Mountain Biking - help me pick a new bike

Im looking to get a new bike, my budget is $1500. what should i get. i want full suspension and disk. i was thinking about getting a jamis dakar 1.0 these seem to have a lot of bang for the buck. any other ideas?

What type of riding do you do?

People around here love the Specialized. I've never ridden one, so I can't comment on them. But I'm pretty sure you'll be pointed in that direction :).

What type of riding do you do?
Im sorta new to mountain biking, just done some here and there riding. i will prob do mostly trail riding but i want a versatile bike i can grow into.

a pretty good all round bike is the Specialized Stumpjumpers. With a proven suspension design and geometry that can pretty much handle most everything you'd get yourself into its a good bet. The Jamis is good too, but i'd go towards the stumpjumper

A buddy of mine is looking at the Jamis as well. It's a decent bike with some good components for the price. If you can swing it, the 2.0 is probably a better "Value". Meaning for the components on it, you'd be hard pressed to find a similar bike with the same components for less money.

The ONLY thing I don't like (that's almost too harsh a term), is that the rear pivot is on the seatstay vs. the chainstay. Meaning this is a 4-bar linkage suspension design, but not a Horst 4-bar. I'm a big fan of Horst designs. (Licensed by Specialized).

This is really a minimal issue. The only time it makes a difference is while braking while descending. This design makes the rear suspension stiffen up while braking. This is usually the LAST thing you want to have your suspension do while going downhill. I will add, that the affect is minimal. So really I'm pointing out a very MINOR issue!

IOW, it's a good buy!

L8R

You've probably heard this already, but fit should be the most important aspect. Jamis is known for bang for the buck, as is Giant. You really need to nail down a little more specifically what type of riding you will be doing. Do you see yourself doing drops of any significant height? More downhills than uphills? XC riding or racing? Try to nail down one of these categories, and you won't be compromising on aspects of the bike like handling or amount of travel that might not be the best for your style later on.

As for bike companies to look at once you determine what type of riding you will be doing include Giant, Trek, Specialized, Jamis, etc. Giant and Jamis are well known for great componentry at good prices. You will be pointed at Specialized's a lot as they do have a famous suspension design and are well known. Personally, I think they're overpriced - You're paying to have the big "S" on the headtube.

-Moab



EDIT: Oops, the previous posts got there while I was typing. If you're doing mostly XC riding/trail riding look at the XC or trail riding sections of manufacturer's websites. You'll get an idea of what's out there. Check out ww.mtbr.com for reviews of the bikes and do a lot of research here to narrow down your choices. Remember to look at things like the fork, componentry, wheels, suspension design, and frame reputation.

jamis kicksass. for 1300$ retail you can get the dakota xc thats hardtail & disc that rides so plush you'd swear it was FS