Which Hardtail to Choose???

Witstable

Hi

I am looking at purchasing a new hardtail within the next month or two and would just like some advice and general opinions to help me in making my decision.

I have in the region of £600 (£700 will be my top end). I do a fair amount of road/track rides, but also like to take my bike onto downhill trails. Obviously in an idela world I would get two differant bikes to deal with this, however I want to look for a good all round hardtail which will take the bumps and grinds of the downhill trails whilst also being lightweight enough to encounter regular roads and bridleways.

I have been looking at the Trek 600 and the GT Avalance 2.0. I am also fairly keen to see what offerings Scott have?? Does anybody know any suitable Scott bike that may be worth looking into, or any other makes that I may have overlooked for that matter??

Very open minded at the moment and not got my heart set on any particula bike at present so all feedback and comments would be welcomed.

Cheers
Paul

marinman1

i recently got this http://www.evanscycles.com/products/com ... e-ec017311 and it is a really good bike, definately able to take a beating, if your oing to be doing a lot of downhill then it would probably be good to upgrade the fork, but for 600 pound its very well specced an a good all rounder

The Northern Monkey

not the best forks IMO. and i'd say you need more than 100mm forks for "downhill" and harsh trails.

anyways...
http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=12236

Or
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_273287_langId_-1_categoryId_165499
The carrera is very good for the money. 85-130mm Toras with lockout (good for the road).

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/mongoose/amasa-super-2008-mountain-bike-ec000861

darren636

i would go for a gt or specialized......

Witstable

I have read some good reviews on other forums on here about the Merlin Malt 1, what are your thoughts on this bike??

Stoo61

I was looking very closely and very nearly bought the malt 1 with Recons and SLX throughout when they had a lot of discounts on....remember the £30 shipping charge. Dont think anyone has a bad word to say about them, didnt get one in the end though so can't comment on performance personally.

KnightofCydonia

Witstable wrote:

I have read some good reviews on other forums on here about the Merlin Malt 1, what are your thoughts on this bike??

malt1 was reviewed in MBUK this previous month. It won the test with 9/10 & was it was a great writeup. Only downside they found iirc was that the frame being older meant it didn't have the 'upto date' geometry

KnightofCydonia

Stoo61 wrote:

I was looking very closely and very nearly bought the malt 1 with Recons and SLX throughout when they had a lot of discounts on....remember the £30 shipping charge. Dont think anyone has a bad word to say about them, didnt get one in the end though so can't comment on performance personally.

I'm tempted as hell by the Malt2 SLX special

* 08 Merlin Malt 2 frame
* 08 Fox 32 F100 RL forks
* Full 2009 Shimano SLX groupset.
* Latest Spec SLX disc brakes
* Handbuilt wheels - Deore Disc hubs and Mavic XC717 disc rims in black and black spokes
* Race Face Evolve XC bars, stem and seatpost.
* WTB Speed V Saddle
* Panaracer Fire XC tyres


but for all the awesomeness, the colour is quite ugly imo With so much to choose from with good specs it's easy to find things to put them down by!

Stoo61

KnightofCydonia wrote:

Stoo61 wrote:

I was looking very closely and very nearly bought the malt 1 with Recons and SLX throughout when they had a lot of discounts on....remember the £30 shipping charge. Dont think anyone has a bad word to say about them, didnt get one in the end though so can't comment on performance personally.

I'm tempted as hell by the Malt2 SLX special

* 08 Merlin Malt 2 frame
* 08 Fox 32 F100 RL forks
* Full 2009 Shimano SLX groupset.
* Latest Spec SLX disc brakes
* Handbuilt wheels - Deore Disc hubs and Mavic XC717 disc rims in black and black spokes
* Race Face Evolve XC bars, stem and seatpost.
* WTB Speed V Saddle
* Panaracer Fire XC tyres


but for all the awesomeness, the colour is quite ugly imo With so much to choose from with good specs it's easy to find things to put them down by!

I hear what you are saying about the colour, but I honestly think you would get over it and even start to like it. Stick a few nice decals on and it'll be your own unique thing. Pimping can be done to anything

Northwind

KnightofCydonia wrote:

malt1 was reviewed in MBUK this previous month. It won the test with 9/10 & was it was a great writeup. Only downside they found iirc was that the frame being older meant it didn't have the 'upto date' geometry

Course, the other downside was that it was a £500 group test and the Malt cost more than £500

supersonic

As an all round package, if it fit, the MALT.1.Great bike! But as a future package maybe not, there are lighter and better frames.

Test and try if you can. I hope our tests reflect this.

rh-keith

Witstable wrote:

I have been looking at the Trek 600 and the GT Avalance 2.0. I

CRC have the GT Avalanche 2.0 on sale for £224 at the moment. I snaped one up, it be a crime not to! Spend the extra cash then on better forks. It comes with the SR Suntour SF6-XCR-LO fork which has 100mm travel, magnesium lowers, and mechanical lock out

xtreem

[b]Witstable[/b] wrote:

I am also fairly keen to see what offerings Scott have??

Scott Aspect 10 2008, the 2009 models are overpriced.
A Scale probably won't cope with the downhills as much as the Aspect.
The Aspect series are "as they say (Scott)" and "you need", allround bikes.

paulfitz

Xtreem wrote:

[b]Witstable[/b] wrote:

I am also fairly keen to see what offerings Scott have??

Scott Aspect 10 2008, the 2009 models are overpriced.
A Scale probably won't cope with the downhills as much as the Aspect.
The Aspect series are "as they say (Scott)" and "you need", allround bikes.

Ive just ordered this... £530

xtreem

Nice one, happy miles.

tom3

rh-keith wrote:

Witstable wrote:

I have been looking at the Trek 600 and the GT Avalance 2.0. I

CRC have the GT Avalanche 2.0 on sale for £224 at the moment. I snaped one up, it be a crime not to! Spend the extra cash then on better forks. It comes with the SR Suntour SF6-XCR-LO fork which has 100mm travel, magnesium lowers, and mechanical lock out

can this be upgraded to discs?

tom3

scratch that answered it myself.

shame the only ones available @ 225 is XL frame as i think @ 6 ft im in between L & XL.

is the frame sthe same as the aggressor if i pop to halfords to check out frame sizes?

supersonic

Yes, they are nigh on identical.

adb1006

KnightofCydonia wrote:

I'm tempted as hell by the Malt2 SLX special

* 08 Merlin Malt 2 frame
* 08 Fox 32 F100 RL forks
* Full 2009 Shimano SLX groupset.
* Latest Spec SLX disc brakes
* Handbuilt wheels - Deore Disc hubs and Mavic XC717 disc rims in black and black spokes
* Race Face Evolve XC bars, stem and seatpost.
* WTB Speed V Saddle
* Panaracer Fire XC tyres


but for all the awesomeness, the colour is quite ugly imo With so much to choose from with good specs it's easy to find things to put them down by!

Not sure XC717 rims would hold up too well to downhilling - they're an XC rim.