Advice needed! Eldridge Grade VS P7 PRO

jamesdippy

Hey fellow singletrack junkies,
Brand new to the forum and finally saved up enough dough to upgrade my GT Avalanche to a singletrack killing, quality spec'd, lightweight hardtail. Initially had my heart set on a Specialized Epic but was put off by my local dealer advising me that they are not the best bikes for your money and their "brain" suspension systems are nothing but gimmicks, that dont work. Never riding one, and not having much experience with a "better" hardtail i looked elsewhere and immediately fell in love with the Marin Eldridge Grade (with upgraded Hope hubs). Spec looks perfect for me, and i hear Marin make excellent bikes. Price was good too. This all looked perfect..... That was until i saw the P7 Pro!!! The spec again looks brilliant, and with the custom options it looks like a great bike....HELP ME!

As someone who has never rode any of these bikes, and who has set their price range between 1000-1500ish for a singletrack hardtail, what advice can people give me. Any comments will be awesome.

Many thanks

James

ride_whenever

How hard do you hit singletrack? Any jumps/drops? Id say the rocky ridge is a great bike at the bottom of your budget, or you could even build up a stiffee.

jamesdippy

Im a "gentle rider", the odd drop off but mostly steady singletrack and big all day rides. I dont know much about the legendary "stiffee" everyone talks about on here. Other ideas come into mind when i think of stiffee...not mtb related tho

dirtbiker100

well crap. my two favourite companies.
the marin is certainly a tasty bike and the pro 7 is fantastic.
i really can't say but i wouldn't stray again away from that choice there.
i'm trying hard to decide which i'd go for but i can't too hard for me.

jamesdippy

not specialzed then?thats narrowed it down a bit!!

ride_whenever

Do you want off the shelf or would you be prepared to make yourself (less bike but all quality parts)

jamesdippy

sounds fun to build urself, but wouldnt know where to start/compatability with parts etc..would it work out more expensive?

zero303

If you find a good dealer you'll get the P7 made almost to spec!

It's becoming one of the biggest legends in MTB history and not without good reason, check out the recent review! Nowt wrong with the Marin but by god the P7 is a wicked bike. They've been churning them out for years and I don't think there's ever been a duff year!! The '95 Nickel finish was the vintage year I hear!

I've just splashed out on a Five Pro and if I could afford a P7 pro to go along with it (upgraded to Fox Float and Hope Mono Minis) I totally would!

It's not the lightest but it is regularly billed as a "bike for life" and would you expect something like that to be the lightest around? I've had many a debate about actual light-weight vs riding light. The Orange Five is quite light for what it is, but it when riding it feels even lighter! On-Ones are the same, quite heavy but feel light when riding. I've had people try to convince me P7s don't ride light, my 2001 P7 rode very light but I've yet to ride a newer one. Owners I meet on the trail absolutely love their's though (although this is a common Orange thing, once you go Orange you never go back kinda thing).

Never heard a bad word about the Marin either, but getting an Orange test ride might be easier as they tend to supply their premium dealers with a fleet of demo bikes!

If you're after light weight, a Fox float instead of vanilla will help saving around half a pound alone...

pdid

Go to Merlin, and buy a Rock Lobster.

Nowt better in that price range for single track. IMO of course

P

ride_whenever

oooo, for £1600 you could get a ti rock lobster with mono mini and rebas...

now that's gotta be tempting, plus good re-sale value in the future.

The Big Cheese

If you have a max budget of £1500 and want a Marin go for the Indian Fire Trail

Its a huge jump up from the Eldridge Grade and within budget.

I have one and it simply is phenomenal - very fast and a lovely trail/XC machine..

But that's only if you want a marin

Can't comment on the P7 - they are TOTALLY different bikes though

Marin is M6 Allu and is very light and built for fast flowing XC

mcnalls

Can't comment on the Eldride Grade but I've got a P7 (albeit a P7 One). This is a great bike and does exactly what it says on the tin.

Only mistake I made was not upgrading when I bought it. I now have the joy of individually purchasing all the Thomson and Hope parts individually

The Big Cheese

mcnalls wrote:

Can't comment on the Eldride Grade but I've got a P7 (albeit a P7 One). This is a great bike and does exactly what it says on the tin.

Only mistake I made was not upgrading when I bought it. I now have the joy of individually purchasing all the Thomson and Hope parts individually

Which is never cheap

jamesdippy

Cheers for all the replies fellas, has helped a lot but made me steer towards the p7 a bit more. Ideally i would love to ride either bike and see what feels best for me. I didnt realise the frame metal made for a completly different ride experience, to be honest, im not sure where i fall with "what type of rider are you". I like long epic rides, lots of climbs, and flowing "easy" singletrack with no real massive drop offs or mega technical bits. I ride the chilterns mostly in the oxforshire area (xmas common, watlinton, ridgeway, ewelme). Knowing this now, is there any particular bike which would be better suited to me?

papasmurf.

charge Duster


main thing is to get out and try the bikes you're looking at

The Big Cheese

I would say the P7 based on your needs.

The frames couldn't be more different.

The Orange is steel and will handle totally different to any other material (ie allu/carbon). Steel has a cult following and really is a personal preference - the only downsize is that it weighs more than ally and if not looked after can rust. But not that you need to worry about rust at this stage....

For general trail riding either of your options would be great however something like the Marin Indian Fire Trail is how can I put it - quite 'lively' and can sometimes feel that it's getting away from you - it's nippy, light but has a race edge to it.

I noticed that when I was faced with technical downhill sections (and I don't mean 'hardcore' downhill, but rather travelling downhill) it was like an antelope, bucking all over the place on the rear end if you don't get your weight in the sweet spot, steep head tube angle coupled with the weight (mine weighs approx 22lb) gives to a 'exhilarating ride' and I really had to be on top of my game when first riding it, now I ride 'it' not the other way around... but it's my favorite bike and I love riding it.

The Elridge grade is in the same 'family' as the Indian Fire Trail but more trail biased...

Thats my two-pennysworth with the Marin over and done with

streako

The Eldridge is more of a race bike than the P7. As said above, totally different bikes, get the P7 if you want relaxing, comfortable maybe technical stuff.

Get the Marin if you are planning on fast rides or racing and dont mind a bit less comfort.

For an all round all-day hardtail I would go with the Merlin Rock Lobster 853 (Steel) for under a grand.
Consistantly best value for money bike in magazine tests and built for British riding.

Better yet, try to test ride as many bikes as you can before making your decision.

jamesdippy

Some very very good advice there, thank you so much for all of your help. I think i need to try both for myself, can anyone recommend an outlet that sells and can let me "try before i buy" these bikes?

Father Faff

I've got an ancient Orange P7 with rim brakes, XT kit, and 80mm Marzocchi Z1 Bam front forks and that come in at about 28.5lbs but does feel pretty light to ride and I can vouch for it's toughness. It just keeps on going through Yorkshire peat and rock and is utterly reliable and above all fun, which I think is something to do with the steel frame.

If I was getting a new one I'd kit it out with a lightweight Fox Float of 100-120mm, perhaps the shorter travel if you are not into much technical stuff and I'd get lightweight brakes like the Hope Minis. I'd probably use XT stuff, lightweight rims and tyres like Speed Kings.

You should be able to kit it out with ultra-lightweight parts for that budget to keep the weight sub-30lb.

supersonic

For steel frames, with that budget, I'd be looking at 853 tubed bikes. Or even a Ti frame if you want a more supple ride over most alu frames.

paulswilliams2

Firstly, I would like to state my bias towards the P7, but do have a Marin FS and heartedly recomend the brand.

Have you seen this? http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/reviews/pdf/WMB59_toughest_bikes_Feat_P7.pdf. Yeah, its last years stuff - the P7 hasn't changed really but am unsure on the Marin.

Definately try and ride both bikes. There are several places you can test the P7 http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/dealers/dealers.php?order=az. They have a couple at Bedfordshire and Nottingham that are probably closest.

When I brought mine, I desperately tried to find a demo Marin Indian Fire Train but couldn't. However, this was before Xmas when the new 08 stuff was just coming out.