Sticking with steel frame and skinny tyres, thank you
 

The LBS graciously put on a basic bike maintenance clinic this a.m. Learned a lot, none of which is applicable for me. Focus was mountain bikes . . . I learned how maintenance-intensive MTBs are if you stay after it.

Reinforces my belief that I want only to ride classic-design rim-brake road bikes (though they are new builds, not vintage) on concrete trails and asphalt roads.

Mountain biking seems to involve a completely different belief system, so to speak.

nuthin' new, actually, but an impactful reminder.

Somehow, don't know how, was able to ride technical single track on my 1989 Fischer Mt Tam, guess today I would kick off the trail.

Not sure what you are talking about. Have two mountain bikes that I ride weekly. Once a year, I change the bath oil in the fork and that is that. Otherwise, just a bike. Both bikes are full suspension bikes.

Basic rim brake road bikes are so much easier to own than most modern bikes, especially MTB's.

No firmware, bleed kits, batteries, o-rings, leaking sealant,weird chain compatibility issues(this works with flat top and campy but not shimano or whatever), etc, etc, etc.

I don't doubt you for a minute. The instructor's point, fwiw, is that performance degrades imperceptibly over time and that thorough periodic maintenance on a mountain steed is needed to keep it going like it's factory new.

But trade that off against the absolute joy of point-and-shoot mountain biking over crazy terrain. In terms of smiles per minute, mtb wins by a long shot. I've never giggled in joy on my road bike.

Hmm. I have to fiddle with my steel, rim brake bike way more than my mountain bike.
Of course, it is SS and rigid so maintenance is minimal.

Doesn’t matter if it’s sechs, pizza, or road riding - if you’re not enjoying it, that’s on you ..

I totally see where the OP is coming from, I go through periods where I get so damn frustrated with my mountain bike and I want to throw the ****ing thing off a cliff because it won’t ****ing stop ****ing creaking goddammit.

It’s part of the reason why I will keep a road only bike in the stable always because they don’t need much upkeep and are ready to ride when everything else is malfunctioning.

at this point in my life, I'm not looking for an aggressive trail with babyheads (the size of an actual baby's head).. I have no need to "point and shoot" down a trail using 4-5" of travel on both ends.. I'm at the point where I'm looking for a nice flow trail with a bit of technical that I can do on a hard tail.. had a couple FS and they were fine, but.. actually sold my last MTB because I just haven't been able to find the trails I want here in Sonoma County.. they're probably there, just haven't found them.. so I guess I'm saying an MTB for me wouldn't be that different than a road bike save the fork and hydro discs.. which have never been that labor intensive IMHO..

quite possibly the most fun bikes I have owned were mountain bikes. Rigid, super light, single-speed, mountain bikes.

Second this! Rigid steel singlespeeds have a pretty awesome maintenance to fun ratio, and honestly in my experience haven't really held me back from keeping up with my friends on far burlier full-suspension rigs. I'll be the first to admit however that my second statement is a function of my riding style, the sorts of trails local to me, and the type of mountain bike riding I like to do (relatively technical but not terribly sendy).

Technically it’s in Napa County, but Moore Creek Park near Lake Hennessy is your ticket. Redwood Trails Alliance is the steward and they continue to make the place better and better.

Not quite available yet, but RTA also has a big project in West county called Monte Rio Redwoods. When that opens it should be just what you’re looking for.

You can get skinny tube, external cable steel mountain bikes too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm certainly not trying to tell anyone else what is or is not fun for them, but after numerous failed attempts to get into mountain biking over the past 25 years (from rigid 26" to hardtail 29"), last year I finally got a modern full suspension mountain bike and it completely changed my view of it. The bike gave me so much more confidence that I was able to practice things I was too scared to attempt before, and improve my own skills in the process.

If you're having a blast on an old mountain bike, that's awesome, but for people who have tried mountain biking in the past and did t stick with it, I'd say try a new bike.