Mountain Biking - Please help a newbie..

Hey everyone,

Just joined the forum, and just got bitten by the MTB bug! I was in Ecuador for a couple of weeks on an adventure trip that consisted of a ton of biking.....everything from paved road, gravel, dirth paths, downhill, uphill, etc. The trip showed me that I absolutely love biking....

I'm looking to purchase a bike now (good deals in winter?), and could use some advice. My budget including taxes is roughly $500 Canadian (I'm from Ontario).

I've been looking at Silent Sports, and Bike Depot for my bikes, as these 2 stores are very close to me with good reputations. I intend to use my bike mostly on paved road, but would like to start exploring trails in the local conservation areas. So, I'm assuming a MTB would be best.

For my budget, I have found the following that are all relatively the same price:

1. Specialized Hardrock
2. 2008 Giant FCR3
3. Marin Pioneer Trail
4. Giant Rincon

I'd love some feedback on these, or perhaps suggestions on something else altogether. Depending on how things go, I may eventually want to race in triathalons. I know a MTB is rarely used in tri's, but I cannot afford a decent road bike now with a budget of $500. My tri friends have suggested starting with a MTB, and working my way up.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Happy New Years, and thank you.

All bikes listed are pretty good choices for your $500 budget. They will perform reasonably well for riders who take care of the bikes & do not abuse, ride hard on rough terrain, etc. I ride a Giant Rincon & am pleased with it. There is a lot of drag with the wide, knobby tires, but I have an extra set of wheels & thin,smoother, tires , I use for city riding. The extra set was not expensive as they were from a cheaper bike I parted out.

the giant fcr3 is gonna be the fastest on roads, but its gonna be the least versitile, my quick googling showed that it had road style brakes which have very little clearance for bigger tires. So with the fcr3 you will not be able to mtn bike and may have issue putting winterish tires on. If you plan on only riding on roads and maybe a little bit of gravel the fcr3 would be fine, otherwise look at the other 3. Basically you just wanna testride everything and buy what you like the best

The new Hardrocks are fly.That's what I would get..........in orange.

Take a look at Kona in green.

Now is the time to buy leftovers i have seen a few rockhopper comp disc for right at 550 plus tax which is a great deal maybe slightly over what you are wanting to spend. http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2006&Brand=Specialized&Model=Rockhopper%20Comp%20Disc&Type=bike

If you think you will be doing a lot of road riding consider a cyclocross bike, much better on the road than a mtb, ok on smoother trails without a lot of bumps.