What should I get....

Dougie89

Hi,

Went out on a trail for the first time the other day and really enjoyed it and took to it really well and was looking to treat myself to a bike, I have been looking at these companies:

CUBE (LTD MAYBE REACTION)
FOCUS (BLACK FOREST MAYBE RAVEN)
GT (AVALANCHE 1.0 MAYBE EXPERT)
SPECIALIZED (ROCKHOPPER)
GENESIS (CORE 40)

I haven't really looked into others such as KONA, FELT, ORANGE, CHARGE, TREK, GIANT, DECATHALON etc but any info would be nice.

I'm a 6'4 guy with say 35" inside and looking for value for money and something which is pretty cutting edge and stacked with all the new tech. I had seen another post talking about a DECATHALON at £760 which had a great spec but I just felt the bike lacked character. I'm budgeting myself at the circa £900 to play about with but there is small room for playing with...

Thanks in advance...

batch78

When you say cutting edge do you mean design wise? If so GT is out, triple triangle is old school technology only persued by themselfs, saying that I love their bikes and they suit the larger rider.

if you want something a bit diiferant, rare even on the trails, Cube, Focus, Genesis or Decathlon are probably your prime choices.

Uber cuttting edge and rare get some Lynskey Ti!

If its your first real MTB forget the online options, get yourself to as many bike shops as poss and try them all out.

Dougie89

cutting edge

was maybe the wrong word to use, maybe what im trying to say is a leading manufacturer with innovative technologies or quirks which have been proven, i.e. although the trip tri is about 30 yrs old, this year is a new frame and the TT frame is proven to work. I was using the Genesis Core 00 the other day and could tell it was a pretty nice bike just with low end kit on it. I also had the chance to try the Orange P7 but was told of the bad gearing system which is a mare and £££ to replace as they tend to break often. Cube and Focus are completely new brands to me and the more I fish the cooler they seem to get to me (design wise) and the kit seems pretty good for the money. If I was jeremy Clarkson I would say I feel the Cube is the Alfa Romeo, the Focus is the Subaru, the Genesis the Ford and the GT the VW and can't decide...

rolf_f

Dougie89 wrote:

I also had the chance to try the Orange P7 but was told of the bad gearing system which is a mare and £££ to replace as they tend to break often.

What's this all about?!I have a P7 - it has very plain and simple gearing as far as I can see! All the kit it is fitted with seems to be reviewed as best or near best buys. What do you mean by 'bad gearing system' - the shifters (Deore), the front mech (Deore), the rear mech (SLX Shadow)? All tried and tested conventional stuff. One of the nice things about the P7 is that it is a simple good design that has been evolved carefully over the years. Might not be trendy or exciting but I don't think there are any nightmares in them!

Dougie89

I think it was maybe the gear hub or something like that which orange manufacture themselves which tends to break and costs a fair whack to replace them. The RAF use them for there adventurous training and have had alot of problems with this and it has cost them quite alot of money, can't exactly remember the complete in and outs of it but it was something like that

Andy B

Orange do not manufacture gear hubs.

The Forces are notoriously hard on kit, be it bikes or anything else, I'd guess that they are not maintained as well as they should be, hence any problems you have heard about.

I've not heard of any major issues with the P7 at all.

rolf_f

Dougie89 wrote:

I think it was maybe the gear hub or something like that which orange manufacture themselves which tends to break and costs a fair whack to replace them. The RAF use them for there adventurous training and have had alot of problems with this and it has cost them quite alot of money, can't exactly remember the complete in and outs of it but it was something like that

I stand to be corrected but that sounds like a pile of steaming poop to me! It may be something to do with Hope hubs that are used on some Orange bikes but, aside from the fact that they seem to be rather good judging by comments on here, my P7 has cheap, reliable shimano hubs. I think someone has been talking cobblers to you! I certainly don't believe that Orange make any of their own gearing components.

Dougie89

I'll get back to you on that one...

rolf_f

Dougie89 wrote:

I'll get back to you on that one...

Check the P7 thread in the beginners section - plenty of chat about the pros and cons!

supermonkey

I think he may mean the rear brake caliper mounts / drop outs.

See here:

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/bikes/freeride- ... 44crx.aspx

And here:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... o-08-30569

coxy17

cube aregreat bikes for the price and well speced the cube ams comp 100 is a great bike its a full sus but great around trails but it is a bit more expensive the gt is a good bike aswell try to have a ride on them all before buying