Hardtail + full-suss or just full-suss?

CLTatters

Advice please....
I currently have an 8yr old carerra kraken which was a great intro to MTBing. Was planing to treat myself to a full-suss xc bike - somewhere in the region of Commencal Meta 5.5 or Spesh Stumpjumper FSR Comp. However, I'm beginning to wonder about getting both a hardtail & a full-suss..... My total budget would be about £1500. I seem to ride mainly bridleways - so I'm mainly XC - and my main concern is to keep up with the boys! Whatever I get will be an improvment on the carerra too.
Any thoughts?

Thanks

scotttomo

Your 1500 quid will get you a cracking hardtail. But if you wanted to split it then 500 on the hardtail possibly and around 1k to get a decent full suss like a gt i-drive. Also think the 5.5 and fsr are more all mountain than xc (i think). Hope this helps a little :oops:

Andy B

Spend all the cash on one bike, you'll get a decent full susser for £1500. whereas you'd get 2 not so decent bikes if you split the cash between 2 bikes.

I have both a H/T & F/S, I rarely use the H/T now, even though I'm still buying bits for it...

Anonymous

You don't really need full suss for riding bridleways though.

CLTatters

No, I don't need a full suss but for long days out & with the intention of growing the courage to do more! (besides, you'd be amazed at what you can get on bridleways where I go!) What I meant by that was that downhilling at trail centres isn't my main thing!
Thanks

dhxcme

sometimes having a good bike inspires you to get out and mix it up a bit.

Anonymous

But there's nowt wrong with a hardtail for a bit of all-round riding. Plus you'll learn to be a smoother and better rider if you do start riding bigger terrain.

dhxcme

I don't agree with that. A full sus lets you get away with more so you try more. I'm always riding bigger, faster and harder on my full sus bikes than I was on my HT, which is why it went bye bye.

hoathy

Hardtails rule, and you could pick up a really nice one for £1500, like a Orange P7 Pro, a Santa Cruz Chameleon or a Cove Handjob... and countless others.

However theres definatly good reasons for going for a full sus as well at the price. But you have to accept the spec isn't going to be as good, and its not going to be as light (so not as fast?)

CLTatters

Keep talking - this is helpful. I wouldn't spend £1500 on a hardtail, because I doubt I'd notice much difference between say £750 & £1500 - I'm not that good! What bikes would you all recommend - say for an "around £500" hardtail, an "around £1000" full suss, & and "around £1500" full suss? (Bearing in mind I'm going to notice a massive difference anyway from a Carerra.....)

dhxcme

To be honest £1500 on ebay and crc builds you a nice ride.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-Yeti-4X_W0QQitemZ130221022932QQihZ003QQcategoryZ33503QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For 1300 notes some ones going to grab them selves a bargain.

Thewaylander

I'd go full sus 5" area, my specialised stumpy fsr comp 07 is 28 pounds and gives me loads of confidence(sometimes too much hehe) its worth putting as much money into the one bike as poss, so you dont get that upgrade bug so fast...

dhxcme

The 4X has a rear shock with lockout which means it is effectivly a rear shock which you can stop from working on demand. Plus Waylander is right If you get a cheaper bike you want to upgrade straight away. The 4X (Gods of orange forgive me) is a awsome bike and would sate the urge for a long time.

Larok

I'd go go for the stumpy. It gives you more flexibility and there's less reasons to get another bike or upgrade components later.

dhxcme

To me the stumpy seems alot of moola for not alot of bike. I'd say go on ebay and buy something epic for £1330 inc postage.

Chaka Ping

Some bridleways can be quite demanding - it entirely depends where they are!

You might want to look at a light FS bike such as a Giant Trance. You'll get a significantly lighter FS bike for £1.5k than £1k - whereas you'll end up with two heavy bikes for £1k FS and £500 hardtail.

The other sensible option might be to spend £900 or £1k on a good all round hardtail such as a Rock Lobster Tig Team (the 853, of course) - which will be light, fast and comfy enough for most UK riding.

Thewaylander

Stumpy is one of te best equiped bikes for the dosh, and virtually nothing lighter in the bracket, not sure how you can say that dhx

stumpyjon

^^ I'd second that. My Stumpy has been great for the cash, only just upgrading bits now a year later and most of that is wear & tear items. Bridleways around me are quite technical in places (don't know how the horses manage sometimes) and the stumpy has helped me push my riding envelope (just about coping with 18" drop offs :oops: ). I've just built myself a great hardtail as well and it feels very different when riding so complements the Stumpy nicely. However if I had to give one back it would be the hardtail.

I wouldn't dilute the bike by buying 2 for £ 1500. You can get a good full susser at this price point with Fox shocks which will be significantly better than one for a grand.

hoathy

If you wanted to buy new then the Cannondale Prophet 3 looks to be pretty awesome, its £1000, and would give your full sus. It has a fair bit of travel (130/140mm) so would be good for all mountain work, and you could use your hardtail on the road/xc type stuff. Then for £500, you could have a Merlin Malt 1 Deore, which would be a capable and well equiped hardtail. see: here http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=39
These two bike would compliment each other well as theres not a lot of overlap if you know what I mean. That Yeti dhxme suggested is probably not going to be suitable, as its not really an XC machine, and would be a bit of a pain to lug up hills. This is of course my opinion, but its exaclty what I would do if i were going to have 2 bikes at these prices. Additionally, you may wish to consider the Specialized FSR XC Comp @ £900, which is quite good value, but has less travel (back and front, 100mm), and as for other hardtails, you may be able to pick up a last years rockhopper with the M4 frame for £500...
hope thats helpful!

Will Snow

why do you have to get rid of the kraken??? if you like it, keep it, and spend the cash on a full susser. maybe save a few pennies to upgrade a few bits on the carrera. anyway, thats my two cents.

dhxcme

Stumpy is one of te best equiped bikes for the dosh, and virtually nothing lighter in the bracket, not sure how you can say that dhx

The kit on the bike is good but the frame it'self is a bit lacking for my liking. I had a play on one and it felt awfull, like someone had got a poorly thoughout frame and thrown it into a big tub of expencive parts. Why if specialized can make great bikes like the enduro fsr, do the the lack zest on th stumpy.

Super Fatty

I would go for a long travel top spec hardtail.

dhxcme

if you read the guys requet he wants a full sus with potetially a hardtail aswell.

BlackSpur

If you buy 2 bikes, chances are the hardtail will be of a similar weight to the 1.5K FS bike. If the FS has lockout, it will effectively become a better specced hardtail - to me it seems nonsensical to buy 2 bikes.

jummer

have a look a the giant trance x2. 5" of travel but meant to be very light, allways gets rave reviews.
jer

badblood

what about this starting at £700?

Yeti 575

keep an eye on it as that could be a cracking buy and would leave you with £800 for a cracking hardtail, or you could build this and have a cracking stable of Yetis

Anonymous

that is a starting bid though. It'll almost certainly go way higher.

scotttomo

i agree with yeehaa that yeti will definately go above 700 quid no danger of that!!
Willsnow has a very good point though, thinkin bout it now, i'd probably keep the kraken and upgrade what you feel needs it, leavin money for a decent full susser.

Will Snow

cheers! i thught i was invisible...

hoathy

Yes, but if you were planning on riding the hardtail and keeping it long term, then buying a new one is quite a good idea, as even £250 spent on the Kraken isn't going to make it as good and nice to ride as either the Rockhopper or the Merlin. And you're not going to get that money back, I am perminently making the mistake of spending money on upgrades when saving and buying a new bike would often make more sense. make sure you don't fall into this trap!

KonaMike

Giant Anthem or Trance is where my money would go !