All Around Mid Fat Full Suspension MTB

What brands of bikes do you guys like?  

I have this perception that Specialized are pretty and pretty expensive, and that Giant is a good value. I don't have any impression of the other top brands.

What would you look at for maybe $2500?  I love my Giant hardtail, it was pretty cheap, and its perfect for our trails and I've been content to leave it in the mountains.

But I have been thinking about getting a second bike with FS.

Can I use a semi fat tire for downhill?

all brands are good..shop around..depends what you ride and how you ride..
i ride this everywhere and love it



Scott Spark 720 plus

My old lady just got a Kona.  It's a LT trail .  Carbon Fiber,650b, 3.25 in tires, XT/SLX mix. $2700 on sale from Jensen.  Her previous rig was a 2012 Santa Cruz Juliana, similar build, but more XC oriented... she's still getting used to the more laid back position, and the 1by Tranny... it's not as good of a climber as the Juliana, but she can charge on the descents.

Nice bike for under 3k

Do it once and be good for a decade.  Get a 29er mis fat with 150mm of travel.  You wont regret it.   I ride a Santa Cruz Tall Boy LTC.  Its six years old.  Has 130 mm of travel and it still kicking ass.   Also have a 2018 carbon Bronson with 150 in a 27.5 and it gets no ride time from me.  

You bought your girl a bike with 26 inch wheels.  Oh man you are frugal.  

tjf1967 wrote

You bought your girl a bike with 26 inch wheels.  Oh man you are frugal.

tjf the Kona has 27.5

It depends what you ride.  I don't do lift accessed DH.  I prefer techy XC with some nice climbs. (Don't forget, 1/2 the hills are down!).  I ride a Devinci Django now.   It is a 29'er with 130 mm up front and 120 mm of travel in the rear and it is awesome.  I'd say the bike is more on the XC side compared to some other trail bikes and it climbs like a banshee (with DW Link suspension) but it is still super solid on the DH. (Not surprising since Devinci makes some high-end Enduro bikes).   It is really a very balanced bike.  My advice, whatever you do, go 29.

Phew!!

I've been riding my giant trance x 29er for 5 years now and love it, probably will look for a similar platform bike in the next year or so. Giant just reincarnated the Trance 29 for '19 after a few years of of 27.5 only

My buddy just got a sweet deal on a trek fuel ex8 29'er , i think they have some sales incentives going on now.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/mountain-bikes/trail-mountain-bikes/fuel-ex/fuel-ex-8-29-xt/p/21542/

I guess a 27.5+ equates to a niner more or less...

https://us.yt-industries.com/shopware.php?sViewport=detail&sArticle=1922&sCategory=511

nope

this one https://us.yt-industries.com/detail/index/sArticle/1921/sCategory/511

Cunningstunts wrote

nope

this one https://us.yt-industries.com/detail/index/sArticle/1921/sCategory/511

Yeah... That one has better components and the added benefit of being in stock. The $99 shipping cost puts him over his $2500 budget though.

Budget was just thrown out there, I kind of made it up.

What do you guys think, would the mid fat tires work for downhill?

Honestly I don't see myself really getting into downhill, but I'd like to try it.

MC2 5678F589 wrote

Cunningstunts wrote

nope

this one https://us.yt-industries.com/detail/index/sArticle/1921/sCategory/511

Yeah... That one has better components and the added benefit of being in stock. The $99 shipping cost puts him over his $2500 budget though.

Yeah - you beat me to it with the other one though.

But, the fact that the Comp is available right now in Medium would make me want to spend the extra 99.


This bike has been getting rave reviews and is about the best bang for the buck anywhere.  The only thing that sucks is if you have a warranty issue you have to send it to YT.  No LBS support.  To be honest, I'd rather not deal with the LBS though.

Harvey wrote

Budget was just thrown out there, I kind of made it up.

What do you guys think, would the mid fat tires work for downhill?

Honestly I don't see myself really getting into downhill, but I'd like to try it.

 
A regular 2.4-2.6 is better and IS the standard DH tire, either 27.5 or 29.

Midfat is a fad.

MC2 5678F589 wrote

https://us.yt-industries.com/shopware.php?sViewport=detail&sArticle=1922&sCategory=511

I have heard good things about YT..

My plus tires are 2.8 just a little beefier then the usual 2.3-2.5 that are on standard wheels..

Cunningstunts wrote

>
A regular 2.4-2.6 is better and IS the standard DH tire, either 27.5 or 29.

Midfat is a fad.

Agree with this. Also agree with bike recommendation & LBS skepticism. Good posts by this guy.

Harvey wrote

Budget was just thrown out there, I kind of made it up.

What do you guys think, would the mid fat tires work for downhill?

Honestly I don't see myself really getting into downhill, but I'd like to try it.

In that case, spend your money on a bike that will match the terrain that you will be riding most of the time and then either use that or even better, rent a DH bike when you do ride DH.  You will be much happier.

tjf1967 wrote

You bought your girl a bike with 26 inch wheels.  Oh man you are frugal.

I didn't buy it.... she's the primary breadwinner now.  I take more of an advisory role with these purchases.  I advised against this one.   That said, typically she does the opposite of what I advise.  Earlier in  the season, she hooked up with a group of fem-bad-ass down-hillers at Stevens.  Typical elitist city-folk... hyper-consumptive gear-heads.  IMO: The purchase was stimulated purely by gear-lust... the women she rides with (1 of them is a sponsored pro) all have high-end long travel Cadillacs

I nearly shit myself when UPS delivered this along with a bunch of other associated body armor:

 

The bike has done a lot for her riding on the descents, if you consider adding more injury risk to be a good thing.  It's a double edged sword... I'm stoked that she's found a passion for something I've always loved, but at the same time, I can't help but worry.  Her perception of risk is far different than mine... she's borderline reckless at times.  A couple of weeks ago she came home after a downhill session with a stitched up forearm and what I thought could be a broken clavicle... She looked like she got her ass kicked in a bar fight. I thought a couple of high impact slams would quell her lust for the downhill thrill, but I was wrong.  She's heading over there again on Friday for a day of lift-serviced thrill seeking.  She just turned 40, and is acting more like she's 20.  

Marcski wrote

Harvey wrote

Budget was just thrown out there, I kind of made it up.

What do you guys think, would the mid fat tires work for downhill?

Honestly I don't see myself really getting into downhill, but I'd like to try it.

In that case, spend your money on a bike that will match the terrain that you will be riding most of the time and then either use that or even better, rent a DH bike when you do ride DH.  You will be much happier.

Don't necessarily agree with this.  Yeah a DH bike will do better but sometimes those rentals are beat.

A modern trail bike can ride most everything in the average riders ability at park and still kick ass on the XC terrain.  He'll never ride his old bike if he buys a Jeffsy.  It's a "quiver" killer.  Or a one-horse stable if you will.  Unless you want to race XC or DH...