Originally Posted by Raiyn
What year of Expert are you looking at? Because the one on Iron Horse's website has an LX rear dérailleur and other components leading me to guesstimate the price around $700. If it's last years model and it fits go for it. If it's this years model - I don't think I need to tell you what to do - as long as it fits.
Alivio vs Deore. It's a slight difference it's not like going Alivio to LX or XT but to a newbie I doubt that you'll notice a difference. Also remember the fact that the rear dérailleur does most of the work and has more parts in motion at any given time as compared to the front so a notch up in the rear is fairly common at any price point. Case in point my Rockhopper Comp FSR came with a Deore front an a LX rear.
I jsut returned from the bike shop and they are fresh out of the Iron Horse and are willing to replace it with a Giant Rainier. I can get this bike for $300 off of MSRP so I am inclined to do this. I just wanted to make sure that this bike is comparable to the others I was looking at. My main reservation is lack of knowledge about Giant bikes and the Fork on the Rainier is a Rock Shox Judy SL U-Turn (the reviews I read on MTBReview.com are negative about this shock) Help me Please!!!