r/Hardtailgang

Would you buy this used 2023 Roscoe 9 on marketplace (listed $1,500) or the new Roscoe 7 gen 4 at $1,500?

Coming from a Kona Hei Hei excited to return to my hardtail roots.

So I am lucky where I live, which is the North of England; what also makes me lucky is that a good friend organises what I genuinely think are the best routes in the North (look him up if interested! Yorkshire Divide); better still, I have friends who like me really relish gnarly stuff, love them ‘ills, the mud, the drops, and ride to have fun, make photos, eat chocolate muffins, and at times, due to the scary stuff of gnarly stuff, break out in giggles. Today was the perfect day for me, and it also marked the start of the MTB season (in earnest, as I ride all year round, I do much more in Autumn  and Winter when I prefer to be off-road)

This was an organised ride over the moors of Yorkshire, with dark chocolate muffins provided at the start - PERFECTION - I will have 2 please 😂 (I would have had more but feared that would have seemed rude 😂)! Plus as I do quite a bit it's so nice to meet up with friends and see familiar faces before you set off. I know the Moors well, but today I found many little tracks I didn’t know, which is always a bonus. Plus I do like my downhill thrills: that moment where you look down, and your brain isn’t quite computing, as it’s EEK and doing it anyway over rocks, boulders, roots, through mud, with at the bottom needing a breather 😆 as the adrenaline is pumping so hard you’re a little shaky! Woop woop, I had plenty of those moments!

This was proper soul food, and I'm lucky to have a wonderful dented MTB that manages it all, plus the realisation that my 49-year-old body is rather strong too! But what makes me chuckle also (sorry guys) is that whenever I am out, EVERY SINGLE TIME, I get "advice" 😂 I did not ask for from some random bloke 😂 somehow thinking I have never been on an MTB before. 😂 Today I was told one descent might not be suitable for me, as it’s “very hard” 😂… yep, it’s why I am here (and why I have done it plenty of times and why I end up at the bottom sooner than he did! I am not actually competitive but do get wound up by this).

LOVED TODAY! Love playing around on my mini bike!

52m, riding MTBs since the 80s off and on. It’s been about two years since I high-sided on a burm, trying to switch flow tracks (mid flow) following my buddy at a park I hadn’t been to before. Came down hard on my left shoulder. Nothing broken, but I was in pain for about a year after. I’ve been a little nervous to hop on another bike for some fast downhill.

Anyway, I listed one of my guitars on the local marketplace and was contacted by a guy that initiated a trade for the guitar. The bike is a Salsa Timberjack XL. I’m about 6’1” (so I am on the smaller side for this rig) but newer bike geometry makes it seem sooo much bigger than I am used to. I’ve only ever ridden 26ers with narrower flat bars. Even my XL downhill/all-mountain GT full suspension bike seems small compared.

I feel that having a dropper post is the answer I’m looking for. Starting out grinding uphill seems really hard with the seat being so high but when I am pumping, it doesn’t seem to bother me. Am I thinking clearly? Will the dropper make the bike feel smaller when the seat is down and I start off on an uphill grind? Thoughts?

Anyway…. Happy NBD to me! Here is my new (used) Timberjack!