road and trail bike recommendation?

[soth]

I'm looking to buy a bike for use in the city and weekend/evenings on towpaths, cycle routes, the odd forest trail. £300 is about the upper limit to my budget as this will be my first foray into any serious cycling.

At the moment I'm looking at the Specialized Hardrock Sport '07, seen a lot of recommendations for this one, do any owners have anything to say about it?

I'm also looking at Edinburgh Cycle's own brand bikes, they have one called the Revolution Cuillin Disc '06 which is similar in price to the Hardrock along with similar specs on most of the components, but has disc brakes.


Does anyone have an opions on the Specilized vs the Revolution? Or any other entirely different suggestions?

Any info on what I should be looking out for when buying a new bike would be great too!


cheers,
Ciaron

 

[soth]

opted for the Giant XTC SE.

The cheapest I can find the Giant XTC SE is £400, which is £100 more than I can really justify at this stage, plus I'm not convinced the bike is worth it for the extra £100 over the Specialized

 

[soth]

I've decided to extend my price range up to £400, and I've narrowed my choice down to the Giant XTC SE 2007 (£400) or the Specialized Hard Rock Sport disk at £370

Do any of you guys have a preference between these two? or even have any other suggestions at this price range?

Cheers,
Ciaron