https://m.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Bi ... -640,12526
Looking at getting one of these - have founda mint condition one on Facebook Market place for $1,000 and has sparked my interest to get back into mountain biking.

any advice to whether these are good bikes or not? I'm into more gravity based riding, jumps drops etc. will this bike handle it?

ebails wrote: I'm into more gravity based riding, jumps drops etc. will this bike handle it?

Not for long.
It's a lightweight trail bike, if you want something that likes abuse go looking at labels like "all mountain" "enduro" or even (if you're serious about hucking your meat) "park".

If you've been away from mountain biking for a while do some test riding, demo days, shop bikes, mates bikes... They've changed a lot.

Backing up the above post - I have a Spark 10 - higher spec model than that - they are great, light weight, fast XC bikes, but no way are they going to be a reliable gravity bike. They suit my style riding - likes both wheels on ground (most of the time)....

A 5 year old fox float fork is likely worn out on the air-side stanchion. It was also the CTD Evo model which was complete garbage for performance and reliability. The damper comes apart internally and the plastic caps break.

So factor in a fork replacement and likely a rear shock rebuild. Those DT shocks are more expensive to rebuild as seals are proprietary and only come in a complete rebuild kit.