Need equipment help from the experts

[mgomez41]

Hey guys ive been really looking into purchasing a good mountain bike i have about a budget of 500-1000 dollars

i wanted your guys advice on what would be a good purchase and what i should look for im completely oblivous so any help would be great

i want to use the bike for mostly off-road like hills and dirt tracks but i will also use it for road sometomes i guess you could break it down to 60% off-road 40% road

thanx in advance

[ODB]

Their are a lot of good hardtail (front suspension only) bikes in your price range. I ride a Gary Fisher Tasajara that I cannot destroy. Giant also makes some good models in that price range.

I highly recommend going down to the local bike shop (LBS) and talking with them. They should let you take a loaner for a dirt ride, offer good advise (that means asking you a lot of questions about what you want to do) and once you decide on a bike that should spend some time with it on a trainer to get it fitted right. Good luck and welcome to the club crazy idiots!

[FishrCutB8]

Check out the reviews and information on this site as well: http://mtbr.com/

Have fun!

[mgomez41]

just keep u guys up to date i went to the mtbr forums ( which is great) and aksed a few questions and i was pointed to a cyclocross but when i went to my lbs they told me that a cross bike would not be able to take some of the punishment im gonna give it so i was referred to mtb w/disc brakes so i can swap the tires when i would commute and when i would mtb which sounded great so i think thats the direction im going and thanx for the help

oh yeah and odb since u adventure race what type of bike do u think is the best for adventure racing

[ODB]

I have used a simple hardtail for all my adventure races. If I were going to buy one strictly for that I would probably go with a hardtail 29" bike. Since most AR's that I do have miles and miles of dirt roads and only a little single track this bike would give me advantages over 26" bikes. Since I like riding single track a lot and do some mountain bike races my next bike will probably be a full suspension 26". They are much better for "bombing" the downhills than the hardtails and can handle sharper turns than the 29".

[mgomez41]

ive settled on the bike im gonna get which is a specialized stumjumper disc (hardtail mtb)

the fork is pretty sweet foxrlt80mm and it weighs just around 25lbs these are the 2 things that made me fall in love with this bike

i plan to get it in about 2 weeks as soon as the taxes come in

thanx for the help guys

[ODB]

Nice! Post a picture when you get it.

[Fitness4Living]

check eBay, theres bound to be a good bargain

[mgomez41]

i tried looking but couldnt find anything but i did find an 04 model about 100 miles away from where i live that i plan to get its about 900usd compared to the 05 which is 1300usd