School me on mountain bikes

[JJS]

how about a 41lb carbon fiber bike... 41lbs


26" Mens' Technica C5 Carbon All Terrain Bike - Wal-Mart

I would avoid a CF frame bike under $500. That's probably similar to the full suspension Schwinn my friend bought. It practically fell apart after a moderately hard ride.

 

[beaufort-fj60]

I would avoid a CF frame bike under $500. That's probably similar to the full suspension Schwinn my friend bought. It practically fell apart after a moderately hard ride.

that and 41lbs for a carbon bike? wtf.. I had a cadex it was feather light...

 

[uzj100]

These look pretty cool, Yeti Cycles - High End Mountain Bikes

A little pricey but cool.

 

[cary]

These look pretty cool, Yeti Cycles - High End Mountain Bikes

A little pricey but cool.

Yeti make a good product.

At the price point he is talking, his best bet is a decent hardtail from Trek, Fisher, Specialized, Giant, Felt, or Jamis.

 

[koop]

A Gary Fisher Cobia 29er should be in your price range. In the middle of winter you might even be able to deal on a XCaliber.

 

[sk8salomon]

I bought this Fuji Nevada last year which was actually an '06 model for $350. Bare bones bike, hard tail, crappy front shocks, no disc brakes but i've ridden the crap out of it with no problems. Very comfortable and i love the quickshift gears. Most of the guys i ride with have $1000+ bikes and i still outride them.

"its not about the bike" ~ Lance

 

[johnny4ever]

I would avoid a CF frame bike under $500. That's probably similar to the full suspension Schwinn my friend bought. It practically fell apart after a moderately hard ride.

x2 the walmart/target/academy bikes are crap.
Schwinn was sold to Pacific bike and the quality suffered.

I know less about the mountain bikes than some of the avid riders here but for the money Raleigh is really hard to beat. I have put about 400 trouble free miles on my M50DX aluminum hard tail. At a price point of $400.00 the components are definitely not the best but I am not doing sick down hill or severe superman jumps.
M50DX Mountain Bike Raleigh USA Bicycles

 

[Ting]

Pricey....

Specialized: Choose Region + Language

 

[kyoso23]

Specailized for the win, no details needed. Their bikes can never do you wrong.

 

[cary]

Specialized builds great bikes, and offer a fair value at most price points. However, once you get into the $2000+ price range, there are better choices. At $1600 for a cross country bike, the Santa Cruz Superlight is hard to beat. When you hit $3000, start looking at bikes like the Ibis Mojo and Yeti 575. At $3500+ no brainer in my book, build up a Turner or Ventana. Personally, I ride a Titus Hardtail of Turner Burner for mountainbikes.

 

[atoyot]

If your ever going to try anything close to a ride like Downieville then get a full suspension. I did it on a hard tail and it was the craziest thing I've ever done on a MTN bike. Moderate to light trails and street use then a hard tail would be fine.