Thanks in advance to anyone who has the patience to read through my essay and answer my questions

I have already read through a bunch of posts, watched vids and asked opinions of friends but dont know many people knowledge about MTBs

as the title suggests, i myself am an MTB noob. i have been riding bikes my whole life but never did any serious mountain biking.

question 1: is this bike (Cannondale Jekyll, pictured below) or any of its components worth anything?

I traded the bike off my mate a few weeks ago in exchange for some cash and some old snowboarding gear. It is definitely too small for me so I need a new bike anyway, but it would be nice to know if i can flog that for anything.

Question 2: I think its 15.5″ frame. have I taken the measurement correctly? (from fingers to the thin black line drawn on the pic below)

On to the future bike questions:

My budget is 1 – 1.5k EUR, which i would stretch to 2k EUR if it really made a lot of sense. As mentioned i am a noob, and the bike doesnt need to be perfect, but if i am dropping 1.5k on a bike then i at least want to spend it smartly and not learn that its crap after a few months of riding and end up buying twice.

I want a bike I can use for tours (road) as well as trails, xc and dh – so i am told to look for an “enduro”. I also want the freedom to be able to hit jumps, so I am told i need a fully with 140 or 160mm front and rear travel, to be able to hit any reasonable jumps (i.e. bigger than 60cm or so). However I also have another friend who tells me im a soft lad and he’s ridden only hardtail for years on all terrain and doing 2m drops and a fully isnt needed at all.

its worth mentioning i will be riding frequently, as I live in Munich and the Alps are just 1+ hrs away, so realistically will go most weekends throughout the summer.

I am leaning toward a fully to be honest but,

Question 3: would you strongly recommend a fully for what i will be using it for? and if so, does it really need to be over 120mm travel if i want to do jumps? because going above 120mm without adding lots of weight to the bike seems to be a very costly endeavor

Question 4: if i do get a fully with 140/160/170mm travel – is that going to slow me down massively on road? or are suspension locking systems good enough these days that i can just lock the susp and avoid any major impact to my speed/energy useage.

Question 5: for an all purpose fully that wont kill me on long tours, what is the maximum weight i should consider? i have been told 12kg for a hardtail but not sure for a fully

i have been browsing bikes all weekend and answers to the questions above will help me to determine whether i should be spending 1.2k on a bike like a Vitus Escarpe, 1.5k on an Escarpe 275 VR, 1.75k on a Escarpe 275 VRS, 1.9k on a Sunn Charger S1, 2k on a Cube Fritzz 160 MPA (which looks pretty sexy).

Any other tips, comments, recommendations (including bike models) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot

Alex

in case those images dont show up:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154077296520385&l=dac21151a7
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154077296575385&l=ec59af259b
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154077296580385&l=0fa0d07438
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154077296110385&l=1ae5afe5d6
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154077296115385&l=3018358cd3
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154077296925385&l=36aff6647f

and the measurement one:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154077310180385&l=c32c394038

Wow you want a lot of info in one post.. let me give you my thoughts.

1) Value, not a lot, though most of your kit is solid good quality it’s ‘old’ 9 speed & the frame is very old (last made in 2004?)… 11 speed is where it’s at now (firmly tongue in cheek, but realistically no). Check ebay for “sold completed items”, for a proper valuation. Don’t worry that you were sold a lemon, assuming your cash/kit wasn’t worth much more than a couple of hundred (guess)

2) Different manufacturers measure bike differently, so I dunno on this one.

3) A FS (full suspension) would probably be the best bet for all your MTB-ing requirements (trails, xc and dh) & give you the most confidence, but as your m8 says if you have the skills, the right HT (hardtail) can do most of that. Though TBH I’d want a FS for the big alp stuff myself. That said I’d buy a (cheaper) HT for touring.

4) Realistically yes, they aren’t meant for touring and your carry extra weight for nothing on the road, lockouts will help but won’t cure the weight issue. That said, a long travel HT wouldn’t be much fun either.

5) I simply wouldn’t recommend it, so aren’t going to give a suggested weight, get a rigid HT for touring & a FS for the rest of your riding.

TBH I’d suggest building up your riding skillset before to getting a new bike, buying something with huge travel doesn’t simply make you a riding god, though it’d obviously help. Sort out the shock and front suspension on the Jekyll, so at least the bike you have works properly and try and get some demo of bikes, compare them with the bike you have to see where you want to go….
Hope that helps some.. though WTF do I know?

If you are reasonably handy you can transfer all the parts onto a larger frame, indeed onto a hardtail frame if you want. That way you can experiment a bit and see what you like.

You are asking for too much, a bike capable of riding the alps and yet good on road tours ! Doesn’t exist. You have to choose what you want to favour, off road trail riding regular inc trips to mountains (full suss with 140/160 travel) or on road touring (get a road bike or a hardtail andpout narrow tyres on for the road rides and wider for off road).

Yeah you’re asking for a lot there mate. The road requirement is the real disconnect – you could split that 1.5K in two to accommodate a decent steel tourer plus a do it all hardtail, or s/h full sus.

Worth noting that hitting the jumps in a pure sense does not involve long travel FS bikes – if what you have in mind is arsing around the jump park all day then a short travel HT is in order – like an evolution from bmx. Longer travel full sus bikes are for descending trails at speed, landing bigger drops etc

thanks guys for your comments. in the end i got this: http://www.cube.eu/en/bikes/fullsuspension/fritzz/fritzz-160-hpa-pro-275/

:]