Hardtails are how most people get on the trails for the first time. Whether it is a $200 Walmart bike or a $2000 XC machine you can learn something and gain valuable skills on a hardtail. However, around the $1000 mark there seems to be a tipping point where you get quality components and geometry that you won’t want to immediately throw away after a year of riding. In this round-up, we’ll share our top best $1000 hardtail trail bikes. There are a couple of criteria that were used in building this list. First, we allowed a little bit of wiggle room on the MSRP price knowing that sales, dealer incentives etc would allow you to obtain any of these bikes for right around $1000. Second, if the manufacturer specced the bike with a coil shock they were disqualified. Low end coil shocks do not yield a capable trail bike that can be tailored to rider weight the way an air fork can. Finally, if the manufacturer specced the bike with a 2x or 3x …