General Cycling Discussion - Need Suggestions

Alright I need some help. I told a friend I would do this for him. I ride majority road, Trek 2200. I also ride a Kona Pahoehoe mtn bike. My knowledge is with road bikes, very little about mtn. His question as is mine, what is a good mtn bike around $700. He will be looking to ride trails once in awhile. Thanks in advance for suggestoins.

I would recommend taking a look at the Specialized line. Maybe a Stump Jumper or a Rock Hopper. $700 will get your friend a good entry level MTB. I bought a Mongoose NX7-1 a couple of yrs ago for $600 (on sale from $800)...I have upgraded the fork, but other than that I have no complaints. http://www.specialized.com/2001/products/bike_finder/index.html

For $700 you can actually get a very nice mountain bike. Trek, Specialized, Schwinn, and Giant all make bikes in this price range which are excellent values.

The best thing to do is just go to different bike shops and test ride as many different bikes as he can in his price range to see which one feels the best to him.

The Giant 2000 Rainier SE comes with Avid mech disc brakes and a Marzocchi.
The Schwinn Moab3 is another great value. The best thing about this bike is the awesome frame. You can upgrade the parts later and have a killer bike.
The Trek 6500 is another good deal for the money.

See if you can find the recent back issue of Bicycling magazine... either April or May... they ran a buyer's guide. It was not an all inclusive list, rather a selection of bikes that the editors liked, arranged by type and in ascending price order.

That will at least get you started. Also, direct yourself to the Mountain Bike section of these forums... lots of opinions, lots of experience.

I think they Gary Fisher Hoo Koo e Koo is in the 700-800 dollar range. Me and my dad were cruising bike shops today(May 23 2001) and the Fisher's are really nice bikes. They also pack alot of bang for the buck. For 450 dollars a Fisher Marlin has Bontrager stem,seat post, and handle bars.The drivetrain parts are Acera in the front, Alivio in the back. While these are not top picks, they will get me through until I can upgrade. Go for the frame.The Rock Shox Jett is crappy, but to get anything better I have to go up 100 bucks.