Mountain Biking - Question about first FS bike

Looking at three FS bikes, Specialized FSRxc, Giant Trance, and Trek Fuel 80. Does anyone have experience on any of these or suggestions on if I should rule any of them out?

if I were you I would post the specs for each of the bikes just incase of people not having used them before they still may be able to help you out by looking at the specs.

if I were you I would post the specs for each of the bikes just incase of people not having used them before they still may be able to help you out by looking at the specs.

and because not everyone has acces to google !! :rolleyes: :D

The Trance, as much as its cool to hate Giant, is my favorite among the three. The price is great, the bike pedals like a hardtail, and the geometry and frame design is awesome for aggressive trailriding. Trance 4/3 have some lower end components I'm not too fond of but mostly the components are solid and will work fine until you can upgrade.

All three of those are pretty decent bikes and if I was in your shoes, I'd pick the one that feels best and you think you could live with the longest.

Which ones are you talking about?

The Trance 4 has the worst fork ever.
The Trek Fuel 70 is heavy as a freakin dump truck.
The plain Jane FSRxc has its share of drawbacks too.

I would go the next level up on each, ie...Trance 3, FSRxc comp, and skip the Fuel altogether.

I was looking at the specialized fsrxc before I settled on building a rockhopper.( I just like hardtails better) It was a nice bike with good handling and you can always upgrade the parts after you get it. My friend just picked up a trek fuel 80 and he likes it just fine although. I didnt really notice a significant weight difference between the two. But if your concern is weight then you would have to get a really expensive fs bike to be lightweight. Even my 8 year old hardrock with full tool bag, lunch packed and a full 1 liter water bottle is lighter than any of those bikes. But like I said my friend loves his trek and to be honest he tears through the woods so fast I cant even find him sometimes.

yayyy, mom says she will buy me Giant Anthem 2 (international/global version) by monday :)

looks like a nice bike with nice components. never ridden one before but have only heard good things about giant. good luck