Hi All,
This is another one of those annoying - 'what bike should I get' threads.
About me: Riding most of my life, spent my teens riding XC and Fromme on my 90's era Norco Torrent hardtail with a 2.5" fork - learned how to ride skinnies and trials-style which suited the trails back then. Moved on from that and raced road and cyclocross competitively and am now wanting to make the change back to mountain bikes - for fun and also perhaps to whet my appetite to do events like the BCBR and the like. Also ride motorcycles, sport bikes mainly, but will throw in some dirt and flat track on occasion. And so, I'm comfortable on two wheels and on 'dialing' bike setups, however my focus now is on accessible fun.
What I want to ride: I'm comfy and prefer super technical riding, however am at an age where I really can't afford to hurt myself too badly as before. And so, bombing down Cypress at Mach 10 doesn't' really appeal to me, however riding some flowy stuff and getting through a trail smoothly is more my style. I live in Vancouver proper and so my jaunts will be Fromme, Seymour, Burnaby mountain, Squamish, and whatever else you would recommend.
The bike: I am looking at Norco's as I'm able to get them at reasonable prices. That and they've always given me a good bang-for-buck for my needs; I don't need the best, but I'm willing to pay for proper suspension. I am however confused with all this new technology - 27+ this, 29er that, boost, blah blah blah and am pretty lost as well as I know the trends are now for 'slack, low, and long'. As my focus is on fun first, thoughts on bikes for my background and anticipated trails of interest? What other things should i be looking for and aware of? I'm really siding towards a Norco Optic A1 (29er) as it seems to strike a reasonable balance of something that can pedal well that will still handle some of the more challenging trails.
Any suggestions would be great, thanks for your time!