Mountain Bikes

[Macanudo]

Trek vs. Gary Fisher vs. Specialized vs. Kona... Who makes the best? Is it a matter of personal taste?

I kind of dove right in and bought a Trek 4300 and splurged with the disc brakes. Rode it last night for about 45 minutes and love it. It rained all day today so I'll have to wait til tomorrow to go at it again. There are quite a few trails around Ft. Wainwright so I'm pretty psyched about riding hard while the weather is good.

 

[idigTexas]

Personal taste.

If I'm not mistaken, Trek and Gary Fisher are owned by the same company at some level, and they have similar value points as a result. I ride a Gary Fisher Big Sur myself, though I wish I had paid a few hundred more for the 29.

Of the major brands, my personal opinion is that you pay more for the Cannondale name than the others. Some of their models do have some unique features, but in most cases, you pay a steep premium for little extra value (unless you place a lot of value in a frame decal).

 

[ths71]

You are up near Kona country now. They make great bikes and were one of the pioneers of Joe Murray's sloping top tube design. They are also great guys and were one of the early industry leaders in promoting trail advocacy.

I have one of their '91 custom steel hardtails that I still ride. The frame has won a Texas State Series championship and a Cactus Cup and is still going strong.

 

[Macanudo]

After looking at prices and such, that's kind of what I figured with Cannondale. I found it odd that Trek doesn't get rated by some of the MTB mags. But I chalked that up to some internal bickering.

 

[notreally]

All you listed make good bikes. The fact is that the only thing they make are the frames. So, any Trek can be exactly the same as any Specialized except for the frame (when speaking of hardtails). When you get into full suspension is when you start talking about better engineering etc.

One of the things about Cannondale that is unique is their suspension. While all the other makers go with established companies (Fox, R/S, Manitou), Cannondale keeps trying to do their own thing. Like one of their bikes has the front suspension built at the top of the fork, right below the tube. Another (the jekyll?) has the one arm fork which looks pretty cool.