Originally Posted by DemonPig

Unfortunately $400-$500 (US) is absolutely all I can afford. And since that is the case I don't see how dumb is it to compare few bikes in this price range, hoping that someone else might have knowledge about these particular models and might alert me as to its faults or qualities. They are better than dept. store bikes, right? Which ones are an inch better and which ones are 2 inches?

The major variation seems to be disc brakes or no disc brakes (aside from the FS on K2). I was wondering if these disc brakes are worth anything or should I stick with v-brakes.

P.S.

Yes, I know that there's a $500 bike thread on here but most bikes described in it are well above and prices in Canada are a little higher, too.

P.P.S.

Specs of bikes on American web sites seem to differ from the models available in Canada.
For example: Iron Horse was supposed to have Marzocchi forks while in fact it has Rock Shox.
I was unable to find a good local site with reviews of bikes that I'm interested in.