which bike

joeraul
joeraul Posts: 22
edited January 2008 in XC and Enduro
which do you recommend for a hardtail bike frame?

1. sta cruz chameleon
2. orbea lanza
3. marin indian fire trail

also, what are their pros and con? thanks

Comments

  • The Big Cheese
    The Big Cheese Posts: 8,651
    They are quite different bikes.

    The Chameleon is a hardcore hardtail that can take a longer travel fork (up to 160mm I think). Great frame (heavier than the Marin) and is a great 'do it all' bike - thumbs up!

    the Marin Indian Fire Trail is a lightweight race bike (I have one - link in sig) and it can only take 80-100mm fork max.

    The frame is ultra lightweight and it's built for speed. Very twitchy though and at first you think that its always going to get away from you. Beautiful geometry and handling otherwise - it has quite a steep head angle for getting stuck into fast flowing singletrack.

    It's a lovely ride but not for hardcore trail adventures though.

    Double thumbs up as I am biased!

    Oh and you can't just buy the IFT frame unlike the SC Chameleon. It's a whole bike.

    the 08 Indian Fire Trail is £1499 and the 07 (which I have) was £1699.

    You should be able to get an 07 pretty cheap now

    I can't comment on the Orbea as I really don't know that much about them.

    Hope this helps a bit
  • Mr_Orange
    Mr_Orange Posts: 198
    Cove Handjob or Orange P7, if you want steel frames.

    Personally I hate aluminium frames, too harsh a ride. Maybe OK for a full susser, but I have never ridden one.
    ---
    Handjob XC
    Handjob Flightdeck
    STOLEN Handjob
  • joeraul
    joeraul Posts: 22
    very well said. thanks cheesy. i love your marin. its beautiful. i will have that one of these day and i cant wait to ride it.

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