I prefer the Trek of the two.

Here's why...

Raleigh has disc brakes, which seems like a good thing, but discs on a bike that cheap are usually more trouble than they're worth.

The Trek has a better fork (although neither fork is made for hard off-road riding).

The Trek has better components.

But, that's just my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions....

 

Another Trek vote

At this price point, you want to get the best quality components for the money you spend. Cosmo's point about the discs rings true. While it may seem like an upgrade, the quality of those discs is suck that you'd probably be better off with good V brakes. All in all, I think the Trek wins at the $300 price point.

Best wishes in your choice.

Bob

 

Trek...

...because Trek uses this same frame on all their hard-tail mountain bikes up through the "4xxx" series, so if you wanted to upgrade your bike over time you would have a decent frame to build on.

Another thing to consider is that at this price point you are still very near the entry level and might think about the future. If you really like MTB'ing, or quality riding in general, and if you ever decide to sell your bike for a new ride rather than upgrade, the Trek will have a higher re-sale value, just because it's a Trek.

Happy Trails...

 

I think I'm going to go with a Raliegh bike. The main reason for this is because the bike shop sells them takes trade ins on used bike, I brought in my old BMX bike that I had fixed up back in the day( Three piece cranks, stronger bars, headseat, rims...) and they offered $100 trade in. Which helps me out, so I don't have to go through the hassle of selling it. Soo any which way, now I want to go with this Raliegh bike....
http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?deptid=11&itemid=286&va=0
Do you guys think this is a good deal?
The mojave 5.0 is the same price, but with disc brakes. From what you guys said though this one would be a better deal.
How good of a company is Raliegh? where I live there are Three bike shops, Two sell Raliegh and one Trek. But I don't hear much about it on this site.
Thank you guys for your helpping me out. I don't know much about the Shimano parts, as far as which ones are better(Acrea/Altus).
-Thanks

 

Sounds like

your mind is made up, for reasons that have little to do with which bike is "better". If you can get a better deal for less cash at the Raleigh shop, then go for it.

At this level of bike there is really no point in asking which company is better, apart from their warranty policies. Both the Trek and Raleigh frames are made in some Taiwan/China factory (maybe the same one!) and assembled with components made by mostly the same suppliers i.e Shimano, RST, etc. It's up to you whether the quality of component on a specific bike outweighs the other aspects of your total deal.

Shimano MTB component groups go like this, from lowest quality to highest:
Tourney
Altus
Acera
Alivio
Deore
Hone
Deore LX
Deore XT
XTR

IMO, what you are really buying in this deal is the right price out the door and the relationship you will have with the shop you buy from. Again, both of the bikes you are asking about are at the low end of the quality scale, and if you do any riding harder than graded roads or double track you will soon be needing the service of your local bike shop for tune-ups, parts repacement and maybe warranty work. So the question you must ask is which shop will give me the best service and ofer the best warranty coverage. That is also the one question we cannot answer for you.

 

Why

Are you getting the bike for riding on MILD!! trails and road. Commuting, general fitness, chasing the kids?
A bike like the ones that you've narrowed it down to are perfect for those reasons. They are not good for sporting purposes.
The "value" of the parts is NOT what is important. The "value" of the fitness is more important.
The disc brakes are good for commuting in the rain. And the LARGE front ring is REALLY great for riding on the road. It will strengthen your legs pretty well.
As long as your not riding the hard stuff you should be OK on either or.

I like the Raleigh for the reasons mentioned.

 

Are you getting the bike for riding on MILD!! trails and road. Commuting, general fitness, chasing the kids?
A bike like the ones that you've narrowed it down to are perfect for those reasons. They are not good for sporting purposes.
The "value" of the parts is NOT what is important. The "value" of the fitness is more important.
The disc brakes are good for commuting in the rain. And the LARGE front ring is REALLY great for riding on the road. It will strengthen your legs pretty well.
As long as your not riding the hard stuff you should be OK on either or.

I like the Raleigh for the reasons mentioned.

Looking at the specs of each the Trek has the larger front chain ring, not the Raleigh... If you've never used disc brakes before you won't know what you're missing so they're not a necessity.

And I'm sure most any lbs would be willing to take a Trek in on trade if you wanted to upgrade at a later time (assuming they sell Trek), you just need to negotiate that into your purchase...

 

zing

Trek has the larger front chain ring, not the Raleigh...

DOH! I can't them straight. Let alone what is on my bikes.

 

The main reason I started mountain biking is for fitness, but I get bored on the flat trails. I've been riding at Rocky Ridge once a week for about two months and my current (free) bike is falling apart from the steady flow of basketball sized rocks. I'm really leaning towards the Raleigh 5.5 mohave. which is $350 and it has the Deore shifter and the 80mm shock( the same shock Raleigh puts on their most expensive hardtail) What pulls me away from trek is that they only use alivio shifters on their 4300 Which is a $460 bike. I've been keeping a eye out for a good used bike but they're usually walmart bikes or $1000 dollars or too far away.
-Thanks for the replys

 

Well now

we know what you need the bike to do. Either of the Raleigh's (5.0 or 5.5) are better than the Trek. I'd probably go towards the 5.5 cause of the disc brakes, but it's your call.

I don't know if you have considered an online retailer like Ibex Bikes. Look at this model here: http://www.ibexbikes.com/Bikes/ALP-450-Details.html

I have seen Ibex road bikes in the wild and they look pretty good, their MTB's should be decent and the one I linked to has a fairly good build with a better wheelset and better front fork than either of the Raleighs (you noted "basketball sized rocks, jeez, I avoid those even on my Palomino!) The Ibex bikes get good reviews on MTBR, too.

You don't say what size you need, but good used bikes are everywhere. A friend I rode with today just got a new Jekyll and is selling his Specialized Rockhopper, 20" frame, in great shape with a good build Deore/Deore LX, Manitou Magnum fork, etc, for about what you would pay for any of the bikes you're looking at. If you don't mind buying used, and shop carefully, good deals are everywhere.