Help with choosing my new bike!

Panhandling Prince

Just going though the same thing. I wanna speang £400 - £500 and cant make up my mind.

Looked at the Giant and loved it but I think I am going for the Carerra Fury from Halfords.

Cant wait. Pay day next week.

papasmurf.

Merlin malt LTD for 500 odd notes on merlin site

or Commencal combi

or the Fury

Scubar

Well i can vouch for the Marin Hawkhill, it doesnt come with as good spec as some of the other bikes but when you look at the frame everything becomes clear, the Frame on the Hawkhill is so damn good it simply shames all the others in the same price bracket.

frogbad

2007 Rockhopper would be my choice. That is one lovely frame, and will be worthy of future upgrades. I personally wouldn't even be put off by the V brakes that it comes with, if I had the money to buy it, as IMHO they would be perfectly serviceable until later in the year when it starts to get really wet and muddy.

Big n Daft

Take your list,

Try as many as you can on your list and any others you come across at that price.

Buy the one that feels and fits the best.

Buy a bike that suits you, feels right and has decent components, not a name.

BnD

Panhandling Prince

The Felt is nice, not sure about the brakes though.

Can someone tell us more about Felt?

supersonic

Felt are designed by the old GT crew. They have a very euro continental theme ti the design though, with long frames and short forks. And the forks are not too hot, and the frame overly stiff. Worth a try, but better to be had in my eyes.

Big n Daft

Just looked at the Felt.

Not the best spec in the world for the money.

RST fork, Hayes Sole brakes.

Both the XTC and the Fury come with RS forks...the XTC a Dart 2 and the Fury a Tora 318.

IIRC Hayes sole are single piston hydro's where as the Tektro's and the MPH on the Fury & XTC are both dual piston systems.

I have to be honest.....If i had £500 it would not go there.......imho the Felt 920 is about the spec of the other two....at £250 more.

BnD

Panhandling Prince

Sorry for asking dumb questions but you lot are gurus.

What is the main difference between the Dart 2 fork on the XTC and Tora 318 on the Fury? and which is better?

Couldnt really clean much off the rock shocks website.

supersonic

The dart 2 has 28mm steel stanchions, aluminium lowers and a more basic damping cartridge. The Tora platform sports 32mm stanchions (at no extra weight), magnesium lowers, hollow crown, is much stiffer, and the 318 has the motion control damper which allows fine tuning of compression damping all the way to lock out. A superb fork.

Big n Daft

Dart 2

80 mm travel, lockout, rebound damping..all in all a nice entry level XC fork.

Tora 318, Turnkey travel 85 to 130mm....lockout, motion control and rebound damping.

Adjustable travel means more tune-a-bility for ride, riders weight, surface and the hits it will take without bottoming out.

Dart is a decent fork, Tora is much better 'bang for buck'

*Edit* And what SS said!

BnD

supersonic

Photographic(ish!) memory lol.

Panhandling Prince

Cheers guys.

You certainly are the guys to ask.

Will be taking the plunge next week. Ill let you know how it goes.

Might have some more Qs before then.

Ta

Panhandling Prince

True Stan

These guys are good.

I have narrowed it down to the Fury and the Giant XTC 4.5.

Wish me luck.

Panhandling Prince

Yeah, the bike is nice. Dart forks good, and its so light. Feels well put together.

To be honest the Fury does feel a bit shoddy, but you cant argue with the spec and the current £445 price tag.

But its back to the dodgy brakes on the Giant, which can be replaces later on of course.

Pay day next week so I will have to make a choice. I started with a list of about 10 and now I have 2. I will have to test them again.

Boy boy why do we do it?

Panhandling Prince

According to Supersonic they are a bit of a pain. MPH can be a pain to service and bleed, and they seem prone to developing minor niggles etc.

The frame is better than the Fury though so its 6 of one and half dozen of the other.

There are gonna be pros and cons with anything.

Panhandling Prince

Nothing is cheap in this sport. Supersonic recomended Deores or Avid Juicys. Later on of course as an upgrade.

The spec on the Fury is sooooo good for the price that its hard to say no.

What else are you considering? Is there something else I should be looking at?

The Spiderman

I have a Giant XTC at the moment,(although it is a 2006 SX which been heavily upgraded ),and had a Rockhopper before.

The Giant MPH brakes actually work very well,when properly set up,but are more of a faff to set up properly,and spares aren't so readily available,as Avid or Shimano.Mine neeeded shimming,to get centred properly,and a new caliper took 7 days to arrive.For general ease of use,Shimano are much easier to live with and spares are available everywhere.I now have Shimano XT brakes on mine.

Both Rockhopper and XTC are excellent bikes,with frames worthy of upgrading later.The frames used on these are the same as on higher end XTCs and Rockhoppers.

You won't go wrong with either,and its no surprise that these are possily the 2 most popular bikes at this price point,on the forum.

On balance,looking at the specs the Rockhopper is probably a better bike,but you have to bear in mind the extra cost.If you wait just a little longer,you will find a discounted 2007 model as the new 2008 models come on stream,but Specialized don't normally get discounted as much as Giant.The XTC,you can already find for nearer to £400 if you look around.Try www.tredz.co.uk or www.paulscycles.co.uk or www.ashcyles.co.uk

If this is your first mtb,its a good idea to buy locally so you can get the bike fixed easily if anything goes wrong,but you can do what a lot of people have done,and use the online prices to negotiate with your local shop.Some guys hare have managed to get free equipment,like helmets,gloves,locks or pumps thrown in as a way of matching the deal.

All shops also offer a free first service,which normally involves adjusting the gears,once the cables have stretched a bit,tightening a few bolts,and possibly retensioning the spokes.

Your buying decision may come down to whether your local dealer is Specialized or Giant.You should really ride the bikes first,if you can or at the very least sit on one to check the fit.If a shop won't allow you to ride a bike ,thoughthey aren't really worthy of your business.

Some shops will let you in return for a returnable depost,ot take a swipe of your credit card as security.

Ideally choose a shop that stocks as many of the bikes you want to test so you can ride them back to back,so you can make a better comparison.(The bigger Evans cycles stores are useful for this.)

Check if buying on line that,the brakes are set up for the UK,as a lot of the discounted bikes are intended for the rest of europe where the brakes are handed the wrong way round.(This was the case on my Giant.)

You may however even find you can get an XTC 3.5 for your budget which has the Tora fork....

Marin frames are a work of art,but the spec of the rest of the bike is heavily compromised as a result

Panhandling Prince

Thanks Siperman.

Thats all really useful. Food for thought.

I am gonna make a decision this week and buy next Saturday.

Wish me luck.

sicknewt

Might not help but JE James has the Giant XTC 3.5 for £570, going for a test ride at lunch!

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/index.html?pageTitle=Giant_XtC_35_Mountain_Bike_07&pageDesc=Giant_XtC_35_2007_Front_Suspension_Mountain_Bike_The_Giant_XtC_bare_essentials_for_the_XC_racer_MODE&action=detail&maincatID=0&catID=&prodID=36252&brandID=

Maybe you can get a local shop to price match?

Panhandling Prince

Cool

Let us know what you think. Especially the brakes.

Ta

sicknewt

Just got back - liked it!

Brakes felt pretty good - managed to lock them up a few time cos the road was a bit wet and I've not ridden much with discs.

Handlebars are a lot wider than on my 3 year old Claude Butler which felt a bit odd but I think I'm gonna get it.

Shame the forks aren't black like the frame...

Panhandling Prince

Ace.

Another one to consider then. Maybe worth paying the extra for the tora forks.

Its still £645 at my LBS. £570 is an awesome price. Will maybe try a price match but may have to stick with the 4.5.


What frame size did you try? how tall are you?

sicknewt

You could always order over the net from JE James...

I'm 5' 8 and tried the medium frame - seemed fine.

The Spiderman

The 3.5 is £525 at Pauls,though no good to you unless you need an 18" or 20" frame.Some margin for negotiation there!

If not try locally and buy from Pauls.

You just need to work out what the cost of the free service and local back up is worth to you.

I bought my XTC on line and have no regrets,although I am able to fix most things myself,so free servicing wasn't such a big deal for me.

Supersonic on this forum has bought a bike from Pauls so maybe able to give you some advice on what their service was like.

Panhandling Prince

Cheers guys

I will have a try tomo. When I tried the 4.5 it was a 20 inch frame and I am 6 ft, so I will try the 3.5 in a 20 inch frame as well.

Thanks for the tips spiderman.

The Spiderman

If the 4.5 was OK,you should be OK with the 3.5 in a 20 too as the frame is identical.Did your reach feel comfortable,and did you have enough standover clearance,witht the 20"?

You are probaly borderline between the 18 and the 20,depending on what feels best for you.

Panhandling Prince

Have tried it and loved it. Was ok of the 18 but the 20 felt sterdier.

Think I might go for it. Pauls cycles have a £120 discount. Nice.

Lynton

Hi guys just to say thanks for the advice on which bike to go for. I've just gone for the GIANT xtc 4.5 because at £400 including delivery (http://www.tredz.co.uk/details.aspx?id=7282) it's a great deal because as you say Spiderman the frame is awesome and upgradeable should I have a problem with any of the parts. The components look decent though so I can't see there being a problem apart from the brake maintenance as you say, but my local dealer is a Giant dude (as in the brand!).

cheers, Lynton

alfiew

sicknewt wrote:

You could always order over the net from JE James...

I'm 5' 8 and tried the medium frame - seemed fine.

Personally I wouldnt go anywhere near j e james cycles - I had the misfortune of ordering from them and then having to deal with their (non-existant) customer service