Originally Posted by
magohn
Hmmmm - all very interesting comments. Im up in the air about 29er's as it is a "newish" breed. I see the advantage of a 29er that it rolls on road much more easily. Well I have my road bike for that. Im leaning towards a 26er after all your great comments.
Im actually off to the LBS in a few hours. They are having a close-out sale on 2012 Specialized bikes (those in stock). If I were to look solely at 26ers, Specialized has these bike and at MSRP they are in my price range without a sale discount.
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bik...per/rockhopper
or this:
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bik...hardrockdisc26
Whats the advantage of the rockhopper over the hardrock? Also, The MAIN issue stopping me from ordering from Bikes Direct is that at 6'0" do I order the 19", 21" or 22" frame? They seem a little all over the place on sizing info.
Here's a YouTube video of the higher end Bikes Direct Motobecane Fantom on the trail - pretty amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HukcanLrvcE
Thanks guys. I really APPRECIATE the info as Im kinda lost in the Mountain Bike arena and just want something thats 'adequate' without buying a lemon
The fact that you can 'kick the tires' at a bike shop is an advantage over the BD bikes, especially if you aren't sure of size. At your height, however, I'd suspect you'll be riding a 19" mountain bike.
Now down to the differences between the Rockhopper and the Hardrock: The frame on the Rockhopper is better as are the components. The fork on the Hardrock is a spring/elastomer fork which is always active, isn't easy to change the spring rate (i.e. adjust) and can't be locked out. The Rockhopper fork is an air/oil fork which is easier to adjust and has a lockout for those times when you might ride on a road and not need the fork. The component mix on the Rockhopper isn't stellar but it's better than the Hardrock.
Now, having said all that I've said against the 29er, if you can find one on sale and the price and quality is better than the Rockhopper, you should go with the most bike you can buy for the least amount of money. If, for example, the Carve Comp ($1300) were the same price as the MSRP of the Rockhopper, I'd spend the extra dollars for the better bike. You can't buy
too much bike, i.e. more bike than your ability to ride it, but you can buy too little bike and outgrow it quickly. That's what I would be afraid of on the Hardrock. You'd quickly find the limits of the bike than then have to upgrade. It's cheaper, in the long run, to buy a bike you can grow with than to buy two bikes.