20 Best Mountain Bike Under $2000 (Feb 2023 Update)

Bike is 1 star REI bike shop is 5 stars Average is 3 stars The bike would not keep the chain on. The bike shop tried shims and tlc, but no luck. I had the bike approximately 4 weeks and took it in 3 times due to the chain refusing to stay on. In the end they accepted it as a return and I got a different bike.Runaway Jim

Speaking as an amateur I think the bike is pretty awesome. I think eventually I'll upgrade the shocks and add a seat dropper. But as far as I'm concerned, good build and would recommend.DangerWilly

Had this beauty in my cart for the longest time and jumped on that cyber Monday sale! Honestly I wish I would have gotten it sooner because it is fantastic. Nice wide handlebars, a pretty darn decent suntour coil fork, hydraulic breaks, and nice big wheels to give you all the confidence you need as a beginner to mountain biking. Arrived mostly assembled and moosjaw did great with packaging. Making sure there would be no damage upon arrival.Peyton gonzo

I have been riding this bike for approximately 2 months and I don't really see the limit of it. I mean I sent pretty much every drop and jump I could find and the only thing that gave up on me was the wheels… This bike is an absolute beast for the price tags. The only thing that limits the hardtail is probably your skills. Yes it's not perfect. I think a 140mm at front would have been better (easy to change the air shaft to 140) yes stronger wheels would have been better instead of 29 33inner mm would have been much stronger and yes a better pads for the rear brakes would have been much much better no idea why but if it's wet I'm losing 85% of my rear brakes. But let's be honest all those upgrade will cost you almost nothing… O I forget if you don't want to ride at 30psi and want something more grippy buy some cushcore. The bike is so capable that you may feel like you are on a full suspension and then your wheels going to hate you so cushcore may help to ride your tyres a bit softer and then have a bit more grip to it! If you question yourself should you buy a SQ3? The answer is absolutely yes.Pierre

Out of the box this bike rips! It truly does do it all. It’s agile and corners like it’s on rails. It’s very flickable and fun on the jump lines. My only complaint is the seat tube is not as slack as I would like riding the long fire roads back up my local trails. But with that said this bike is geared towards going down in the funnest way possible and not XC climbs. I am 5’8” with short legs and a long torso. I am glad I went with the M size frame. The large would have given me a better climbing bike with the longer top tube but I would have sacrificed on the fun stuff with the taller seat tube. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and the support the GovVelo gives to veterans is awesome. Buy one if you can find one!Steven

Dealing with Bicycles on Line an absolute pleasure. Speedy service, great product, competitive price. The Marin San Quentin 3 is an absolute blast. Brought this frame to build as a 'COVID project'; absolutely no regrets. This is a very capable trail bike with modern geo. Paired with quality components it puts a smile on my face every time I take it out. Can't recommend the Marin San Quentin or Bicycles on Line highly enough.Sean S.

It's a Large frame 29 inch tires, relatively wide tires. I use it for trails and typical mountain biking stuff. Great bike on and off road rolling over branches and all kinds of debris. I'm only 5'7 and I can ride this bike easily no issues. I was hesitant to buy it because of the advertised 6'0 height recommendation. I reach the bars comfortably then again I keep the seat post at its lowest position though. Disc brakes are fairly good for what they are. I ride normal and even some steep grades I've gone down. Assembly was easy, package was undamaged and for $228 price that was a great deal for a tall good mountain bike.MrE

Got mine a week ago that was basically half the nearly $500 price that they were initially being sold for.

The bike came quickly, in 2 days. It was well-packed. I have quite a bit of experience working on bikes so assembling it was a breeze. Important! Use caution unpacking the handlebars. On mine I had to remove the fork to get the cables routed correctly, if you do that do it carefully and see that the lower headset bearings remain in place on the fork crown, since I saw a few commenters had issues with this.

The derailleur came pre-adjusted but I noticed the chain they provide is a bit short for my liking. I added 2 links off a spare chain I had lying around, that made a noticeable improvement when shifting to the lowest (largest) gears.

A word about the brakes. Like others, I noticed they were quite weak when test riding. This had been the case on most bicycles that have lower budget mechanical disc setups. But there is an easy way to gain extra braking power and that is to use short-pull brake levers. These levers are made to operate with cantilever or caliper brakes. I immediately swapped the levers during assembly with a pair of short pulls from my parts bin, it made a big difference. You will have to readjust the inner pad to bring the pads closer to the disc, as well as re-center the caliper. The increased leverage of short-pull levers means shorter travel at the brake end. Why bike makers continue to use long-pull v-brake levers with these brakes… beats me. With a pair of these levers and about 20 hard stops to bed in the shoes my brakes work great.

Another thing I decided to check before riding was the bottom bracket. I took it apart and verified that the bearings were adequately greased and at the same time measured the axle shaft and bottom bracket shell width (the part of the frame it fits in) to order a cartridge bracket later on. The bearings the bike come with do have seals and are splined to accept a standard bottom bracket removal tool, which is really unheard of on a box store bike. For the curious the cartridge it takes seems to be a 72 mm by 125 mm. Someone correct me if I am wrong on the measurements. A cartridge bottom bracket is a cheap, easy upgrade that will make your bike much easier to maintain. BTW the crank side bearing cup is left hand thread.

The headset bearings are also worth checking for grease if you have to take off the fork. It's easy enough to fit back together.

I'm not a fan of the steamroller tires so I swapped those for 29 x 2.1. Doing that and removing the kickstand got rid of a bit of weight.

The bike offers a lot for the price I paid for mine ($245 after taxes). I can't even complain about the weight because it only weighs a few more pounds than the old chromoly rigid bikes I was used to riding. You get a micro adjust seat post, larger sized bottom headset bearings, a fork with a lockout, and alloy pedals. The bike also comes with the larger 31.8 mm diameter bars and a narrow-wide chainring.

The fork action is pretty crude but for my type of riding it will do. I read where people were having problems with the lockout breaking, always make sure it is unlocked before hitting the rough stuff. That might prolong the life of the fragile plastic lockout components.

The bike is pretty good out of the box, but some simple cheap upgrades really improve it. Ditch the factory seat, it is horrible. I also installed a longer handlebar stem with more rise.

So in the end I can say this is a sweet deal for under $250. At that price point it gets 5 stars, for the original price it would get 4. I am very happy with the bike. Perhaps the only gripe I have is that it has no rack mounts on the seat stays, which is a bit surprising.Jack Cooper

For the price, this is a very solid bike, with big potential. Out of the box, you will need to put the front wheel on, the pedals, and the seat. You will also need to attach the dropper post cable. During and or after that you will want to make adjustments to everything and ensure all bolts are tight. This is things like adjusting the brake pads, brake cables, shifter cable, derailleur stop limits, dropper post cable, brake lever and shift lever position, maybe even true the wheels, etc (this is standard for any bike you buy that is new). A lot of this you might not need to do, but you might so just keep that in mind with any bike you buy unless it's preassembled from a local bike shop. The few places I feel the bike really cheaped out on are a couple things: The handle bar grips, the seat, the pedals, the brakes, and the tires. The grips are useable but not that squishy. If you don't ride with gloves, it would be worth the $20 for some comfier grips. The pedals are perfectly fine for commute riding. If you plan on doing trails, I would opt for wider / grippier pedals. The seat is not that comfortable. If you plan to use this as a commuter you might want to opt for a squishier seat. I personally don't have a problem with the seat. I think it looks good and is comfortable enough. I don't commute with it so I don't spend that much time on my tush. The tires, while they are cheap cheap tires, it doesn't mean it won't be good enough. I think they're perfectly fine to start with. Rather on the large side that's for sure. Finding tubes for the stock 2.6" wide 29er tire is not as easily available as something like a 2.4" (though you can probably put a 2.4 into a 2.6 and be fine i think?). For regular commute I think the brakes are perfectly fine. If you're constantly mashing on those puppies on the trails are hard core hills in your commute, you might want to consider a hydraulic brake upgrade (but you might be able to get away with better rotors and pads?) For daily commute: the bottom bracket, headset, and forks are honestly just fine. Old school ball bearing style and the fork is a coil fork which will do it's job and absorb some impact. If you plan to hit trails, I recommend replacing the fork with an air fork. Even better if it has rebound adjustment. Something with 100mm of travel or 120mm. Also, the headset is tapered (this is a good thing for future upgradability). And while you're at it, since you're hitting trails, you should replace the crankset with one with an external bearing bottom bracket. This will withstand the abuse better. And since you're replacing the fork, might as well upgrade the headset bearing to basically any sealed style that's not the old school loose ball bearing style. I've done a ton of research into bikes of this class, and this one comes out on top in MANY ways. But Schwinn definitely needed to save money in order to offer a bike at this price.Patrick

I ride moderate trails and wanted to master a hardtail. However, After riding roughly 200 miles my chain snapped on a flat path. When I ride downhill over roots or rocks my chain pops off the gears and my derailleur struggles to shift. I feel a few modifications and investing with some love this could be a good bike but I will more than likely be returning this bike and investing in something that was made with love.Mo27

I just picked up this bike today and rode around the block. I am 5'9" and according to the sizing table I needed a large one. I already have a Cannondale road bike that I bought according to the sizing and returned next day for a medium. So this time I bought a medium. But the medium has 29" wheel (which is a size not too easy to find) as the large one. The bike fits, but barely at the lowest position of the saddle I barelyt reach the pedals (I am thinking swing off part of the stem). Remember, I was sized to large. If you are on the low end of medium, definitely get the small one. Since I do not plan serious mountain biking, but just to ride along the grand kids on dirt roads (my road bike would not take it) I think I will keep it.George

I am just on day 2 of my ride and even tho I LOVE this bike I can already see chain slippage between gears. I’m wondering if this is a rider issue – should I push the gear changers HARDER or is this a product issue. I’m likely going to steer my training toward road eventually so I don’t have to make as many gear changes but I can the clicking sounds when they aren’t catching ….Mick

I received the bike today. First thing noticed was, contrary to what it says in description that it has front and rear disc brake, only the front has disc brake. Rear has just the regular linear pull brake. The assembly instructions are kind of universal; looks like they send the same for all their bikes and leave it to the customer to figure out which section to use. The pictures are confusing and doesn't match the instructions. To make things worse, front wheel axle washers and nuts were missing. I am not keeping it.Praju

The rims arrived damaged and wouldnt fit the bike properly, one of the brake cables were damaged enough to render it useless… the adjustments for the components on the derailleurs are not even close to an accurate adjustment in which case is impossible to adjust properly unless its brought to a bike shop where they specialize in that kind of stuff everyday. also the chain is stretched out or maybe wrong size but it doesn't sit on the gears as it should. the frame so extremely heavy in fact i feel its too heavy in my opinion. I WOULDN'T recommend buying this product without first checking it out in person.Misty

This bike is very appealing to the eye. Nice frame however the front breaks are a real pain. I returned this bike due to it being built improperly. The break line was rubbing aginst the tire. The bike seat was torn and the front breaks rub against the break pads. If you are knowledgeable about bike building and breaks then this will be a great bike of not then buy at store where its already built.Paula

This is a fantastic mountain bike..unboxing was a little tricky but with little patience its easy and pretty straightforward. Just needed a little support with the seat because its quite painful when you drive a long distance seating down. I would definitely recommend to a friend. 90/100 for mefrancidur-2

I'm just an intermediate rider, so this is the perfect bike for me. 9 speeds on the back sprocket simplifies shifting for me. only one shifter to worry about. I didn't like the straight handlebars so I swapped it off for a Noirette Seagull that rises slightly and angles the handlebars back at a nice angle so my hands are at a more comfortable angle and I don't have to reach out and lean over so far. The brake and shifter cables were at the right length didn't require any adjustments. The disk brakes are a thousand times better than my old bike had, and the full suspension pistons are also a thousand times better so I can go faster down a bumpy trail and still feel like I have a smoother control of the bike with brakes that slow me down with just a little bit of pressure on the brake levers..Chris

Great bike! Delivered when promised and assembly went smooth. I did have to get my local bike shop to fine tune my gears, but after that all went great. This is my first full suspension bike and I am really enjoying riding the trails.Michael W.

As someone who is getting older and needs to find a way to exercise more, I tried going to the gym and hated it. I have always loved being outside, so I decided to buy myself a Mtn. Bike. I am glad I did. I have been out riding and, after some initial soreness, enjoy being able to get out and ride the trails again.John W.

Coming from decades of road cycling experience, this is my first mountain bike. I'm fit enough for challenging rides, but little technical experience mountain biking. I purchased this bike to keep the investment low, but enable me to upgrade in the future. I've now gone on many steep, rocky, technical rides and the bike has done excellent. I'm very happy with my choice. I only upgraded to a dropper post at the time of purchase. In the future I'll upgrade the group set as I'd prefer a little more snappiness in shifting, but it performs very well on tough trails. No complaints!Rob C.

You can find a better full suspension MTB in this price range…..insane value for the price. I was frozen in analysis paralysis between the Marin RZ1 vs. the Giant Stance and I couldn't be happier with my RZ1-29er. I'm 6' even and 170-175lbs depending on pizza consumption, so I'm riding size large. I've been running downhill, technical climbs, flow and rump trails, and a bit of rugged XC, and this bike takes it all in stride. Pros: Both the front and rear shock have been more adjustable than I would have expected. The slack head angle makes the slow technical XC trails a little tricky, but it provides huge benefits for climbing and speedy descents. Cons: There really isn't much to dislike, but its worth mentioning that the RZ1 does not come with a dropper post. And the stock seat post is sure long, so you cant lower the seat all the way without cutting the post down significantly. That's an easy process with a hack saw and a file, but you can add a dropper for under $200 if you self-install. Overall, I cant recommend the RZ1 highly enough. If you're in the market for an affordable full suspension MTB then the Marin RZ1 is a smart place to invest your hard-earned coin.Joel

The bikesonline website is very organized and informative, and the online purchase was easy. I got a response to an email question from customer support in a few days. The bike shipped well-secured in a sturdy box that survived unscathed all the way from CA to TN. The bike arrived mostly assembled; I just attached the handlebar, seat post, and front wheel, then added some pedals. I bled the rear brake as the right brake lever was squishy, and I set the fork and shock air pressure/rebound for my granddaughter's weight, but no other tweaks were needed. The Marin bikes are great – I would rather have had a Rift Zone 2 29er but it was unavailable. The Recon Silver fork on the Rift Zone 1 is not my favorite, but overall we love the bike, the customer support, and the simplicity of shopping it.Gary H.

This bicycle is very comfortable to ride, but it's not heavy. It has 21 speeds to choose from. It makes me feel the fun of riding a bicycle. The appearance is so fashionable. I like it and wanna share my experience.rj-depot

I really enjoy it the price is great, and it does the job very well. I ride the bike around he city and to college, and its great. Great product.valdfran_klytc

I have had this bike for a month now and ride it everyday on Florida trails …sandy and rooty. It is everything that you can want… suspension and durability… best money I have spent!Russell Veronda

It’s a solid enough bike at a reasonable cost but does have a couple drawbacks. The breaks are pretty stiff and require a lot of hand force/strength and my 6 year old has so far struggled with getting stopped in short distances. I’m keeping my eyes on him and his ability to ride safely. The chain had a bad/stiff link which caused the bike to skip a link on every revolution of the chain. I was able to use vise grips, a screw driver, a hammer and silicone spray to get the link loosened up to run smoothly but it took a decent amount of time to diagnose the issue and fix it. I had to use an impact driver to get the handlebars tight enough, the supplied tools simply weren’t enough leverage.BRMD

I have had this bike for a month now and ride it everyday on Florida trails …sandy and rooty. It is everything that you can want… suspension and durability… best money I have spent!Russell Veronda