nubie hello & question

piscis visio

Hi all
I know there's a similar topic but i didn't want to high jack their thread :-)
Although I haven’t mountain biked for a few years (I still have a hack for riding round town). A recent impromptu trip to my local bike shop for has rekindled my interest (isn’t that always the case)! So now thanks to a ‘Bike to work scheme’ I have a £1000 to spend on a bike YAY! So I’ve had a great week buying magazines & collecting catalogues seeking my next bike & I’ve got my list down to these three bikes,

Marin Eldgidge grade
Orange Prestige S
Orange P7 S
Orange P7 One (may possibly buy a Rohloff speed hub in the future if ss don’t suit me)

which one do you think? I’ll be riding trails/singletrack mainly

stumpyjon

Ride em, see what they feel like. Orange has a reputation for being expensive, but you have the Kudos of supporting a British company.

Personally I'd avoid the singlespeed option, never understood the concept.

What have you based your selection process on?

It's all very personal, I ride a Spesh Stumpy 07 Elite and think it's the puppy's nutts for the type of riding you're planning (also have a custom built Kinesis XC Pro II which whilst very diiferent to ride than the Stumpyn also seems to cope with XC pretty well).

piscis visio

I chose the Marin on it's level of kit and positive reviews. The Orange, because I've always wanted one
To be honest there's soo much choice out there it's a little bewildering

stumpyjon

Tis true, there is too much choice and unless you are lucky enough to get to ride them all it's very difficult to choose. Just be rest assured, unless you end up with a complete dog of a bike you'll be singing it praises on here in a few weeks (as you won't know any different and it'll be better than your current ride).

piscis visio

Thanks I'll look into the test rides