Bike Homework

After doing a little research and level-setting yesterday, I have come to the conclusion that the broken assembly link on my bike is an indicator of things to come....The bike is approaching 10 yrs of age and there have been enough improvements over the last 10 yrs that a new bike would make a lot of sense...The problem is that there are sooooo many options out there.   What makes this somewhat do-able is that we were thinking of taking my parts of the bike that needs replacing and putting them on the bike frame that the wifer wants (has been pining for a racing hard tail as of late).  It would definitely make for a pretty sweet hard tail bike that would be pretty light-weight.

and now back to the scheduled programming......The short list currently looks a little something like (although the color schemes will be different):

Santa Cruz Blur

Scott Spark 30:

Pivot Mach 4:

The things I am looking for are:

Rear Susp with around 4 inches of travel

Front Susp with 3-5 of travel

Tubeless set up for wheels

Drivetrain - looking at a 2 X 10 gearing combo...might be persuaded to a 1 X 9...still doing more due diligence....

starting to think I would like a hard-tail at some point (in the future since the missus wants a hard tail bike for her adventures next year) where the frame would be inter-changeable from a single speed to a 1X9 setup...sooo many good options...Niner sure does make a 'purdy' frame...but that would mean a 29'r set up...and considering I am a small dude, not sure it makes sense which is why it will be fun to ride a 29'r today to see what it is all about.  The one thing that does not get me psyched on the Niner set up is the EBB - I would prefer to have a horizontal dropout on the rear frame to adjust chain tension on the single-speed set up....ohhhh the agony!

It is definitely still in the early stages of collecting info and I look forward to doing a little demo action today on the Blur, a Tall Boy and even a Specialized or two.  Unfortunately we don't have Scott or Pivot dealers close by so it will have to wait a little for being able to throw a leg over the top tube of one of those.  

This is of course all subject change much like a change in wind direction but it is a starting point.  I look forward to seeing just how differently the bikes handle seeing as if the last time I went through all this was 10 yrs ago and there have been a few leaps in technology.