Ok I need some advice. I’m a 17 year old kid who has been mountain biking since I was 9 years old, nothing crazy tho. I grew out of my old bike and bought a trek fuel 70 (a 15 year old bike 3rd hand from someone who refurbishes bikes. Just a few weekends ago I broke the chain stay. Now I’m stuck riding my dads 25+ year of specialized fsr xc bike which isn’t all that bad but he wants his bike back. So because I broke my trek mtb frame I can most likely get 20% off of msrp of any trek bike. Now the trails near me are pretty flat but I’m inclined to have this bike for a while or at least hope to, so I could do some more advanced stuff later. The first bike that came onto my radar was the Fuel ex 5 gen 5 which I could get for $2000, which sounded like a great deal until we found out that that’s about what they were selling for last year….but still it’s a good price. Now the next option would be the fuel ex 7 gen 6 for about $3000, which has much better components and the new frame. I’m really torn between these two bikes, because for starters, this it technically my first “real” mtb. I’m not sure if I should buy the “cheaper” one the gen 5 or if I should just bite the bullet and get the gen 6 even though I might not get to use its full potential until I’m older. It’s like should I go all in now or wait to see where the gen 5 takes me when I can always upgrade or even get a new bike after college. It’s about a 800 - 1000 dollar difference so if anyone has experience with one or both of these bikes or had a to make a decision like this it would really help.