mkwdrs

5’11” and 290 pounds. Looking for a mtn bike type of bike to

1) put slicks on to ride with young son on pavement
2) ride local mtn bike trail. It is rated “easy” by some local mtn bike association. As a beginner, it is rough to me. The trail does not really have any jumps or anything like that. It is just really bumpy due to erosion, rocks, roots, etc.

I prefer a fork that has lockout as I prefer to lockout the front fork when riding on pavement. I do NOT want an overly aggressive riding position since I will use the bike to ride with my young son who rides very slow.

I have chosen the Hardrock Sport as a starting point. I am not familiar enough with Jamis to know which of their bikes would compare to the HardRock.

Which bikes are comparable to the HardRock as to 1) price range and 2) level of bike?

Local stores carry Giant, Jamis, Fuji, and Cannondale.

bautieri

If you wander on over to the manufacturers websites you will be able to find that information out pretty quickly.

Now, the Hardrock is an excellent starter mountain bike. It also happens to be the clyde/athena house bike (so to say) with many people on this forum activly riding or having owned one. Myself included. You can't really go wrong with it. Off hand I don't think it comes with a lockout fork, but no bikes in that price range will. However, the most imporant thing for you to do is to go to the bike shops and test ride everything in your price range, buy the one that feels best to you.

Also check out the Giant Rincon.

LongT

The Hardrock Sport 29er has a lockout fork. I just bought one. Don't know about the "plain" Hardrock Sport.

Bill

flip18436572

The best thing is go to the LBS' in your area and tell them what you want. Then the one that treats you the best and you feel comfortable with is the one you should go with. Then try the bikes out and find what is comfortable for YOU, and not what I like or anyone else likes. I have a hardrock that I bought used for $100 with a mag trainer and 4 sets of tubes. I had to make some setup changes to make it more comfortable to me.


I own Jamis, because that is what my LBS carries and he is great to deal with. If I was in Jackson, TN, I would own a Trek, because of the great LBS down there that helped me out.

TinyBear

I am almost the same size as ya. Im 6' 285lbs and i went with a Giant Boulder SE. Been super happy with the bike. I added a side stand, bar ends, and a wider seat(as i like to call it a FAT ASS seat).

No troubles with the bike so far had a ton of fun riding last summer and cant wait for next spring.

The forks dont have lock outs though and i sometimes wish they did but for the most part they work well enuff. Done a bit of mild offroading and i dont think i am bottoming them out. even did a SMALL jump (dont do that damn near went into a tree LOL) and the bike is still true and everythings fine (dealer checked it out).

BEST bike by far i have ever owned thats for sure but then again thats not saying much only ever had big box store bikes

sk0tt

I would not recommend a giant, they would not help me with a faulty bike they sold.

mkwdrs

Help me with terminology. The 2010 Hardrock Sport mentions "mechanical LO" in the descritpion of the fork. Does that mean the fork can be locked out manually? It seems to mention "preload adjust" in a different part of the fork description.

Thanks In ADvance

mkwdrs

Does the 2010 Hardrock Sport have eyelets for a rear rack? And fenders too?