What would you buy?

Davesurf20
Davesurf20 Posts: 21
edited June 2009 in MTB buying advice
Hi everyone,

Im just getting back into mountain biking after a 10 year break, and i've been lucky enough to be able to get in on one of these cycleschemes.

My LBS stocks Giant, Gary Fisher, Trek, and one Pace.

I have £1000 on the cyclescheme and another £800 top whack.

My choices are:

Ex-demo Giant Anthem X1 09 (apparently demo'd by Giant at the latest Bike radar event) £1800
Giant Trance X2 £2000
Trek Top Fuel 8 £1750
Gary Fisher HiFi Pro £2100
Pace RC305 built with XT groupo, DTSwiss carbon forks £1750-1800

The ones that are over the £1800 budget, I might be able do work a deal MAYBE.

The Anthem is the stand out winner, but I haven't demo'd it properly, just ridden it up and down a 500m track and loved the responsive feel. BUT it's gonna be an ex-demo from Giant, so there's a chance it'll be trashed / not worth £1800.

The Pace is also a bloody stunner, but im concerned that a hardtail might be a bit crazy on my back. Rides lovely though.

Can I have your views and advice, and please no 'try a scott/commencal/specialized' as I have demo'd other bikes and I have now settled on this one LBS, that only offer the above.

Cheers
Dave

Comments

  • Airienteer
    Airienteer Posts: 695
    What kinda will you be doing?
  • Davesurf20
    Davesurf20 Posts: 21
    Mostly XC, with a smattering of DH decents. I live on the Isle of Wight so we have so fairly varied riding. Im definatly airing on the XC side of things. Hopefully might enter a few races (local one called the 7 Hills Killer) :lol:
  • mr-frosty
    mr-frosty Posts: 44
    I'd have the pace, thats one of my dream frames, it also comes with some great kit. Fine for XC and trail centres. I'm in the process of merging 2 bikes a FS and HT into one HT. I suffer from a bad back but hey my chosen HT, a 456, personally rides much better that my FS and i dont suffer and back problems with it!!

    Try and get a good ride on all of them if they are your available choice and decide from there.
  • Airienteer
    Airienteer Posts: 695
    Try them out, but I'd be tempted by the Trek.
  • Davesurf20
    Davesurf20 Posts: 21
    I have to say that the Pace does have a special place in my heart. I guess i'll have to really test the two out properly :twisted:
  • toasty
    toasty Posts: 2,598
    If it's the same Anthems that they had at Bikeradar Live, then they were in very good nick. All really taken care of, the demo loop was pretty tame as well, no one doing silly stuff that I saw.

    Some demo days are wasted as the brakes need bleeding, gears are out of line, stem is wonky etc, you spend more time fixing the bike than riding. The Giant ones weren't bad this last time tho.
    Stumpy FSR 29er
  • bomberesque
    bomberesque Posts: 1,701
    the Pace.
    Everything in moderation ... except beer
    Beer in moderation ... is a waste of beer

    If riding an XC race bike is like touching the trail,
    then riding a rigid singlespeed is like licking it
    ... or being punched by it, depending on the day
  • Davesurf20
    Davesurf20 Posts: 21
    Cheers toasty, that puts my mind at ease, I dont mind a bit of fettling, but dont really want to have to replace parts.

    Bomberesque - WHY the Pace?
  • ads4
    ads4 Posts: 698
    I demo'd the Trek Ex 8 and the Hifi Pro. Loved the Hifi - lovely looks, slightly better spec and the G2 geometry. Great bikes both of them - try and sit on them if you can.
    Adam.

    Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.

    Current ride - Yeti ASR 5a X0
  • Mickey Eye
    Mickey Eye Posts: 590
    I'd buy the Gary Fisher, but that's because I've tried one and it fitted very nicely. Do that (i.e. buy the one that is most comfortable)
  • bomberesque
    bomberesque Posts: 1,701
    Davesurf20 wrote:
    Bomberesque - WHY the Pace?

    there is no WHY, there only IS :wink:

    basic snobbery tbh, the Pace is;
    • rarer
    • British
    • has a northern accent
    • independant of any massive cycling conglomerate (they still are, aren't they?)
    actually the missus of a mate of mine who's dead into all forms of cycling and has a money no attitude to her bikes went out to find a FS for herself last year. What did she end up with? A Giant Trance. If you have access to them, ride them all before deciding.

    then buy the Pace.
    Everything in moderation ... except beer
    Beer in moderation ... is a waste of beer

    If riding an XC race bike is like touching the trail,
    then riding a rigid singlespeed is like licking it
    ... or being punched by it, depending on the day
  • Davesurf20
    Davesurf20 Posts: 21
    lol. Yeah the Pace is on my list for all of those reasons. I just think that the Anthem might be much more bike for the money.

    Also they may not be part of any massive conglomerate, but they are part of DT Swiss (not a bad thing), and apparently their frames are now outsourced to Taiwan (just what ive heard, I may be very wrong).

    Anyway, i'll keep you all posted as to what I choose!
  • dunker
    dunker Posts: 1,456
    i think the island suits both ht or fs really, it's not totally smooth everywhere nor are there any 2000ft mountain dh decents. the hills killer route is pretty smooth apart from the decent off shanklin down if going in a reverse course direction, there a fs would be better as on my ht it's backside over the tyre and slowcoach :P

    for me the choice would be between the anthem and the pace, which i'd prolly choose the pace as i ride alot of roads/lanes/bridleways/cyclepaths but if i was doing more xc maybe i'd go for the fs. either way they all look great bikes :)
    Merlin Malt4,
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/7405500@N0 ... 025278584/
  • Davesurf20
    Davesurf20 Posts: 21
    Hey peeps!

    I went for the 09 Gary Fisher HiFi Pro!

    Got it for £1750 cos the LBS owner had ridden it a handful of times. - It's a bloody minter!

    I pick it up tomorrow at 5.00pm - SEX WEE!

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