Getting back into riding HT advice/guidance needed

[Allrounder]

I have been of the bike for about 5 years (riding a little here and there) but want to get back into riding. Problem is that one loses so much information if you are not connected to a sport! 

I am 1,8m tall and 99.5kg. 

I ride farm and gravel roads. Have done about 5 MTB races over the last 12 years. I did a lot of road riding with my MTB. 

I have an on one inbred in the garage, but looking for something geared as well. 

Looking in the <10k range to "test the waters" and see if things will get as serious as it was a couple of years ago. 

What i have in mind is: 
Niner Air 9 GX2 – Scandium

Trek Roscoe 8

Spez stumpjumper

Any other ideas or suggestions? What and why? 

[RobynE 🚵‍♀️]

Honestly for farm and gravel roads any lightweight hardtail will be your friend 🤷‍♀️ 

The Spez is a dual sus where the other two are hardtails. 

If I were you I’d keep my eye out for a Trek Stache or X-Caliber. Bikes you can ride for days and days and days and days. 

My 2020 X-Caliber has regular Kovee rims which wear the 2.3 tyres really nicely - it feels like a Bentley and the 1x12 Shimano is effortless and shifts like butter. One of my staff just bought a 2016 Stache for just over 5k, 1x10 conversion but otherwise 100% stock, and it’s a surprisingly nice bike to ride. 

The Roscoe is lekker but heavier and I believe more designed for downhill type stuff, though I stand corrected. 

[Allrounder]

The older stumpjumpers were HT. thanks for the advice. Will look into those as well. 

[Ispeed_V]

Another option is the Giant XTC. 

Came in both Carbon or SL (super light) Aluminum

[Ispeed_V]

This could be a viable option:

Giant XTC AL hardtail | Hardtail Mountain Bikes | Bike Hub

[RobynE 🚵‍♀️]

On 8/15/2025 at 11:47 AM, Allrounder said:

The older stumpjumpers were HT. thanks for the advice. Will look into those as well. 

Yes my bad, apologies. 

I have a 2014 Giant XTC (carbon) as well as the Trek and I prefer the Trek for non-technical stuff. Though the Giant is much, much faster and more fun 😁 Very spirited bike if that makes sense and hella fun on technical descents.