I have a Felt 29Pro...and have absolutely zero bad to say. 24# and quality!

 

Specialized rockhopper 29er. Love it and you can pick it up for about 1k or a little less.

 

If your looking for a bike that rides both good single track and downhill goodluck! A downhill bike is super heavy and meant to bomb down mountains! Not great for pedaling uphill! Enduro is a great all mountain bike and can take abuse! If I were you and you were me I would do some heavy research, buy once! If you do have a 2 k spending limit I would also look into a Scott voltage fr30! 1700 lizard skins and have not read anything bad about them! And you would still have money left over for gear, I highly recommend a full face helmet, never know when your going to eat it! I ride single track with one because trees always seem to find me, also wear it to rays and the DJ jumps! Good luck on the search and let everyone know what ya got! Also check out decline mag and pinkbike for more info!

 

Thanks everyone. Just trying to do a lot of research now to see what the best option is. I appreciate all the help!

 

I have a 2012 specialized carve 29er and love it!!

 

Check out mtbr.com. Lots of reviews and good advice.
Sounds like you want an All Mountain style bike. The Kona dawg series is very good.
I'm riding a Schwinn Homegrown from the late 90's but I'm old school and sentimental.

 

Also don't be afraid to invest in a nice hardtail that can except a fork with a lot of travel! I know guys that run 150mm and dual crowns on some hardtails and do downhill! One bike I know for sure is the evil imperial! Hard to come by and I'm still looking for one after 3 years! There are pros and cons for hardtails and full suspension bikes just have to figure out what's best for you!

 

Don't get one with any suspension because that is for wimps, and if it has a seat, that means you're a girl!

 

don't get a bike. spend the extra 1000 to 2000 on the jeep instead

 

I have a Gary Fisher 29er and I love it. Friends that have the Specialized 29ers like mine more. Gary Fishers usually have better quality parts than the Specialized unless you go with the Specialized with FOX

I ride my bike to work daily and leave Jeep in garage. I've already put 96 miles on bike in 3 weeks (4 day work weeks)




It's clean because I wipe it down every Thursday morning at work when I'm super bored