Best smiles/dollar bike you've ever bought?

Posted by: J.Stubb

Interesting thread for me. Until 2015 I had only really had dh bikes when I bought a 2015 Norco Range. Having a capable "enduro" style bike opened up a lot of riding for me and the Range has turned out to be great bike for me. I've been smashing that bike for 5 years now and thinking about upgrading but the prices of new bikes have me a little gun shy. I've noticed the new Status and been thinking it might be one of those high performing smiles\dollar bikes. They're decently spec'd for around $3600 cdn. As opposed to 7k for a Santa Cruz.

2010 Range was a game changer for me. Loved that bike. I have helped quite a few of my friends find deals on used ranges, and it has worked out well for all of them.

A 2015 Specialized Fatboy fat bike that my wife bought me for Christmas five years ago. It was $2,000 at the time.

I mostly use the Fatboy for winter commuting, but it's also taken me on many snowy adventures both solo and with friends.

At this point the geometry is out-of-date, but I don't care. This, my first fat bike has always been fun, reliable and versatile.

I´d enter my 250$ commuter bike which carried my around thousands of traffic jams. 

But really, smiles per $$$, my 5000$ Raaw Madonna made me giggle and smile with happiness so often during the last two years that I have to credit it with the best smile/$ ratio. Even though it´s a lot of money. It just rides THAT fantastic and really makes me smile when I just THINK about my last rides on it.

That is a tough one for me. I was thinking about my very first steel hardtail from Austrian company Katarga with a RS Quadra R all those years ago. But I clearly remember the underwhelmed feeling I had when taking that fork for aproper local singletrack ride, I was thinking how lame the fork actually was right from the start, that changed with the Mrz Jr T on a Nicolai Lambda FR I had to sell as a student. That was one fun machine....but I was not really ready, riding and skill wise.

Right now, I think it is either my still-running 26" Stylus (I LOVE that bike) - or the Kona Operator I am using as my park bike, I would have never guessed that modern geo would change and impact riding that much. Holy cow. 

Now I am really curious at getting a new hardtail and enjoy that future grin even more.