he carries specialized, has the comp edition, but said that he didnt order the basic edition because his rep told him blah blah blah blah...

oh well i'm still leaning to the bruiser tho :D

I can understand his reason for not carrying the base Rockhopper though. For the same money you can get a Hard Rock with disk brakes (forget if it was Pro or Sport Disc). Anyway, what happens when junior walks in with pops is that he goes for the bling disks over the v-braked Rockhopper because he hasn't taken the time to research this forum.

??? i was under the impression the hard rock was a higher model than the rockhopper!

Maybe you're thinking Stumpjumper.

Anyway, I think the Hard Rock is more of a general bike (a little XC, a little UA) whereas the Rockhopper is a XC bike.

Is the Hardrock higher over Rockhopper? I don't think so although I'm sure you can get a fully loaded Hardrock with better bits than a base Rockhopper. However the cheapest Hardrock is $350 USD but the cheapest Rockhopper is $500 USD according to the Specialized.com web site.

There are a lot of Hard Rock owners on this forum but fewer (or less vocal) Rockhopper owners. I think it's an age/demographic thing. I think younger people lean more towards the Hardrock and older (and wiser) farts like me lean towards the Rockhopper.

Go to the Specialized web page and read up on the specs. Come back here and read about what's considered good stuff and what's junk in terms of components. If you go back to about page 16 or 18 of this forum I have a chart comparing the components within a given price range (about the same as yours) that includes some Hardrocks and Rockhoppers. Rockhopper came out ahead IMHO.

okay thanks santiago for your help

ill go back and see if they have any hardrocks... though i still like the bruiser :D

Then go test ride it. If it fits your style of riding then go for it.

If you're going to go look at Hardrocks, I would advise to go for the Rockhopper v-brake. My own thoughts after asking all the questions on this thread led me to that conclusion. Raiyn's own recommendation given the short list I gave him was for the Rockhopper and his opinion is one you can count on (crabby or not :p ).

Assuming that I am allowed to venture into the dark, serious world of singlespeed mtb's in this post, and further assuming that the Redline Monocog and the KHS solo-one are pretty much the only singlespeeds in this post's price range, does anybody have a preference and why? Does the 'soft-tail' rubber thingy on the solo-one suck or rule? I sold my old Super-V 500 to a buddy and am getting the mountain itch again but i wanna singlespeed. Thanks in advance.

I've looked into bikes before this, I've also built computers, remote controlled cars, cooked food, and other such DIY activities.

This is what I've learned from all prior experiences- There is no one "best" solution, it's mostly a matter of opinion. There is fact which might support one opinion (in terms of better or worse components) but that doesn't necessarily make it right for another person to purchase the same thing.

As of now, I plan to buy the Kona Hahanna simply because I like the company (Kona), and I have 600 dollars to spend, but I also want to get all the accessories with it.

I'm a novice rider, going to be going on trails, but also biking around town and around college.

Now, I keep checking back and forth between the different bikes, but it doesn't seem, to me, that any bike is substantially better than the Hahanna within the 600 price range, and I might as well go for the hahanna and get my water bottles/tools/packs/whatever and have some money to spare... unless someone can recommend a bike which just completely outperforms it within 600 bucks?


P.S.

How could anyone NOT love the Kona company? Look at this bike description of theirs:

"With this model, Kona once again reclaims the longest model name in the bike industry. So to go along with this much sought after achievement, we’ve also thrown in one of the coolest bikes we’ve ever made. Yes…we used the word “Cool”. Once again, moving towards the unconventional."

I have a quick question. I'm thinking about selling my old bike and opting for a new one. I'm wondering what kind of hardtail would suit me. I'm probably only going to do mild trail riding, about twice every month or two. I mostly ride around town and do some ramping with my friends. I also have alot of off-road area around my house that my friends and I race in. It needs to be able to take a bit of abuse also. I was thinking about getting a Kona Fire Mountain or Specialized Hardrock Disc. This will be my first serious mountain bike, and I'd like it to last till atleast my freshmen year in high school (I'm only 12). I'm also probably going to give it to my little cousin when I out-grow it.

Thanks for your time,
Knuckles

EDIT:
I'm considering the GT Chucker 1.0 too.

yo...i just got mike bike two days ago and it's awsome....it was $539 can so good deal....it's a Trek Bruiser 1 has an unbelievable frame on it...and almost every component is Bondager. the only problems you MIGHT have is whith the fork....(if you like soft forks that this one is not so good but it does gave 120mm trav.) and mebe minor problems with the crank it's a suntour but i biked for about a day and did some heavy drops....held out just fine

I was very impressed with a Raleigh M80 that I saw today.

http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?...temid=208&va=0

The components are excellent and it cost about half ($650) of what a comp. Trek would.

I'm close to you but didn't realize you meant only the basic rock hopper which may or may not be true. They carry teh comp edition at least, that's for sure.

I just picked up my Rockhopper last week, and I am most definitely satisfied with it. Of course, my last bike was an early '90s Huffy Canyon that was almost dead when I got it 7 years ago...
The RH is definitely a nice bike, even at the base model, I have no complaints (other than a poor job of tuning it by the LBS)

(And by the way, I'm 18, so it's not just the old farts that go for the Rockhopper!)

what area are you from? i'm north of toronto

I am currently looking to upgrade to a better bike than the one i have. I recently began riding down trails with heavy ruts. A friend of mine has a k2 that cost about $800. It has full suspension. He is able to hit the ruts at a much higher speed than me. I am looking for a full suspension bike that will make make the ride a little more tolerable on these trails for around $400. Some sections are long and steap and begin to wear on the wrists after a lot of breaking and i was wondering if disks breaks would help this. I know nothing of the brand names of bikes. I saw that the Jeep cherokee classic bike has disc breaks and full suspension, and was wondering peoples opinions on this. Also i was hoping to find out if there was anything similar but better in this price range.

Ok, In the market for a ~400$ MTB so I stopped at the LBS and rode a trek 4500 and a rockhopper. Heres my question, when riding the 4500 it felt all wrong as if the tire was flat, an odd combination of slightly slugish but moreso very twitchy. The tires were aired up by the ssalesperson just before i hoped on for the test ride so it isnt the case. On the contrary the specialized bike rode fine, so i guess i can rule out the fact that im out of riding shape). Tread on the tires was similair so was that feeling the difference in "geometry"'s affect that is so often described (yeah im a self-proclaimed noob), or just a crappy fork/setup (rs judy). Just wondering before i write the bike off. Thanks in advance.

--C

Sounds more like the sizing than anything. You say it felt sluggish eh? How was your knee positioned on the bottom of the pedal stroke. The bike might've been set up incorrectly for you or was the wrong size, or you just don't like the geometry. But since the two are very similar, I find it hard to believe.

But yeah, some people can detect geometry changes with a lot more sensitivity than some so the Trek might be the wrong bike for you. Try one out at a different LBS and if it still feels sluggish than it probably is.

I posted a few questions a few days ago here and thought I would update.

You all will be pleased to know that the LBS did it's job in convencing me to go a little farther up the food chain so to speak, and I now own a Trek 4500 WSD. Really they didn't have to do much convencing as the other treks do not come in a size that would fit me properly (I need a 14-15.5 frame) and the Gary Fishers were too long for me. I did try the specialized, but just did not like it (nor did I want the Aceras or to put any more $$$ into it to go up a model in the specialized).

I took it for the first short ride today (I have to get back in shape now) and although it was road only I am thrilled with it! Perhaps it's just because I haven't had a new bike (or one that's been cared for) in 8yrs, but it is amazingly smooth and the shifting is phenominal (I know, not compared to what most of you ride, but don't go telling me that I haven't had a bike that shifted right in a long time :)). I can see where the complaints about the pedals come in, but I figure that's a relatively cheap upgrade if I find I can't stand them.

I've been looking for a good bike around this range, and i do a little XC, urban, and a little dirt jumping stuff, so i went to my LBS and decided on the Specialized P.1. It comes singlespeed with disc brakes in the back but no front brakes, but i plan to upgrade it eventually. Also, it isnt too heavy and the frame seemed nice. I just wanted to get peoples opinions on this.
Thanks

Finally made to a LBS today. They didn't carry Trek and I forgot to ask about Specialized, but they had a Giant Yukon for $469. It comes with both front and rear disk breaks and a 4-inch front travel. It looked like a beauty to me (stylewise, I don't know much about the components), and I was wondering if anyone has any experiences/suggestions on this. I checked out some other sites and it has pretty good reviews with prices ranging from $400s to $600s. Thanks!

i didnt buy it, but its what im leaning most towards. and if i didnt mention it, its the A1, not the Cr-MO

all help would still be appreciated.





P.S. if anyone knows anything about the Marzocchi EXR Comp fork on it thatd help too.

By the way, for anyone else out there seeking information, I found the Mountain Bike Review (www.mtbr.com) to be extremely useful. They have user reviews of virtually every bike model, including price/shop purchased, and the more popular models usually have 30-40 reviews.

I posted here a while back but never got an answer. Here are my riding needs, slightly edited from my last post. Riding needs:

I'm probably only going to do mild trail riding, about three times a month. I mostly ride around town and do some ramping with my friends. I also have alot of off-road area around my house that my friends and I race in. It needs to be able to take a bit of abuse also. I was thinking about getting a Kona Fire Mountain or Specialized Hardrock Sport. Maybe a a GT Chucker 1.0 would get the job done?