2 years ago I convinced my brother to buy a tri bike and start racing. Now he wants to start doing some off-road races and has convinced me to join him. I don’t know much about mountain bikes, had an older Cannondale Killer V-500 with Rock Shox about 8 years ago. I am looking to spend $1500-2000 max and through a club discount can get 25% off at a local shop on either Cannondales or Specialized so these are the 2 brands I am limiting myself too.
Can anyone give me some suggestions as to what to look for or models from these 2 manufacturers? I will use it mostly for recreational mountain biking during the off-season and maybe one day a week during the season for training and then the occasional off-road tri or duathlon. The Specialized FSRxc Pro and StumpjumperFSR Comp both looked nice. What about Cannondales? Any advice would be appreciated.
For Cannondales, I would recommend either the Scalpel 900 (fatty fork) or the scalpel 1000 (lefty fork) if you are looking to go full suspension; just remember that these are race oriented, so they are not “plush” full suspension. If you are looking for a hardtail, eith the F800 or F1000 would be a good choice. For an off road tri I would really go for the Scalpel. It takes the edge off obstacles and helps maintain control, but still has excellent feel and power transfer. Some suspension definitely would help keep you fresher for the run.
Sandbaggio’s reccomendations are spot on for race use. Scapel 3000 is probably your best be in your price range and is an awesome xc machine. If you want something a little plusher and more trailbikish for you weekend rides but still totally raceable look at the C-dale Rush bikes. Basically a 4" rear travel xc/enduro/all-mountaing bike. Meaning it’s still pretty light but it’s going to trade off a little of that pure race light feel for a plusher suspension and a little more upright positioning. There were a couple C-dale sponsored riders on Rush’s in Maui.
Do you guys know anything about the Specialized bikes? They have they FSRxc Pro for $1,800 then the StumpJumper FSR for $2,000 and then the StumpJumper FSR Comp for $2,200. 3 different bikes all in pretty much the same price range. What are the relative merits of each? As I said in my first post, I am pretty ignorant here about current mountain bike tech and am just wanting to walk into the LBS with a little bit of knowledge.