Discussion: Suggestions on Dual suspension bike

I am planning to move up from my current hard tail [Trek 6000] to a full suspension for racing this year. I love my hardtail, but am doing bigger & longer races hence I need to go easy on my body. From what I understand dual suspension bikes are the way to go.

Am wondering what you guys would recommend? I am 5.8, my budget would be about $2500. One of the bikes on my radar us Fuel EX 8.

Any thoughts/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Ps: by mistake I posted this in orienteering section, hence posting it again.

Primarily for adventure racing?

I also do 60k, 8 hr & I also to 24 hr MTB races.

Have you considered a 29er? At that price point I think you'd have better luck with a mid end 29er race bike than a low end 26er dually.

Also, personally I prefer an XC race bike as opposed to a trail bike. AR tends to be fire roads, even paved roads a lot of the time. An XC racer does a lot better on them than a trail bike, even a more aggressively set up one. That is just me though.

If you're set on 26ers, check out the Specialized Epic line. You should be able to get a 'comp' model on sale at $2500. The Epic's suspension combined with their brain shock make for a very AR style friendly ride.

I did look at 29er but since I already have a hardtail bike currently I don't think it would make much sense for me to have another one. Ultimately I would like to have a 26er dually & a 29er hard tail....

Check it. That's an old thread with some insight on 29ers versus 26ers in AR.