Talk me into buying 4k€ XCMTB
So i've been riding since 2024. Started out on my 20+ yo oldschool "MTB", then got a gravel bike, but eventually started riding with a road wheelset on the gravel bike.
Did get a cheap Merida Big Trail 400 hardtail at some point and while it's been fun riding it once in a while, when I go out alone, I just prefer riding on asphalt. Also AFAIK I don't have any good XC trails very close by.
While I have ridden some offroad races in the previous years, which could have been suitable for my MTB, I did them on my gravel bike.
But lately I have been looking more into XC riding, because road racing just seems unnecessarily dangerous etc. Thinking of pivoting from road racing to XCM instead. Nothing too serious, but I do enjoy maxing out everything I can.
Took part in a chill individual start XC race just recently, which is partly meant for introducing new riders to XC, but the courses can be quite technical. Anyways, while I did enjoy it, I could feel how inefficient my bike was on that root-heavy and twisty course. It's super heavy, quite slack and with heavy wheels and a hardtail, so the root heavy and twisty segments felt harder than they could have been.
Also wanna take part in some upcoming longer local XCMs.
So obviously I felt I need a new bike after that short race and obviously I want it to be as efficient as possible and I found a great deal (imho), which has quite good parts:
SID Ultimate + SIDLuxe Ultimate + not the lightest, but okay 1600g wheelset, etc. total weight about 11.8kg
Also another option would be Canyon Lux World Cup CF 9 (and potentially swap the wheels eventually).
The money is not an issue, but I'm mainly worried I might not ride it enough to justify such an expensive bike, but at the same time I don't want to buy a mediocre or a cheap bike, which I will later regret getting - already done that with my first MTB and gravel bike. :)
I also ordered a new road bike recently (it's taking long to arrive), wanting to transition to a purpose built aero bike from my gravel bike, which does not make the matters better. :)