Really? I heard that mongoose really stepped it up this year but we have a giant dealer down the street so i'll check that beast out. Would it be better to get hydrolic rear suspension or the mini coilover looking type?
All major bike companies use air or fluid rear suspension. Only "Walmart" brand bikes use coil springs. Mongoose, while having a high end line of bikes, does the bulk of their sales in the low end through places like Walmart and Target which totally screws the dealers that actually carry Mongoose's higher end models.
In a good, bike shop quality bike, you will get the support of not only the brand's warranty, but also the bike shop itself (usually in the form of free tuneups for a period of time and discounts on parts/accessories). A professionally assembled and tuned bike is something that people miss out on when they bargain hunt. There is nothing more satisfying than riding a well tuned bike, trust me.
What I would recommend for you is do a bit of
research about a few brands, like Trek, Specialized, Giant, Fuji and GT and find some local dealers. Go in knowing what bikes you want to look at and ask to ride them, you should have no problem getting test rides. After you ride a selection of bikes, go home and make a list of things you liked about each bike and a list of things you didn't like. Usually, there are one or two bikes that really stick out and then go ride them again.
Once you make your decision go in and see if the shop will negotiate on prices; some will, some wont. If they do negotiate, they will have a low end retail price that they wont go below, and its usually around 10-15% lower than the advertised retail price depending on how big the shop is.
The bigger the shop, the lower their prices. Push them a little bit (its like buying a car) and you will usually have no problems saving some bucks.
All of this advice comes from my more than 2 years of sales experience in 2 veryyyyy different shops and I hope it helps anyone who is in the market for a new bike.
