Need Recommendations on buying New Bike please: Specialized FSR PRO or other

CaRoller1

Hey everyone... I am a 27 year old male (5'7, 150 lbs) living in Santa Barbara, CA (biking here is AMAZING) and recently started biking every other day with my good friend for the past 3 months. It is now time for us to upgrade our bikes and although I have tried bike stores, I still am a bit unsure of what would be the best bikes for us. If you can help with any suggestions or/and advice, I'd greatly appreciate it!

We ride between 3-6 hours at a time, mostly firetrails, dirt paths with small bumps, some loose dirt but not much, and also a lot of street. Probably about 50% dirt trails (mostly packed dirt but some loose, usually only small pebbles or bumps), 40% streets (half of that being uphill, some strenuous since we do like uphill biking and also a lot of biking in the wine country), 8% very bumping terrain on beat-up old-roads and dirt roads, terrain, 2% technical downhill (but never a jump or fall greater than 1-2 feet). We never really do anything with large rocks, boulders, logs, or big jumps.

I definitely want a bike that is much more comfortable (I use a base model inexpensive Trek Mountain Bike with old front suspension only - I've noticed recently that my butt hurts A LOT after really long rides!! ) and more versatile but also under $1700 - thus I was recommended the Specialized FSR XC for $860 or the FSR PRO for $1500 from a local bike shop.

These are my most important considerations:
-Comfort (perfer FULL suspension)
-Versatility
-Durability
-Speed (do not want it to be slow on open paved roads)
-Style (because I am vain)
-Price (would like to stay under $1700).

I think I'll probably get the Specialized FSR PRO. What do you think? Is this a good buy or are there other bikes I should consider?

If you have any questions, please just let me know.

Thank you for all your help!!
-Brandon

mountainz

Specialized makes good bikes, one of my buddies has a FSR 120, it's a sweet rig. Personally I would spend more $$$ and get the FSR COMP DISC. It has the Avid Juicy hydraulic disc brakes, which are superior to V-Brakes. If you want to upgrade later to discs , it will cost you at least $300, and that would be for Avid Mechanicals and a decent disc wheelset from a catalog, and doing your own installation.

CaRoller1

Actually, the Pro does have disc breaks... they are mechanical but high end. I think I actually like the mechanical disc breaks better, especially since I do a lot of riding in the sun and hot weather and my friend, who has hydraulics, said his can be a bit unreliable at times.

mountainz

I guess I was looking at the wrong bike on the Specialized website. I have a couple of Santa Cruz Mtb's that I ride, a Blur and a Superlight. I have Avid mech. discs on both of them, a huge upgrade from the V-brakes that were on both bikes.- Jim from Santa Cruz

CaRoller1

No worries... was referring to the FSR XC PRO.

Thanks!

waketek

Hey,

From the description of your riding style, a lot people around here would recommend a hart-tail.

We're in north florida and don't happen to have too many downhills :P

For your price range you can get an awesome hard tail with some great components.

As far as comfort goes; are you sure it's the bike that's beating you up? I'm only suggesting looking into a new saddle and possibly switching up your cockpit configuration.

Since we have a lot of flat country here, a lot of guys get razzed for riding full suspension unless they're jumping up onto and off of picnic tables and such. I dunno, I guess it's all up to you.

If you do decide to go the full suspension route, make sure you get a quality rear shoke that preferrably has a lock out for those uphills (without it, you loose a lot of power on your pedal strokes).

I have a Specialized stumpjumper hardtail and it rocks. I totally love it. Stock from the shop it wieghed 23.8 lbs (w/ RockShox SID fork). It takes me on the pavement, dirt roads, and technical singletrack without a fuss.

__________________
"Live to Ride...Ride to Live"

fury4

I think that a hard tail would be your least expensive route. Make sure that it has a good fork, not a low end cheap one. $1700.00 would get a top of the line Gary Fisher or Trek. Giant makes some nice bikes. Santa Cruz are also nice. If you ride on the rodes get a tire that is a semi slick. Look at the Michelin Jet S. Adding a suspension seat post may also be an option. Hope this helps.