No, I am (sadly) not in the market for another mountain bike - I have one!

I just got a surprise! Someone told me that the new Jamis Dakar was only a few hundred more from what I am asking for my lovely 2011 Dakar XC Comp. I assumed, at first, that she was talking about the Dakar XC Sport, but I just went and checked out the new 2013 model on the Jamis website...

I could be mistaken, I am no expert, but it looks like Jamis has downgraded the components to justify dropping the MSRP from ~$1,800 (2011) to $1,500. The 2011 comes with a 10-speed cassette (and I think the 2012 did as well), 2013 has a 9-speed. The suspension appears to be different, and there are a couple of other apparent changes that I don't have the time to look into right now. If they are downgrading the Dakar Comp, I have to wonder what they are doing to the Dakar Sport? I guess they felt a need to find someway to drop the price in this market.