Mountain Biking - help with freeride bike

hello, i've been looking at bikes lately, and narrowed it down to something like a hardrock, rockhopper, or kona blast, but recently decided to take a look at "freeride" bikes too.

just wondering if you experienced guys can throw out a few names to look at, research, and test ride.

i was looking at the trek bruiser, kona shred, p series, stp, and stuff.

Good, good I take it your looking at freeride hardtails? Check this thread out http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=79185&highlight=freeride+hardtails, pretty much every freeride hardtail you could imagine. I like the transition TOP, I'd give that a hard look. Good luck man.

I have a Trek Bruiser 1 and I love it! My only problems are that it is a bit heavier then other bikes, because of the fact that it is a Freeride bike, it can also do some light dh'ing, so the weight is lighter then a dh bike, but still heavier then what I was used to. It is really durable. It has low gears that help me get over grass while going uphill and other obastacles. It isn't the fastest thing when going for all out speed because of those two reasons, its a bit heavy, and the lower gears, but it does everything so well. I use it to run over anything. The only problem that I've really had with it, is the seatpost. I'm going to switch that one out, but that is really the only thing.

how much heavier are we talking?

can you tell me the weight stock?

i'm not an expert so i'm not even sure how many lbs actually makes a difference when it comes to weight.

is a 27 a lot lighter than 30 when it comes to bikes?

I got 32.5 pounds for my 16.5" frame, all stock.

Like anything else, once you get moving, you won't notice the weight. It affects you when you're trying to hop, turn, speed up/slow down. It feels solid though when going straight on good surfaces, and when biking over stuff.

As far as the actual weight differences, well, that depends on your preference.