Bicycle questions!!!

So I am buying a mountain bike. I have always owned Wal-Mart specials and have decided to get something nice. I am looking for a bike with an aluminum frame, front shocks and disc brakes. I have gone to two local bike shops to ask some questions and of course they do not sell the same brands so its hard to compare components and pick the shop peoples brains.

Anyways I have 3 models that I have been pointed at and I want to know which is the better deal for the price but having no knowledge of the components I don’t really know what to look for.

So I turn to the Straight Dope to see if someone can give me the lowdown on what the differences between the 3 bikes are.

Um…which bikes?

What’s your budget and main use? I’m not a huge fan of mountain bikes myself, you might find a hybrid will give you more bang for your buck, so to speak.

Sorry about the double post. Trouble with the edit window.

Bikes:

Giant Rincon

Trek 4300 Disc

Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc

What do you guys think?

As for budget, 5-600 hundred is the area I am looking and the uses are for back and forth to school and actual trail riding in the mountains around my home.

I think it depends on what sort of riding you plan on doing.

If you’re going down honest-to-God mountain bike trails, there really isn’t a substitute for the real thing.

If you’re primarily doing recreational/exercise riding in town on paved streets and light offroading, you’ll probably be happier with a hybrid or even a comfort bike of some kind. They’re more upright and are generally more comfortable than a mountain bike or a road bike, and have many of the best features of both.

That being said, I have a Trek 4500 (similar to your 4300) that’s about 7 years old, and it does the job for mountain biking. My main complaint for more recreational riding is that like most mountain bikes, your weight is more on your hands than with more conventional bikes, and it gets kind of uncomfortable after a while.

The main thing I notice with all those bikes is that they are all this years model - older models will save you a fair bit if you can get hold of em (older models won’t be noticeably worse than 2009 models). You might be best off asking the bike shops (or browsing sites) for any old models still in stock (which they’ll want to get rid of).

Similarly, check your local Craigslist to find last year’s awesome ride for pennies on the dollar.

You won’t go wrong with any of them - it’s a case of sitting on each and finding which is the most comfortable fit. Each frame geometry will be subtly different and you want the right one for you. You can fine tune a fit with the stem, bars and saddle choice, but you can’t do anything about a frame that it too tall for you, or a top tube that is too long etc. Also, maybe one of the three might be noticeably lighter than the others. My wife has a low-end giant and it weighs a ton.

Personally I don’t like the Giant, but I’ve never seen a Giant I like the looks of. The Trek and the Spesh are more appealing, but that’s just an aesthetic judgement, there doesn’t seem to be much in the spec. The only thing really lacking in each is the fork, which is poor for all of them. That’s the spec at this price point, though, and you’d need to spend a fair bit more to get a decent fork equipped.

Buying second hand is great for bargains, but you really need to be sure of the fit issue. Easy to pick up a badly-fitting bike that felt OK riding it round a guy’s front yard for 5 mins.

Another reason for buying a new bike is to get the frame warranty from the manufacturer - particularly relevant for an aluminium bike (you cannot safely repair an aluminium frame if it cracks). I do a lot of mountain biking (or did, before our son was born), and have cracked 3 or 4 Alu frames over the years - all replaced as new under warranty. That’s doing serious, hairy-arsed mountain biking though. I am certain my wife could ride her giant off road for 20 years and it would be as good as new. So it depends on how much serious trail riding you think you’ll do.