|   $550 budjet what hard tail? | Geckoblue545
Nov 24, 2002 8:51 AM | | I am looking at the trek 4900 or the specialized rockhopper. I have a budjet of $560 and am undecided. Which is better, or is there another bike I should look at?
Trek 4900 |
| Also... | makalu
Nov 24, 2002 12:56 PM | | Giant Iguana should be added to you look-at list.
Very sweet bike for the money |
| re: $550 budjet what hard tail? | Geckoblue545
Nov 24, 2002 6:21 PM | | Assumeing I have a $600 budjet now. lets compair the fore
mentioned bikes and the giant iguana and the fisher tassajara.
I value tour oppinion and thank you.
Giant iguana
Fisher tassajara |
| I really liked the Rockhopper... | Mowerman
Nov 24, 2002 8:24 PM | | Got back into the sport by buying a rockhopper two years ago.
I have ridden it a lot over the past two years and it has held up great. Never broke anything.
Haven't tried anything else, but would highly recommend the Rockhopper.
Note: The GIANTs (iguana and rainier) come with disc brakes. You may or may not want disc brakes, but think about it. If you do get one of the bikes without disc brakes, then eventually want to upgrade, you will spend at least half of your bike's worth to install disc brakes (disc brake + new disc hubs + labor).
Bottom line though, test ride them all, and buy whatever one "feels" right. Don't worry about components, worry about fit and your feeling towards the bike. You can always buy new and better components, but can't really change the geometry of the bike. |
| re: $550 budjet what hard tail? | JimBob-Gates
Nov 25, 2002 10:50 AM | | Rode rockhopper, tassajara, bought tassajara for comfy geometry. You really need to take each for a test drive. |
| Rockhopper info... | sdbelt
Nov 25, 2002 9:09 AM | | I don't have any first hand info on the other bikes, but would second the recommendation to look at a Giant.
I do have a Rockhopper, which I rode 3-4 times/wk for 6 months. I found that the crank was pretty much junk, and after continual hassle, finally decided to replace it with an XT crank.
The hubs (particularly the rear hub) is also pretty weak, and was replaced under warranty after 3 months. After 4 months I went ahead and had a new wheelset built up. With the way I was riding, I would expect that hub to fail every 3 months. My LBS confirmed that this was a pretty common failure for any rider that was riding frequently. In fact, they dropped Specialized recently, because they were rebuilding far too many wheels, and not getting enough compensation from Specialized. They have kept Trek, so I suppose that might be a vote for Trek.
My last complaint was with the seatpost. It was complete junk and was replaced almost immediately. The clamping mechanism wasn't strong enough to keep the seat flat. This was a minor problem, and fixed with a $35 seat post from SuperGo.
After the wheels, crank, and seatpost were replaced, the Rockhopper was a good bike. After 6 months I was ready for a bike with a longer top tube and more aggresive riding position, but as an entry level bike that I learned on, it was a reasonably good choice. Given my problems, I would personally choose a different bike to start on. However, if I had to guess, I'd bet that a different $550 bike would also have its share of problems, just different problems. The bottom line is that at that price point, every manufacturer is going to have to have taken short cuts.
--sdb |
| re: $550 budjet what hard tail? | theplut
Nov 25, 2002 1:16 PM | | I bought an '02 Spec Rockhopper last year as I entered the sport. I was very impressed. As a big guy and a learner, I really beat on the bike and never really had any problems with it. The Chain gave me some issues (replaced it) and I had to have the wheels straightened once.
*IF* you can, I'd find a discounted '02 Rockhopper over the '03 Rockhopper. They're likely to be priced the same, but Spec downgraded some of the components on the '03 (24 speed vs 27, Alivo/Deore vs Deore/LX) to get the price down to the low $500s (the '02 was $600).
If you can find an '02, and can get it for the same as the '03, I'd go that way.
...Jim |
| What size hardtail? How about a Ti one for $650? | DeeEight
Nov 25, 2002 8:29 PM | | Lots of good ones in the mtbr classifieds. I got a 20.5" Titanium
hardtail listed for $650. See ad here.... http://marketplace.consumerreview.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.pl?db=MtbReview&website=MtbReview&language=&session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&results_format=long&db_id=38044&query=retrieval |
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