One More Mountain Bike to Investigate

I actually went browsing Giant's website a little more after having a discussion with my friend Chris Funk yesterday. He shared with me that he spent some time managing a bike shop and claimed that Giant carries better componentry for your dollar than other brands. This whole time for some reason I've had the opposite impression. I've felt that it was just a brand you were paying for but after a deeper dive and some investigation, I found a bike to compete in my lineup. Here's a new hardtail contender:

1. 2010, Giant, XTC 1, Black with white and blue accents
   The components are only a 'hair' better than the Tassajara on my previous post. Aesthetically I think its kind of classy, like a tux for mountain bikes. I also think color mods would actually look pretty cool if I try to personalize. As far as looks go, however, I'm still torn between the Tassajara and the XTC 1. I think my next point of investigation is how does the Giant warranty compare to the Gary Fisher warranty and then cross-examine model-specific reviews.

At the moment, this point in time, I'm in-between this bike, the 2010 XTC 1, and the 2010 Gary Fisher, Tassajara.