Gary Fisher or Marin, opinions please Also CUBE'S any good

hanxslf

I'm thinking of buying a new hard tail MTB for a mixture of road use and trail use.
Please help me decide on the following models short list below

GARY FISHER PIRANHA http://www.fisherbikes.com/bike/model/piranha

GARY FISHER TASSAJARA http://www.fisherbikes.com/bike/model/tassajara

MARIN HAWK HILL SE http://www.marin.co.uk/2009/bikedetail. ... No=3945-1F

MARIN PALISADES http://www.marin.co.uk/2009/bikedetail. ... No=3946-1F

Things i would also take into consideration would be resale value in say 2-3 yrs time, Which is the most sought after make?
Please tell me if i have overlooked any other make in this price range up to £725

Please see post further down for links on CUBES I'm looking at

supersonic

Budget Marins are generally poor, woefully underspecced compared to some of the competition.

Have a look at the Baordman Bikes too.

hanxslf

Just had a quick look at the boadrman range of bikes,
But I think the bike at the moment is a Gary Fisher, model yet undecided

supersonic

The Tassa is worth the extra over the Piranha, some nice drivetrain upgrades and a lighter air sprung fork.

Any chance of a test? For size mainly: also the G2 geometry is quite unique. This can make changing forks problematic in the future as they use different offsets.

hanxslf

supersonic wrote:

The Tassa is worth the extra over the Piranha, some nice drivetrain upgrades and a lighter air sprung fork.

Any chance of a test? For size mainly: also the G2 geometry is quite unique. This can make changing forks problematic in the future as they use different offsets.

There is a Gary Fisher dealer about 10-12 miles from me in Northallerton North Yorks, They have these hard tails in the shop but I'm not sure it the display model is my size frame 17'' medium to try, If i get time this weekend i will pop in and have a word with them

The Spiderman

I`d also look at the Genesis Core range,whicih are well specced for the money.Specialized Rockhopper is a good bet too,and always get good money come resale time.
If you want a bargain take a look at this too:http://www.dalescycles.com/Giant_XTC_3_5_2008_save_126_at_Dales_Cycles_p/xtc3508.htm

Of those listed,I like the Fisher,but the the fork offset issue would worry me,if I was keeping the bke for the long term as it will seriously restrict options should you ever want to upgrade/replace the forks.

Phonk7

I dont know about the gary fisher bikes but ive had a marin nail trail for almost 2 years now and its never even had a proper service and its still working fine (until last week when it bent both break levers when i fell off, dont wont to bend back because its aluminuim) so i would go for the palisades trail if i were you

The Big Cheese

I agree, marin lower-end models have very poor componentry - shocking in fact as they make excellent frames!

My Mate has the GF Tassajara and it's a very nice ride. If you were to buy a GF I would get that.. but how about this:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 1b4s2p1685

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 494&z=1715

You may be better off buying a better-specced 07 or 2008 bike in a sale somewhere....

hanxslf

The Spiderman wrote:

I`d also look at the Genesis Core range,whicih are well specced for the money.Specialized Rockhopper is a good bet too,and always get good money come resale time.
If you want a bargain take a look at this too:http://www.dalescycles.com/Giant_XTC_3_5_2008_save_126_at_Dales_Cycles_p/xtc3508.htm

Of those listed,I like the Fisher,but the the fork offset issue would worry me,if I was keeping the bke for the long term as it will seriously restrict options should you ever want to upgrade/replace the forks.

thanks for your replies guys plenty to think about, Some good discount on older models. something i thought about at one point but decided on a new 2009 model.
One bike i have noticed that fetches good money at resale time is the Rockhopper's
folks go daft for em on fleabay
The issue of the off set fork on the GF does not bother me to much so there is no worries on that score

The Spiderman

A few years ago,I bought a year old Rockhopper on ebay for £275,rode it for a year and sold it for £300!!

hanxslf

I have been doing a bit of a search on these forums and another brand that stands out to me is CUBE Has anyone got one or tried them ?
CUBE
http://www.cube-bikes.de/xist4c/web/LTD ... 31070_.htm
http://www.cube-bikes.de/xist4c/web/LTD ... 31071_.htm
http://www.cube-bikes.de/xist4c/web/ACID_id_31072_.htm

supersonic

The Acid is well priced, some good parts, but quite a heavy frame for such an XC derived ride, and unbutted at that. Far better frames available at this price, and some with better forks too.

llamafarmer

The Cubes are getting loads of attention on here at the moment. Lower down the range they don't really stack up to the spec of similarly priced bikes. They generally sacrifice the fork for other components, but the fork is the thing you'll notice most, so it's not ideal.

hanxslf

supersonic wrote:

The Acid is well priced, some good parts, but quite a heavy frame for such an XC derived ride, and unbutted at that. Far better frames available at this price, and some with better forks too.

Thanks for that,
I'm not that up on the specs of modern bikes so i wouldn't know what was a good set of forks, brakes or frames
I am looking for a light frame with good quality components must have hydraulic discs.
The last bike i bought was a £180 barracuda with full suss. bought it about 8 years ago, But now want to upgrade

mfin

I think the Cube LTD Race is a good bike on paper, but when I saw it in the flesh minutes after looking at a Boardman Pro its nowhere close for me. The Boardman to pick up was obviously lighter for one and the hardware is streets above, its Sram X9 and X0, forks better, cranks better, different league ...but that's not to say Cube aren't about as good as you can get for the money IMO, they're fantastically specced but I think things changed when the Boardmans came along... you could even look at the Boardman Team FS if you could stretch to that, which you could if your considering a LTD Race.