hardtail for $800 or less

[Crinkle]

My neighboor, who has hooked me up with some help on my house, is asking me for some suggestions for a hardtail under $800. So far I have come up with

Gary Fischer Hoo koo e koo
GF Tassajara
Giant Rainer
Jamis Kamodo


anyone with any suggestions/experiences plug em in here.

He is looking to do some light XC trail riding. Nothing super for this price....obviously. But as good as i can help him get for the price. Trying to hook a brother up.

thanks mang

[UTdave]

Specialized rockhopper/ rockhopper comp.

[snow_slider]

A buddy of mine in the same situation as your neighbor has the Ranier and loves it.

I know Jamis puts out good bikes for the money, but I don't have any first hand experience with the Kamodo.

I'm not familiar with the other two bikes either.

[Grange]

I've always been an advocate of buying something used for $800. If your budy is serious about mountain biking its hard to get something good for that price. If he wants something new then the Fishers you meantioned are nice choices.

[tibaher]

I got about 15,000 miles on my hoo koo, mostly on road, and I love it. Still going strong with normal wear and tear replacements. Great bike for the money. However I would tell your friend to spend his 8 bills on a FS ride and upgrade componenets as they wear out. I think you can get into a K2 or a Janus for about that price... or I could be totally wrong, but it is worth looking into. Even a used FS ride is a better choice than a hardtail IMO.

[schuss]

under a grand: try to get a hardtail, you'll get better components. Tell him to look at last years models, I got a screaming deal on a Sugar 4+ from '03 for 875 (retail is 1300).

[Crinkle]

yeah well he didn't take my advice, went out on his own and got a Raleigh M60 for something like $360. He'll never be hardcore.

[snow_slider]

Crinkle - no worries. A buddy of mine bought the Raleigh M80 a few years ago and he's had good luck with it. Granted, he's not the most advanced rider out there, nor does he want to be.

[Crinkle]

I hear ya SS. It will probably suit his best interest in the long run, he keeps having talks of going riding with me, not on that bike he won't. He probably won't ever go on anything besides a smooth doubletrack or cinder trail.

[snow_slider]

The first comment I always mention to someone when they hit me up for first time bike recommendations is: "Seriously ask yourself how much and where you plan to ride. If you're gonna want to ride technical trails, a low end bike will be heavy, will break, and won't shift/brake well. You'll end up frustrated and not liking mountain biking."

Be wary of not respecting folks on low budget bikes though, they could always be sandbagging you. There's one guy that rides with my group sometimes who converted a fully rigid Huffy to singlespeed. He even kept the kickstand on it. He just loves pulling that bike off the rack and watching the smirking faces of other mountain bikers, then whipping them on the trail.

[Grange]

Originally posted by snow_slider

There's one guy that rides with my group sometimes who converted a fully rigid Huffy to singlespeed. He even kept the kickstand on it. He just loves pulling that bike off the rack and watching the smirking faces of other mountain bikers, then whipping them on the trail.

Now I would love to see that bike. I had a Huffy bmx as a kid and I put that thing through more hell and any other bike in the neighborhood and it still out lasted all the expensive bikes.

[snow_slider]

Yeah, teh bike is a tank. It must weigh over 45 pounds. My buddy doesn't "look" like a good rider - that is to say he doesn't look fit at all, but the guy can hammer endlessly.

[schuss]

sometimes its pure enthusiasm too. Back when I started riding, a kid came on the shop rides with us with a huffy and blew us all away, despite breaking all the time. He was so psyched about mountain biking that he didn't care how much it weighed or sucked.