allgeek

Hey Guys,

I have recently placed myself on the path towards a new mountain bike, and
after numerous hours of comparing specs and components I believe I have narrowed
it down to a few choices and would love to receive some input. I am down to a
couple selections from both Trek and Gary Fisher, both in the 2009 lineup. I
also have a few questions as well.

The Gary Fisher Choices are:

Marlin Disc ($849.99 CAD)
Piranha ($999.99 CAD)
Tassajara ($1149.99 CAD)

The Trek Choies are:
6000 ($899.99 CAD)
6500 ($1199.99 CAD)

I am financially comfortable with all those selections, I find I am in a loop
trying to determine best bang for dollar as far as components and asthetics.

I have test drove the trek 6000 and been informed the 6500 should ride VERY
similar minus the hydrolic disk brakes. I will be test driving a GF over the
next couple of days.

I guess my first few questions are as follows:

On the Piranha, GF indicates that the SRAM X5, R&F Derailleurs and Shifters
are an upgrade over that of the Deore M531 Series (Standard Deore?), but
then on the Tassajara they upgrade the rear derailleur to the SLX but bring
the front derailleur back to the diore? Is this a downgrade? Trek does the same
with the 6500.

Another big thing that jumped out at me was that the Marlin Disk, 6000 and 6500
all have the Shimano M442 Octalink crank, but the higher end offerings from GF
change to the M428 from the Piranha up. I can't find any information online
as to weither this is an inferior crank to the M442, any advice would be helpful.

As far as the breaks, both the 6500, Piranha, and Tassajara all have the Shimano
M486 hydrolic breaks. How do these compare to the Avid Juicy 3? And are either
that much of a difference from the Avid BB5 mech brakes on the Marlin Disc and 6000?

I guess after riding the GF I may be able to make an informed decision regarding the
ride. Any criticism, advice, details, experiences would be greatly appreciated. I
will provide a few of the tech details below for the bikes, for those who might be
more willing to reply if they don't have to google it

Marlin Disk,
Shimano Deore M530 Shifters, Shimano Deore M531 Rear & Front Derailleur, Shimano M442-L crank,
Avid BB5 mech disc brakes. RockShox Dart 2 Fork. Shimano M475 6 bolt disk hubs, Bontrager Ranger rims. Bontrager Jones XR tires.

Piranha,
SRAM X5 Shifters, SRAM X5 Rear & Front Derailleur, Shimano FC-M428 crank, Shimano M486 hydro
disc brakes. RockShox Tora SL Coil fork, Shimano M495 CenterLock disc hubs, Bontrager Ranger disc rims. Bontrager Jones XR tires.

Tassajara,
Shimano Deore 530 Shifters, Shimano SLX M662 Shadows rear derailleur, Shimano Deore 531 Front
derailleur. Shimano FC-M428 crank, Shimano M486 hydro disc brakes. RockShox Toral SL Solo
Air fork. Shimano M495 CenterLock disc hubs, Bontrager Ranger disc rims. Bontrager Jones XR Tires with 60 TPI aramid folding bead???

6000
SRAM X5 Shifters, SRAM X5 Rear & Front Derraileur, Shimano M442 crank, Avid BB-5 mech disc breaks, RockShox Dart 3 fork. Shimano M475 disc bugs with Bontrager Rangers rims. Bontrager Jones XR tires.

6500
Shimano Deore shifters (pretty sure 530). Shimano SLX rear derailleur, with Shimano deore front
deraillaur (530 again...). Shimano M442 crank. Shimano M486 hydro disc brakes. RockShox Tora SL Coil fork. Shimano M535 centrelock disc buhs with Bontrager Ranger rims. Bontragger Jones XR tires.

Thanks in advance for any help, please ignore attrocious spelling

Scott

prisoner6

I'm looking at the same bikes and have many of the same questions. What did you end up with?

Duce97

Other than a few odd and ends those bikes are all very simular...pick the one that fits you best and you feel the best riding on.

The diferance in what parts they put on those bikes is small. You can tell that by the price . Unless we are talking about picking from the shimano xtr line and a Shimano M442 it doesnt really matter much.

If it was me id take the 6500 , thats just my opinion though. Any of the bikes you have listed there are good bikes...like i said up top just get one that fits you and fits you well.

Ka_Jun

Piranha, Tass, & 6500 have Toras.

Duce97

Im not a big fan of the toras, they squeek and i havent talked to anyone yet that has gotten 100mm travel out of em most guys i talk to say they cant get it past 80mm but is is an entry level air shock and much shouldnt be expected of them.

Ka_Jun

Piranha & 6500 are coil.

Duce97

heh didnt even notice i seen tora sl and just figured they were the air....

DaJMasta

But Toras are certainly a step up from the dart 2 and 3..... which I'm kinda surprised they still offer on bikes with those pricetags.

As for brakes, the hydros will have a different feel to them.... smoother braking curve and a bit more overall stopping power. They're an upgrade from BB5s, for sure, but BB5s are solid. I'm a little surprised there's no BB7 offerings, but I guess hydros are the flavor of the month. It could matter that the shimanos are offered with centerlock rotors and hubs, but the spec sheet says they are compatible with either.



On paper, I'd go with the piranha..... just because you get the tora coil and hydros with X.5s (I've had good experiences with sram), but if you don't have a problem with the price of any of them I would go based off of feel.

When you test bikes make sure you try a tora fork as well, and if you can try the tora air and coil variants. Most of the shifting hardware and such will feel the same, but the sizing, the brakes, and the fork will all contribute heavily to the feel of a bike, and will probably comprise a fair bit of it's price.

allgeek

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all your help. I thought I would post my decision results I ended up stuck at the end between the Trek 6000, 6500 and the Piranha. I had to eliminate the Tassajara just because of the baby blue colour. I wonder if anyone else did the same in their decision. Would be an interesting marketing survey. As strange as it sounds I went with the 6000 only because of the asthetics. I figured I could forgive myself for not getting the upgraded hardware, but would have hated myself for buying a bike which I hated the look of. I ended up doing a small barter job and swapped the BB5s for Juicy5s. I think the first upgrade will be the fork in the next year or so. I am very happy with my decision. And for anyone else wondering, they all felt roughly the same on the road. The coil was far nicer over bumps however. I also don't miss the Shimano Rapid Fire shifter half as much as I thought I would (I loved the index finger/thumb combo). If anyone else is stuck in a similar situation, I cannot stress enough to include the visual look of the bike. You will be riding this for years. The one that makes you go WoW, even if it's not the mid range one. Buy it. You can upgrade componenents later. The veterans may not agree with me on this, but you have to love your bike. There is no point in having a really nice bike if you detest it

Duce97

Congrats on the new bike! Ride it like you stole it and just replace the stuff you want to has it wears out!

steve alanko

Allgeek, i know its 8 months after your decision, just wondering how the season of riding treated you? I'm doing the good BB'er thing here and using the search function and found your thread.

I'm currently looking at exactly the same bikes as you, all on close-out from 2009, except I eliminated the Treks - bang for buck the GF seems to have better components. I 100% second the "you have to love your bike".

I'm still considering the Tassajara, but am hestiant because of the blue. That said, I just sold my old blue bike and have white/blue jersey, helmet and shoes.
I've ruled out the Red Piranha because, well, its red. I found a shop with a silver, but it still has red on it!
The last option is the 2010 Piranha which is the HooKooEKoo brown rootbeer colour which is pretty sweet.

I'm down to the Tass vs. the 10 Piranha. Component-wise the Tass takes it, especially with the upgraded fork and SLX components. Aesthetics, though... its tough.