Okay, so add a freewheel hub and rear brake, change the geometry up a little bit. Then maybe some lower rise bars and there you have it. The sub $600 complete dirt jumper we have all been requesting.

With how much bb drop this frame has I might actually see it being called a pump track bike. In my opinion higher bb's hop better (more "pop" off of a dj lip), but low bb's corner better. I prefer dj bikes to have bb heights more in the 330mm range (aka close to level with a 26" axle).

I wonder the same sometimes, but this bike does have some pricey details. Let's look at the frame: sliding thru-axle dropouts, tapered head tube, and butted tubing. Those items are expensive. From Paragon Machine Works the two dropouts, plus inserts, and an axle are $150 alone.

On top of material cost, the actual manufacturing is where the cost comes from. So your basic dirt jumper still has similar labor cost to a basic mountain bike.

Then you have to take quantities in to account. Bmx cranks are cheap because there are so many made. As soon as you try to get a spindle to fit mtb standards though, prices seem to double. It seems there are not enough DJ's sold to make the longer spindles less costly. I'm sure the same can be said for DJ rear hubs. I'll end my rant, but I agree with you that there should be a bigger market for more basic, entry level dirt jumpers with sub $1,000 msrp.

Are the Manitou Circus Experts still incredibly stiff? My girlfriends DJ has one on it and it barely moves. I just ordered a soft spring for it, but just curious if you are getting much travel out of this fork. I have talked to others who have them as well and they use about 25% of the travel when actually dirt jumping.

If you are questioning the capability of a bike from a small brand go check out their machinist torture testing these things over on instagram. @adam_prosise