As you will be able to tell I'm a newb tring to get into biking. My family of 5 all have yardsale and walmart bikes. We have been riding around town everyday for the last 4 or 5 months. We have came up with a plain to upgrade all the bikes to "bike shop bikes" and take to some of the local singletrack trails. So we started looking at the LBS's, reading books and on the web. I think we have all rode atleast 2 or 3 bike each but I'm still not sure if ones better then the other. The 3 kids (5,8 and 13) really like them all and don't care about much more then looks and a new bike. Although my 13 YO did say he liked the feel of one bike over the other. So far my list for me is about 13 or so bikes from 6 different builders. I myself can tell alittle different between bike but nothing good or bad.

What am I looking for in a bike when I test ride it?
Are all bike frames equal in this price range?


So far I rode;
Specailized hardrock disc
Specailized hardrock disc 29
Felt Q520
GT Avalanche disc 2.0

Some I still want to look at;
Kona Lana'l
Scott Aspect 40
Scott Aspect 29
Gaint Revel
GT Karakoram 2.0