Need some buying advice

greenmonster

Ok Hi,

Im new to the forum and need a bit of advice from you guys. ive read the Stickys but im looking at two styles of bike and need some advice not coevered in the stickys, or other threads.


Ive ridden bikes at various times, used to be into my BMX freestyle and had road bikes, a Merlin, had a nice old Falcon aswell for a while for touring, but i aint ridden a bike now in about 5 years. Ive never done off-roading on a MTB, although i used to do a fair bit of motorbike offroading, mainly over fields, farmers land and stuff. I live in a great area for mountain biking (south lakes) so theres plenty of shops to buy from and stuff.

Id like to buy something that can also be used to commute, and where i would commute to could either be done on all-road/cycle track or a bit of dirt track/canal path, river bank way and road.



So after looking at alot of bikes (upto, well i guess my limit is really 750 but id rather stay below 600 and leave some cash for extras, light, lock etc) i kinda came down to looking at Marin. That price range seems to carry a nice double or triple butted frame to build on.

Now i was looking orginaly at just a road/urban kind of bike, for mainly road use, but still with the possibility of some light off road use. I ended up looking at the Marin Novato.
Seemed ok, could do with hyrdalic brakes if its going to have disks at all. So the 2008 model is £549, the 09 model ive been told will be £649, but with hydrolic, not bad for an extra 100 i guess.

Then i realized (excuse my stupidty) that even if i went for a hardtail, at the price i was looking at i could now get something with lockout, so i could just throw some slicks on and use the road aswell, but now have a proper offroad option. I was looking at a Marin Hawk Hill, or maybe the Palasida(sp?) or maybe the B-17 which would be really at my price limit for the bike alone.


Now im 36, and not getting any younger, so i dont really know how far into off-roading id get, or whether i should just look at the Norvato, for the time being, could stick some knobblys on for starters if i wanted to offroad, but then i thought well i could also upgrade the forks later on to suspension. But how would that effect a bike like that? Would a bike like that work with suspension front?





And what do you all think of the Marins as a choice of bike? Not much mention of them here it seems.

Then the frames are alley, and maybe i should get a steel frame for softer side?


I guess alternatives i was maybe looking at where Orange P7 at a good price if im lucky, or what about the Scott range at my price?



If i was pushed into a choice right now thoght it would be the two Marins i mentioned, the Novato urban/light offroader or the more committed off roading Hawk Hill....upwards they just get better i guess and in the end would be down to how much im willing to go upto, but would a £700/£750 Marin be alot better than a £579 one?






Ha! Many questions, hope they aint too vague to be answered.



Cheers

supersonic

Marin's budget bikes are terrible value! In fact the worse of all the manufacturers I have seen. Same with the Novato, I'd have to advise against it unless you really like how it rides.

I think you'd be best off with a mountain bike if plan to do much off roading - can always fit slicks for the commute. MTBs make better commuters than rigid hybrids make MTBs!

I'd see what the local shops have and arrange a test ride. Specialized Rockhopper springs to mind as a great value and performing bike.

Bones!!

Personal opinion would be to go for a hardtail mtb anything in the £500-£650 price range would be ideal for what your looking for. Everyone has there own opinions so i won't get into that here, save to say go try a few out and see what suits you. Invest £40-£50 in some slick tyres for road use/commuting and you have a very versatile ride, particularly if you get a fork which you can lockout as you noted.

This mtb lark is pretty addictive tho, hope you know what you are getting yourself into.

greenmonster

supersonic wrote:

Marin's budget bikes are terrible value! In fact the worse of all the manufacturers I have seen.

Really? I know not all the parts are great, but i was lead to believe the frames where really good to build on....??

I think you'd be best off with a mountain bike if plan to do much off roading - can always fit slicks for the commute. MTBs make better commuters than rigid hybrids make MTBs

That was the conclusion i was coming to:)

Specialized Rockhopper

ill look into it.

Wow i didnt think these lower cost Marins wher so badly thought of.

supersonic

The frames are nice, but it is so hard to compare against frames on other bikes at this price - all are generally good now! Rockhopper for example has the highly regarded M4 tubeset which builds into a stiff, lighteight bike, and is proven.

If you look at the Bobcat Trail 2009, for 550 quid you get a very cheap and nasty undamped fork, budget 8 speed kit and cheap cranks. Forks make such a difference, and when rivals are rolling out 500 quid bikes with adjustabe damped forks and 9 speed deore/lx/xt parts with quality wheels and cranks, it makes you think. I knowthe spec isn't the be all and end all, but in the budget/mid price sector, it can make more difference on the ride than the frame, providing it fits.

Bones!!

Good call on Spesh Rockhopper SS although the Hardrock is a good entry level bike to.

Had the pleasure of riding one of these when we hired one for my mate when we took her on a ride with us, for a 350 quid steed i was quite impressed(surprised?). Cheap and cheerful bottom of the range model still with V brakes and only 24 speed, but seemed quite good when I blasted it round the car park when she had a self conscious moment on leaving the hire shop I reckon the mid range with Discs etc would be worth a look if you didn't want to spend full budget on a Rockhopper. also gives you upgrade potential.

Hawkeye the bouncer

Most 2009 bikes are goin to be hit by price hikes of around 10-30% so nothing is going to look as good value as recent yrs models.

supersonic

True, but trickle down effect sees better components usually specced anyway. We'll see more 400 quid bikes with hydros then ever. Also Marin have been like this for years!

greenmonster

Bones!! wrote:

This mtb lark is pretty addictive tho, hope you know what you are getting yourself into.

Yea well i saw a video of two guys going hell for leather through a course they'd built with jumps and ramps and all sorts, it was filmed from one of the bikes POV, was amazing took me back to my motorbiking days a bit,hehe:) Dunno if id ever get to the standard these guys were at, but i would ride with a 'no-fear' attitude:)

Most 2009 bikes are goin to be hit by price hikes of around 10-30% so nothing is going to look as good value as recent yrs models.

Yea thats why im looking to buy right now in a way, as there are still a fair few 08 models kicking about, im guessing sales have fallen off a bit the last year aswell. But as pointed out, the 09 models are coming out better specced for slightly less than if you wanted to buy say better brakes as the hike in prices is effecting everything not just complete bikes it seems.





Ive just had a look at that Rockhopper, ill go look at one at one of the local bike shops. I see there are plenty of em on Ebay for around 400 squid aswell. Hmm yea ill take a look.

supercarl

I have a Marin Hawk Hill, have put some semi slicks on it (Schwalbe) and it's been great, I have no complaints!