What mountain bike for a beginner?

[froot]

For real? I knew they were partnered with Schwinn back in the 90's but that partnership split up long time ago. Someone told me Titan was the in house brand for Merida.

Yup. I worked in a bike shop some years ago, it was around that time that Merida made a return, or rather its debut, as a competitor to international markets.
Merida's been around since the 70's, they made their own bikes back then, but small-scale and mainly for the local market.

[Rouxenator]

Impressive! Seems they know a thing or two about making good frames then, I see on their wikipedia page they also made DiamondBack bikes which I still remember from my school years. I guess their is some truth behind them making frames for Titan then.

[iWish]

Where are you situated?

I am in Pretoria.

[froot]

I am in Pretoria.

Go to:
Hot Spot Cycles (Atterbury Value Mart) for GT/Merida
Bruce Reyneke Cycles (Hatfield) for Giant
Cycle Lab has a store on the corner of Lynnwood and Lois. They also sell Merida and GT.

[iWish]

The bike I currently have is a 2012 GT Karakoram 3.0 - its a 29er and it has excellent disc brakes. They go for about R5000 new and I can highly recommend them. I have done 2000km on mine and it has never let me down. The triple-triangle-design does help a bit as this bike feels a lot more stable on rocky downhills than my previous bike felt. SR Suntour XCM is a pretty good shock, mine is still working like new.

Complete specs on the bike is here : http://www.gtbicycles.com/2012/bikes...-karakoram-3-0

Where did you purchase your GT?

[Rouxenator]

Even though they do not normally stock them I got mine at Flandria (next to Pick'n'Pay in Stellenbosch). They sold it to me for R4900 back in September when the 2012 model came out. Aweeks before that my dad bought the same model GT at Masons for R5500 and they are actually a GT shop. I know Helderberg Cycle World at Somerset Mall also sells this GT for R5500. Maybe check with Flandria if they can get you a good price on it.

I'm not sure you are going to get any other 29er that is as good equipped as this one for the money.