Mountain Biking - What bike should I buy?

Hi all, I'm in the market for a new mountain bike but am quite unsure about the best brands/manufacturers. Below are some details and any advice would be really appreciated.

1. I need a light bike because I'll be carrying it up some mountains and riding down.

2. I mainly ride on maintained trails and also a lot on mountainous roads so I want a hardtail.

3. Durability is very important for me. I want a frame that's going to last. I know pretty much what components I want (simply higher end Shimano) but I'm pretty clueless about good frame manufacturers.

4. My price range is no more than about $1,500USD. Ideally I'd like an upper end bike that is from last year or a few years ago an so has been heavily discounted.

Basically I'm looking fo a
simple bike
light (no super light)
Durable (lifetime frame warrenty)
Good components

Finally I was looking at a "Sintesi Moab" yesterday and it looked good but I know nothing about this manufacturer. I read on this site thet Sintesi frames are brittle. Anyone know anything about them. Is a brittle frame a problem if I don't put it throuth any really hard hits. Again durability if forefront in my mind. I intend to save weight on components. That frame can have an extra few ozs and I don't mind so much.

Anyway any advice at all would be really appreciated.

Dave

I dont know about that bike you looked at but it looks like your looking at a Specialized Rockhopper or Giant Yukon. Both good bikes for the price. Also look at the Trek 4300,4500 as those are both economical.

Basically at $1500 for a hardtail anything you find will fit what you want.

Giant xtc

$1500 would be more like Stumpjumper territory-the Stumpy comp would be an excellent bike for the money.

Get the red one!! Cause everyone knows red bikes go faster.

Try a Stumpjumper, trek 8000, or a Fuji Sundance http://fujibikes.com/mountain/bike.asp?category_short_name=mtb&myArray=24,21,22,25,23,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,37,38,40,41,42,34,32,39&myArrayID=20# (Sundance)

If you get the first two i suggest swapping out the brakes for some disc brakes straight from the git-go, especially if you're gonna be riding downhill for any longer than 1 minute at a time.

Stumpjumpers weigh about 23.5lbs and the Sundace weighs in at 24.7 with magura julie disc's. Both are pretty lightweight for $1500.

Thanks guys. I'll check out all those suggestions. Anybody know anything about Sintesi? They're Italian. That't about all I know. Not much about them on the web. Maybe a more recognised manufacturer is a better bet.

You cant go wrong with Specialized. Kona makes some pretty intense stuff too. www.konaworld.com

Read this:

http://www.mtbreview.com/hotnews/racing/rpr062.shtml

I know nothing about sintesi. It sounds like a road bike company name and the company might be crossing over. They could also be a rebadged company but either way I would go with Kona :D...

cant go wrong with Kona. Im a proud new owner and they give you the most for your money well not giving anything up either.

Almost every manufacturer makes a decent bike to fit your criteria. $1,500 will buy you a very nice lightweight XC hardtail. Most will be aluminum frames, and you should be in the sub-25lb range. The biggest differences will not be with the frames, but with the components. Wheels and Forks will be the most diverse. If you want lightweight and you are under 190 lbs. I'd look to a air sprung fork. With what you've described about your planned use, I wouldn't get a fork with more than 100mm (4") of travel. If you can find one that adjusts from 80 to 100 mm, that's a good way to go.

Wheels will have a diverse range of quality. You'll probably find most bikes now will have the "Tubeless" option. My personal riding style mandates Tubes, but you may decide you like the tubeless option.

The big question you've got to ask is, "to Disc or Not to Disc?". At $1,500 you'll see a lot of manufactuer's providing disc brakes. Their weight is coming down, but unless you ride in really mountainous regions or muddy/wet conditions all the time you may find you don't really NEED discs. However, make sure your frame has a disc mount in case you decide to upgrade at a later date. If it were me, I'd go ahead pay the little extra for weight and costs and go discs.

Good Luck!
L8R