What bike to buy??

[BenB]

I have a budget of about 500us and i want a strong frame, good forx, disc breaks, i dont know wheather i should yet daul suspention or a hard tail. I will be doing a bit of light down hill and X country. I was told Giant was a good brand to get. Any recommendations?

 

[psycho-]

Originally posted by BenB
I have a budget of about 500us and i want a strong frame, good forx, disc breaks, i dont know wheather i should yet daul suspention or a hard tail. I will be doing a bit of light down hill and X country. I was told Giant was a good brand to get. Any recommendations?

Check out at least 2-3 bike shops. Tell them your range (like, 450-600) for cost, and tell them what bikes they offer at that range. Ride them all! find the one that's best on and off road. If they don't have anything to let you test on the trail, try to find hte one that you feel the most comfortable on.

THe key is you find a bike that you feel comoftable with. If you get all the best components in that price class, it still won't be good if you're not in "sync" with your bike, right? The deficiencies will be painfully obvious on any trail when you hit it.

It's okay to take a slight downgrade in components for a good bike that you feel fits you. I personally like Giants, as I have a Giant road bike. but I went with a cannondale mountain bike as i felt it fit me better than a Giant NRS.

In any case, you know what to do.

BTW, never hurts to wait for a sale

 

[4900Rockpock]

personally i like specialized, just bought meself one two days ago

 

[percious]

You are asking alot for $500. I would consider nixing the full suspension and disk brakes. You will get a better frame for the money you are spending, and thats the most important thing. This is a great time to buy a bike, cause the 2003s are being liquidated, just like cars. Oh, and I wouldnt buy a giant, I would go with a specialized or a trek.

-percious

 

[damien clark]

I just bought a Norco and I love it...suss them out cos you should get a great value hardtail for your budget. Have never heard a bad word from a Giant owner and I like them too but you pay a premium for the name and if budget is important you can get better value. If you like quality, I reckon a hardtail's your best bet cos at your budget you'll be compromising on components to get the full suspension.

 

[AKBiker50]

500 bucks will land you a decent frame hard tail bike with crappy components. Try to save up some money and buy a bike that you want. For the neighborhood of a thousand bucks you can have full suspension, disc brakes, nice frame and components. You might as well, because you'll wish you did.

 

[bostarob]

I've been looking for a 5 or 6 hundred dollar hardtail myself. I just discovered the raleigh M80 disc. It looks very good for $550. Good deraillers, brakes, fork, and such. I've also been looking at the trek 4900, Iron Horse Rogue, and GT avalanche 1.0 disc. So, check those out... However, i did hear that GT is now owned by Pacifica, and that this is bad. I'd still like to try the bike out.
Today I just took the Giant Iguana disc and Specialized Hardrock pro, both in the ~$500 range, out for a spin at a bike shop. I liked them both, but i feel i should try out more brands.

How do the veterans here feel about the bikes mentioned?

Thanks, and good luck
-andy

 

[daubertrm]

ok if you want a good frame disk brakes but a kind of cheap fork defiently go to a haro extreme x1. this is a great bike for the money and it has the exact same identical frame to the haro x3 whitch is around 3 grand. if you go to a local bike shop they will prob tell u around 700 for the x1 but jbmountainbikes.com has if for 459.

 

[bostarob]

They have the Raleigh M80 for $380! WOW! LX deraillers front and back...what's the catch?
-go to mtbreviews.com - they like it

also, what do you think about the Haro escape series?