a hypothetical situation
Interested in your opinions everyone:
Say you had $300-400 to spend on a mountain bicycle which would have to serve as a general purpose mountain bike. What would you choose?
It might help to note that:
---daily, you would ride this bike to and from work in rainy Seattle.
---daily, you would carry a 10-15 lb bookbag to and from work on this bike
---daily, you would have to climb some righteous hills going either way
The mountain bike aspect is essential (vs a road bike) just b/c, in your daily travels, you not only traverse on road, but often take short cuts through parks, yards, debris-filled alleys, etc, etc.