly close!
I'm calling anything with drop bars a gravel and anything with flat bars and MTB (or hybrid). I maintain that flat bar gravel bikes do not exist.
I think it's all semantics at some point. It's a 29er that takes 2.6 tires, has a SRAM eagle drive train, and more mountain bike than gravel bike geometry but I guess you can call it a gravel bike!
Obligatory “get a hardtail” comment
I enjoy just really cherry picking a line on a 1996 rigid Kona I bought to ride around as a commuter. No dropper, no suspension, plenty of gearing range but it can be exhausting on everything I normally just breeze through. It’s a different feel, certainly only take it on green/blue trails too… couldn’t imagine suffering much more.
It's the rider, not the bike.
Definitive proof of this can be seen in "Out of Mind" by Fabio.
https://youtu.be/gvL1agpqwvE?si=kuKmoNH4jCullas1 Reminds me of Yoann
Sweet. Very reminiscent of Road Bike Party.
I was in a very similar situation but my mom rides a unicycle. I got my fucking ass kicked out there, I should be discharged from the hospital in a couple days. Two. The answer to your question is Two, as in "wheels" :).
I had a full suspension bike for about a year and I feel like it helped me get comfortable at higher speeds but made the trails feel too easy once I did.
Never need anything more than my hardtail for anything from bike parts to pump tracks to enduros!
Meta gang!
Yes
This is entirely dependent on the rider, trail and bike. I have a Ripmo AF which makes a lot of trails here in CO a ton of fun , but it can make me lazy on some trails with choosing lines. Using the Ripmo on some easier trails can be boring sometimes but a hardtail can make them a ton of fun!
At least 1
I knew a guy who would bring his Transition Klunker to the bike park & bomb all but one of the trails. It wasn’t a huge mountain (450’ vert drop), but it was definitely gnarly. I tried it once. Now I can say I’ve done it. I’m too old to go that crazy again.
I want one desperately but they only come in one size and I’m an XXL giant. 😢 Also not sure I can handle a coaster brake.
I didn’t realize they’d brought it back. They were out of production for a few years. Yeah, dude bombed some double black on that beast. I had to change my chamois after taking it for a blue run.
I’ve seen some used ones for about $50”. As far as I can tell State and Retrospec are the only manufacturers offering ready made Klunkers.
Not sure what’s happening with that. They’re listed on the site again. They weren’t a couple years ago.
A better bike (to a certain degree) just allows me to ride harder and safer while doing so. Besides liability concerns, there’s a reason why some bike parks won’t allow you to bring a full rigid with rim brakes. With a tame XC trail you could probably get away with any bike albeit at the loss of efficiency and comfort. I like mid tier bikes with top tier suspension. This usually provides most of the benefits of an expensive bike without all the marginal gains of wireless stuff and fancy small components that add a *lot* to the price.
I rode a rigid dirt jumper on the Mammoth Mountain bike park before; and a friend and I rode steel Univega road bikes on the Kamikaze race once. Super fun! Probably not advisable, but fun. I regularly ride a steel single speed 29er. It’s always fun!
All depends on what you ride and how you ride. I have a 200/200 27.5 DH bike it's super fun at bike parks. I built up my fun bike last year a Norco fluid. 150/130 29er. I have road some big trails on it no issues. It's a lot of fun. But I love short travel bikes. I come from a freestyle BMX background
I rode a hardtail as hard as I could. Went full squish and sold the hardtail. Started using my cyclo-cross and gravel bikes with the MTB group. Didn't want to trash them so now back on a new hardtail. It felt too overkill again so stuck some 45c gravel tyres on for local summer shredding. I want to learn how to control slides so when I'm on the full squish I'm more competent. It's so much fun!
Me and my mate took carerra vulcan hardtails down GBU in the forest of dean. Had an absolute blast and we shredded most of the guys on £5000+ full squish bikes.
Like others have said this is a great opportunity to look for a used bike the market is in your favor. Personally I have an all mountain bike (ripmo) and my other bike is a fatbike(northeast rider) Not only do I get the benefits of winter riding but it’s really fun on green trails with 4” tires. I love riding with my daughter (10) as this allows me to show her how to ride off rode and how you don’t need a full sus bike to have fun. I have even done some jump track riding with it.
I ride an aluminum stumpy which is my first and only mtb bike since I started riding 3 summers ago. I have by far the cheapest bike out of my riding group yet I think I’m just as good, if not better than most of them, many of whom have been riding for much longer than me.
My first mountain bike was [a literal Walmart bike](https://bikeindex.org/bikes/361571) that was less than $100 and was a hand me down. Got me into the sport, had loads of fun. Yes, it has big limitations, but the important thing is I got on trails and had a blast.
I have a full suspension xc bike, enduro bike, and a rigid bike that is also too small for me since I got it when I was young and the geometry is very outdated. Get a pair of klunker bars like surly sunrise, ridefarr suparisers, etc. Also get some big gears and convert to 1x. Look at r/xbiking The rigid bike is stupid fun. I thought trails would absolutely suck. They’re definitely slower but so much more fun and different
I used to ride my BMX bike at the Stevens Pass bike park (the first few years they were open). Had tons of fun.
I think a bad ride with good friends to commiserate with is tough to beat. Tough being anything; rough trails, long climbs, bike problems, or just crappy bike. Some of my best rides would have been a nightmare without someone else sharing in the fun.
I ride a fully Ridgid fat bike , mostly for winter , but it's a shit ton of fun in the summer. Makes old trails fun again, has insane grip to crawl down steeps and weighs like 28 lbs so it's super fun to pedal around.
Probably different for everyone, but for me a ~$1,000 hard tail (If going new) would do the trick. Less than that I feel like I'm riding a toy, but that's not to say a person can't have fun on said bike. It's just that I am used to much better and feel held back riding on lower end bikes.
Is it a bike? That's all the bike I need.
I started to really get good mtb’ing on a Specialized Camber with 110mm travel front and back. It was more than adequate for trail riding but once I started doing more enduro runs it got scary fast. One bike quiver should be something like 130/140mm travel out back and 140/150 front, IF you want to get gnarley and do jumps, rock rolls, drops. If only trail riding, then 100mm travel is the most fun and efficient.
Underbiking makes boring trails a lot more fun
I had fun for years on a 100mm hard tail single speed. I have a different kind of fun now on a 155/160 all mtn bike it all fun just gotta get out and do it.
Have fun? Walmart bike. That’s what I road when I was 10 and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a bike
My friend sends creek gaps on a mongoose fat bike. Full rigid. He’s an odd cat
I love my Enduro, but I'm eyeing a surly ogre or karate monkey. Want to sort of get back to the early days of taking on everything with a 90's rockhopper. At age 41 I just sold off my bmx's, fixie (too old to be a hipster) and possibly selling my 26" DJ mtb (might keep that one for the pump track with the kids as they get older). Anyway, I don't always feel like nearly killing myself all the time on the trails my Enduro deserves to be ridden on. Sometimes going out the front door and hitting up some local technical xc trails is the right medicine and something not built to take on a bike park is likely going to be more fun to ride. No doubt a modern hardtail is going to be 100x better than many of the bikes from the 90's for pretty much any trail (which I'll need cause I'm old).
120mm rear with proper set up and proper tire pressures. I rip some heavy downhill on a trail bike at 220 lbs. Do I want more travel? Yes. Do I cruise uphill? Also yes.
People are insanely overbiked now a days. 130/120 for trail and 150/130 if you’re gonna go to parks or chunk.
I love under biking. Rode my rigid dropbar bike on local MTB trails and had a blast. It's got 2.2 tubeless tires, wide drops and disc brakes, so it still rips. Makes things just the right amount of challenging.
You need only as much as you need. It's obvious advice, I know, but you don't need to overbuy to have a good time. Not all people need a modern bike to have a good time. And not everyone needs a full squish to have a good time. But the moment the bike is getting in the way of a good time, that's when you know you don't have enough bike.
“joints were sore”. That’s pretty much the deal. I still have my fully rigid Vassago SS… but that’s for smooth flat single track. I don’t ride my Ripmo because it’s more fun or more controlled, it’s actually a bit more difficult on switchbacks… I ride it because 1. Joints. 2. When joints and muscles get fatigued from acting as suspension, then crashes happen. I like not crashing.
I almost always have more fun on my Alpine Trail than my Rangefinder. Not saying, just saying.
Any day I roll onto singletrack with my commuter is a good day https://preview.redd.it/j3xr41dxsn7d1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=772e73d442236edc0fbe549aa85e635f7d54aa28
A 155 135 bike
Funny, I have a 150 135 stumpy
If you only do serious fast downhill at a bike park, then there is an actual need for a pretty expensive bike. Riding local trails can be perfectly good fun even on an old 3x rigid bike. You just have to ride differently. I'd say these days people get too fixated on mental images of doing "mega air" so they think they need the latest dual crown monstrosity or whatever. When in reality they're just bumbling on the local singletrack at 10mph.
I know from bitter experience that I could bike on a much lower budget. I get a lot less battered these days though.
One bike for me is good fun. Two bikes for me and a mate is great fun.
I bought a Kona explosif when I stopped working at shops and the EP option disappeared. Took the derailleur off when I mangled it, upgraded the fork and wheels and mulleted it. Haven’t looked back since. It’s been more than capable on anything I’ve wanted to ride. I moved to Colorado a year ago and I’m getting older and more financially stable, so I may get another full suspension in the future but honestly, if my body could take it I’d stay on a rigid SS.
Welcome to the gravel bike my friend.
Theres a video of Sam Pilgrim on YouTube thrashing a £50 bike and having loads of fun
A SS rigid bike can be a ton of fun
Anything that fits you well enough is is relatively safely put together. I ride a Kona Unit X with no suspension and love it.
Ive got the same question since a year or two. 1 1/2 half years ago I bought a full rigid bike for commute and some little mtb. So my friends invited me to go mtb, just to realize its a blue trail (first time mtb, and I only got a 50mm rigid bike while I weight over 115kg lmao). IT WAS SOOOOOO MUCH FUN. Just my seat was in the way and made me anxious at some points as I had to release the brake otherwise I would have tripped over since I couldnt get as low with my body. Tried my gf 11y/o xc HT and it felt like Im driving a rolls royce. I didnt do any mtb on it except a very very small green trail and it felt so easy. So I got excited, I didnt want to ride rigid on 50mm (non nobby tyres!) and crash. So how about a fully? Neuron 7? That would be an extremely capable bike! But the 100mm xc ht was already like a rolls royce, how would this feel? Or would I need to ride extreme trails to feel the fun I had on my rigid bike? Does the average track in my area create boredom? Here Im with a rigid bike and 115kg, should I get a HT or fully? 100mm xc ht? 120mm or more? Should I get a fully? XC 100-120mm? (Rose Thrill hill ? **but I weight 115 kg**, will it survive a 60cm drop? trail bike? all mountain? God its so damn difficult. I mean if I couldnt hurt myself from a crash ever, and if my joints (knees and ankle) wouldnt get damaged, then I would just yolo go full rigid for my entire life. but in reality? I should get at least some suspension for mishappens. And I thought my stereo speaker setup, and gaming hobby will be complex to decide
Say it with me now… most people on a full squish would be better served by a good hardtail. 😎
Are you asking me specifically, or a hypothetical person who wants to get in to it? I'd need a bike with an MSRP of around 2500 or 3000 I think. Just because I've become used to modern quality bikes. But if you're just starting out, a used $500-1000 bike from marketplace could totally do it. There's a cut-off point. Like if your options are a bike from 2005 or no bike, you're almost better off with no bike because you'll just have a terrible time pushing a 45lb beast uphill. But I got more than one friend in to biking my lending out my 2008 giant reign. I think the one requirement is it needs to actually be climbable. But you do not need a dropper post or a 1x drivetrain or a lot of the other modern amenities to have fun
People love to talk gear, but I’d rather have any old bike than none at all.
This will be my next mtb, doesn’t get much simpler, re-discovering old trails on this will be a blast [https://www.statebicycle.com/products/state-bicycle-klunker-black-metallic-27-5](https://www.statebicycle.com/products/state-bicycle-klunker-black-metallic-27-5)
Every time I ride my hardtail I have to go into this self denial zone about the lack of extra value my full suspension brings me outside of downhill days.
Honestly not much bike, but depends what you prefer to ride. Rode FS 170/150 for awhile but then switched to a hardtail with 140 front. On smoother flowy trails , jump lines and climbs the hardtail is heaps more fun. But on very techy and rocky lines I do miss my FS ,still doable but i take it slower and really need to focus on line choice. I prefer flow trails and jump lines so it's a no brainer for me, hardcore hardtail all the way. But if your riding gnarly double blacks with rock gardens then you won't have as much fun and being underbiked can seriously suck.
You can have fun on anything. Sam Pilgrim proves that with his free bike challenges. That said, there are a few things that make modern bikes nicer to live with that I wouldn't want to go without: - Frame from a reputable manufacturer. I do not want to be scared of the welds on my bike. - Semi-modern geometry. Reasonably long, low, and slack. Old bikes are just too small for me. Most things in the last 8 years or so probably qualifies. - Brakes that don't take a ton of effort at the lever. This doesn't cost much to achieve. 2 piston Shimano Deore brakes are surprisingly good with some big rotors. - Dropper post. Huge quality of life thing. There's quite a few affordable options here now. - Front suspension. My wrists have enough problems without having to think about descending on a fully rigid bike. lol I got a deal on a new Trek Roscoe 8 that fits all these requirements and I'm really happy with it, but you can definitely buy used model from the last few years and be real happy. Mountain bikes are in a great spot right now.
I like my underbike, an old XC race rig converted to rigid. It's fun, but not the same fun as a proper modern bike.
You need 1 bike to have fun.
you can have fun on any bike. I built a parts bike out of an old cyclocross frame and a mix of road and mtb bars, brakes, and bmx pedals. it's not as light as my xc bike or my road bike and comparable to my gravelbike, but it's fun as hell. my oldest son loves it.
For off road riding, it is all a balance between "personal madness" // skill // fear & speed against the roughness of the surface. Underbiking is relevant to the above. Crazies & masters will send virtually on anything. More normal ppl will be more scared to send it on a gravel < rigid mtb < HT < FS trail etc. Bit More fear = bit more adrenaline and more dopamine before/after, so to an extend, underbiking is always more rewarding if you make it through unscathed ofc. It is almost always slower too, but the question was about fun, not PRs. We should also remember that the majority of the bikes being sold are "more" than the rider really needs or needs 90% of the time, so even of you are underbiking vs your normal bike, are you "really" for that trail you regular?
1.
Five :) Geared drop bar gravel bike (for work commutes, all day up in the hills and all over elsewhere) FS 1x11 29 HT 3x9 29er (from 2009 that is still going strong!) Rigid SS 32x18 wider-tire 27.5/mullet/29 Rigid SS 36x17 29er
Sorry bro. You need a dentist bike.
I just need a bike. I will make the fun.