This bike is getting a lot of smearing but compared to most entry level bikes at a shop its a bargain. Entry level at a shop is now well over 300, won't have any difference in front suspension, will have 7sp, freewheel, and potentially lower or the same quality of shifters/derailleurs. For example
Here is trek's 530.00 piece of crap
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...ode=greenlight sorry but tourney sucks big time at every level it comes in, microshift is worlds better.
You'll drop 600 on a specialized to roughly break even
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ro...=319889-199591 note, same fork and also uses microshift 8sp.
Giant at 477.00 on sale is an improvement over trek
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/atx-2022 but with 7sp freewheel, also using microshift, and
v-brakes.
300 for a GT coming out of the same/similar chinese factories, all using the same 28mm stanchion Suntour xce fork, and being 8sp with cassette which only specialized has on their lowest end which is also the highest priced of the low end hardtails the GT is nothing to turn up your nose at for a budget bike buyer. Although I wouldn't want to take it to the local black diamond, it and the specialized are the only ones with double wall rims making it one of the two more durable options. Only thing working against the GT in my opinion, is the fact that someone from Dicks put it together. I worked for the company for 4 months before moving on to a real shop and what people would put out on the floor as built would concern me greatly if it was my loved one riding it.
Its only nice entry level if you have the money, otherwise its upper mid-level, since deore is usually true mid-level but there's still the high level XT and XTR above SLX. But if you're dropping the cash for MTB AXS components you've got the cash for SLX to be entry level. I've outfitted my 3 kids', road/cross bikes with Rival AXS and still consider the MTB versions to be shockingly and inexplicably over priced.