>>1692202It depends on what you actually have to ride
Consider this
https://youtu.be/n_7gkhSjSjY?t=588actually a fun flowy downhill trail (for the most part)
he is riding it on a very expensive, very good, modern mountain bike. Full suspension.
If you have good fast trails to ride, that are a bit technical, a high end modern mtb is the best thrill. But most people have to drive to them. You probably won't do it very often without freinds. And if you're serious about it, those bikes that will hold up are very expensive.
If you -dont- have those trails to ride, or won't be riding them most of the time, that high end modern bike will be gratuitously competent, meaning, it will take the fun and challenge and feeling of being at your limits, out of riding on gravel roads, easy paths, and grade 1 trails, which you are more likely to have locally. It's more fun to have a bike then, that is less good. Maybe that doesn't have suspension, just fatter tires, like pic related. Or that doesn't even have disc brakes, a classic mtb. Which also often has the beniefit of giving you a bike lighter, by several kg, bike, which is another thing that makes bikes more fun, and cheaper, by several thousand dollars.
