Twitchology

So REI's having a 20% sale when you use your dividend, and I have a significant chunk of change sitting on mine, so I was thinking of picking up a cheap hardtail.

The Scott's they have at my local REI seem overpriced. The Novara's (housebrand) and K2's aren't exactly competitive either, but with my cut they're a bit more reasonable.

I haven't test ridden yet, so I'm still looking just at specs.

https://www.rei.com/product/47842965....HP_CYCLING_TOC

This guy would be a little over 300 after my cut. Plusses: Deore rear derailleur, decent disc brakes. Minuses: cheap fork, Acera + Suntour upfront.

https://www.rei.com/product/47842970....HP_CYCLING_TOC

This guy looks better, but would be a bit over 400 after my cut...Rockhopper territory. Not sure how it stacks up to the Rockhopper, and I haven't ridden it yet. Discs again, which I don't really care about, but wouldn't say no too.

https://www.rei.com/product/47841255....HP_CYCLING_TOC

Roughly the same story. Ugh...riser bars.

What are the frames like on the K2's and Novara's? Has anyone had lots of trail time with them?

Killer B

I wouldn't knock K2 Bikes myself. The Razorback's as well as some other model's are damn good bikes. I currently still own a K2 Beast & Flyin' Monkey F/S, and love 'em both as much as my '04 Haro. You're simply looking at a low-end model with the Zed. Almost all major brands will have entry level bikes similar to that one....

khuon

The Razorback is a very nice XC FS. They rode a little more balanced than the Evo frames although some of the more "tuned shock"-equipped Evos actually seemed to handle better than the Razorbacks. The Zed is a good hardtail although I admit to not having ridden a recent Zed model. In general, the lower end K2s aren't much to write home about but the 3.0 and 4.0 models are pretty nice bikes and you can usually find them heavily discounted compared to the competition.