Howdy,
My first post (!), and it seems to have a simular subject as many other first-time posters here 🙂
I recently moved to small town in Sweden, in which i got heavily interested in MTBing (again, used to ride when i was a kid) as the landscape here is awesome (and new for me; coming from Iceland we hardly have a tree on the whole island). I soon realized that my old Mongoose SX6.5 maybe wasnt the best bike around, and started looking for upgrades... A new fork, new pedals, probably new brakes... the list kept getting longer, so in the end i began thinking of a new bike.
I've been looking around in online webshops in Sweden and found a few bikes I'm very intrested in and I would realy appreciate if you could give me your opinion on them...
The budget i'm thinking of is around $1000-$1500, which hopefully will get me a decent bike, and since many shops have sales on 2003 models, I'm trying to move (too?) fast.
These are the bikes I've seen so far (and been interested in): (US $)
Kona Kula @ $1350 http://www.konaworld.com/2k3/2k3_kula.cfm
Kona Kahuna @ $990 full-suspension http://www.konaworld.com/2k3/2k3_kahuna.cfm
Specialized Rockjumper @ $900 http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkModel.jsp?san=03RockhopperINTL&bl=mountain
Specialized Rockjumper full-suspension @1399 http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkModel.jsp?san=03RockhopperFSR&bl=mountain
Scott Comp Racing @ $1320 http://www.scottusa.com/product.php?UID=3672
All bikes are with V brakes, something I'd have to upgrade. (any suggestions? 🙂
A shop in Stockholm also recommended 2 other bikes... Crescent hardtail with XT gears and XT disc breaks @ $1490, and the second bike a Crescent hardtail with LX gears and Deore disc brakes @ $1300. But not knowing Crescent at all, i'm not sure if I should go for them.
I'm mostly riding XC, with a few exceptions on road trips. The landscape here (Sweden) is mostly forest, so a full-suspension is tempting (root's anyone? 🙂 ... but i'm still a bit nervous of changing... Also I keep dreaming that maybe i could compete a bit next summer (assuming i get into shape this winter... lotsof work there 😉
I'd welcome all inputs on this 🙂... Maybe i'm moving too fast, being a newbie, but it's all too tempting :P