In our experience this level of mountain bike is the least expensive that you can take off-road and not have it constantly malfunction or fall apart.

Hybrids for fitness and recreation can get away with cheaper components but mountain bikes cannot.

The Jamis Durango A1 is our best XC mountain bike and features hydraulic disc brakes and 4 inches of suspension up front, but we really like the drivetrain.

Which is the Microshift Advent 1x single chainring drivetrain. Every new mountain bike above $1,000 has a 1x drivetrain.

Double (2 chainring) cranksets and front derailleurs are improvement over triples, which have always worked poorly, but really why have them?

Moving up from the $600-$700 price range eliminates the single worst working part on any mountain bike, the front derailleur.

Specifications:

Frame: 6061 Aluminum

Fork: SR Suntour XCT 30 100mm

Shifters: microSHIFT Advent 1x9

Derailleur: microSHIFT Advent

Crankset: Samox 32T

Cassette: microSHIFT, 9-speed, 11-42

Brakes: Hydraulic Disc

Wheelset: Double Wall Aluminum

Tires: CST Patrol, 29 x 2.25