full sus bike for roadie (i.e. mtb newbie)

campagone

Hi guys,
Before I begin Ive read the 'what full suspension bike' thread in buying and I don't think it answers my query.
As I've said in the thread subject I'm a roadie and I'm thinking about doing some off road, but not in a major way, road riding is and will be my main priority as far as I can see. Therefore I don't want to spend too much, but I want a decent bike nonetheless.
I'm 5'7" and weigh around 10.5 stone so I'm not the strongest rider therefore I don't want a too heavy bike.
I live in North Wales so I'm not far from Coed y Brenin, Llandegla and Betws y Coed etc, I also have the Berwyn mountains near by and the Cambrians aren't too far so I'd be riding both man made trails and doing some general xc off road.
I don't know whether to go for a full xc bike or an all mountain/long travel. Ive been looking around and there are a few bikes I've narrowed it down to:-

2008 GT Force 1.0 £1199 at PaulsCycles seems a bargain at that price but they also have-
Mongoose Canaan Comp or Giant Trance 4 both at £685
Mongoose Teocali Comp (mixed reviews, I like the looks but slightly on the heavy side I think)
2007 Giant Anthem 2 at £754
Norco Faze 3, £799 at Winstanleys
Specialized Pitch Pro, which everybody is raving about at the moment but I'm not too keen on the looks, I prefer the Specialized FSR xc, the Comp in black does look good but theres a compromise with the components and the Pro costs more than the GT.
I also like the look of the Boardman Comp FS but its not on the Halfords website, though to be honest I haven't tried any stores either.

There are so many bikes to choose from Ive become confused :?
Would the Anthem be too xc for example Coed y Brenin? I'm tempted by the GT but would that be overkill for general xc?

Some helpful advice or pointers will be gratefully appreciated.

Twisterboy

welcome to the forum

supersonic

Unfortunately more travel/all mountain at this price means more weight.

I would probably go for an XC bike like the Canaan, Anthem or FSR XC. The others, though capable, do weigh more and I feel that as a newcomer to the sport this maybe offputting.

You need to try them out, there is so much more variation in ride feel and geometry than road bikes.

The Boardman is an excellent value machine, and not too heavy either.

pdid

Any particular reason you've ruled out a hardtail?

For the Money you are spending you'll be able to get a seriously capable HT, which will be far better specced and much lighter than a full susser.

If you have to go hardtail then it's hard to look past the Specialized FSR XC.

RobGT

I'm about to buy a Boardman Comp FS this very lunchtime!

Had good write ups and got very good gear on it for the price. Finish is excellent with good attention to detail.

It will be my first full sus. I have ridden full sus before though as I used to work at Halfords!

Can't wait

RobGT

And yes 'pdid' is right. Don't rule out hardtail.

andrewjoseph

my view is that unless a bike is stupidly heavy for what it's designed for, then don't worry too much. it's not he same as road riding, where light weight and rigidity is generally desired.

for xc riding you don't need a lot of travel, 4-5 " is enough. i think a good specced bike that fits well is more important than a few pounds. you can always upgrade when things fail and get lighter components.

you have to bear in mind that you should take a backpack with you when out in the mountains. This pack will weigh several pounds as you take enough food, water, clothing, emergency equipment and spares. my pack weighs about 6 kg.

the other thing to consider is mud, a good ride in wet conditions can see your bike gain several pounds during a ride.

longevity of components is something I consider more important than weight nowadays. i' gone for heavier, more robust equipment over lightweight but fragile kit.

johnnyrotten

That's goodprice on the Anthem. I think it's the Anthem 2 that's going for that price now. It weighs nowt for the price. I can't feel any difference between mine and my other half's XTC hardtail.

If you did go for the Anthem, the size is vital, as its got a very stretched out riding position. Lots of bike for the money though!!

xtreem

I don't think a hardtail would be his choice. Because he's doing it for fun, with a fullsus
the rides will be a lot comftier and he don't have to strugle on the downhills if he pick the
wrong line.

The Scott Genius MC-30 2008 is worth considering, it has a decent kit and a nice weight, 12.70 kg ( 27.97 lbs ).

ragged1100

This is good price for the Scott:

http://www.slanecycles.co.uk/productdet ... 4&catid=66

Ragged

mfin

In my view the anthem is not really gonna get the most fun out of the rocky stuff at coed y brenin, personally from what you're saying I'd be looking for 140mm ish bikes cos of your 'lean' towards xc... thats probably the best compromise id reckon, so I'd be looking at stuff like Trek Fuel Ex and equivalents, if you go the other side of xc and more extreme then the pitch is good value, but an 08 enduro on a clearance would be much more solid feeling. I think if you drop down the travel to 120ish then you'd be looking at Stumpjumpers, things like that but I can't see too much point in that, lets say you get the bug and wanna ride more gutsy stuff, you won't wanna be stuck with something that limits you.

See if you can borrow a couple of bikes or something and see how you get on.

supersonic

Does Coed require 6 inches of travel? You can do a lot on just 4 inches, and the weight differences is good for longer trails and days out in the hills.

nik young

id go for the specialized fsr xc pro you can get a 2008 from evans for £999

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... gn=froogle

if you found that a 100mm of travel was not enough you can get a replacement link from betd which give you a 130mm

http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk ... d+Upgrades


nik

mfin

supersonic wrote:

Does Coed require 6 inches of travel? You can do a lot on just 4 inches, and the weight differences is good for longer trails and days out in the hills.

No, thats why I sort of thought 5" bikes like Trek Fuel or equivalent would be a good all round choice not going to 4" and steeper head angles, 69 kind of thing would be a good 'in the middle' choice IMO. I mean, some would go round coed y all day on a 3" hard tail and you could argue you could do it on a space hopper, but 'trail bike' with less race orientation is what I was thinking.

littleandy0410

nik young wrote:

id go for the specialized fsr xc pro you can get a 2008 from evans for £999

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... gn=froogle

if you found that a 100mm of travel was not enough you can get a replacement link from betd which give you a 130mm

http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk ... d+Upgrades


nik

I don't think BETD have done a link for the 08 FSR xc range yet. Plus, even if they have, they are £100+, which is OK if you want to avoid changing your bike, but not worth fitting to a new purchase - you might as well spend the extra on the cost of the bike in the 1st place.

I'd look at the Giant Trance X3: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Giant_Trance_X3_2008/5360038750/

or the FSR xc (08 or 09 ) or the Stumpjumper FSR 08. There's a few good deals around on them if you can find your size.

OR the Boardman FS looks great too.