Advice on a hardtail bike

[rck27.5]

I want to buy a hardtail trail bike. My budget is 1K. I am deciding between talon 2, san Quentin 1, and rockhopper sport.  I live in long island NY so there are no mountains. I am looking to get something in the 36t or 32t chainrings. What is your take on it?

[Bike Nerd]

The less travel a bike has, the more it benefits from wider taller tires. For a Hardtail, I would be looking for at least 29×2.4 tires and 29×2.6 tires would be better.

In addition, I would be looking for a Hardtail with modern progressive Trailbike geometry with something like a ~75 degree seattube angle and ~66 degree headtube angle. Bikes like the Rockhopper have old school XC geometry and narrow tires.

Here are some modern geo Trail Hardtails that have 29×2.6 tires.

Specialized Fuze
Orbea Laufey
Rocky Mountain Growler
Salsa Timberjack/Rangefinder

Here are some modern geo Trail Hardtails that have 29×2.4-2.5 tires.

Norco Torrent HT
Giant Fathom 29
GT Zaskar LT
Vitus Sentier
Marin El Roy

If I had to pick the best values, I would pick the Growler, Fathom 29, and Sentier.

[rck27.5]

Thanks for the advice.  The problem is that almost all of the bikes are over $1000.

[diamondback1x9]

https://konaworld.com/lava_dome.cfm

[gksnewfy]

I would also look at the Merida Big Trail (this is a new model).

Availability will/may also be an issue. I’m in Australia our local dealer (Trek) can’t get adult bikes.

So we did a 6.5 hour drive and talked to Specialized dealer he said that he hadn’t seen a bike since March. A Giant dealer said that he’d have 2 24″ bikes in for Christmas.  So we went to a big multi shop and multi brand dealer ship and put a deposit on 3 bikes with a initial delivery date of 2 months away.

 

 

 

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