Finding New Bike Choice Difficult

M.C.

My colleague and I set out to buy a new bike each through our company. We don't need to use a bike to work scheme as we are directors and can happily go ahead and purchase what we like.

We started out looking at the Carrera Fury 09 at Helfrauds which on paper looks good and it felt quite nice to sit on (not ridden it properly though) but then we decided to visit Grafham Cycles and eyed up the Specialized Rockhopper Expert 09 and going of at a Tangent the Iron Horse Bootleg 1.0. We had ruled out a full sus as our budget was tight but the offer they have makes it look very attractive. The problem is that when you open your budget up to £800 the choices increase and I just get more confused. I've browsed the internet for what seems like days and have drawn no firm conclusions. Part of me says the Fury is still a good bike despite being £320 less than our new budget (we were offered a deal if we bought two).

We are not planning on epic long distance treks, mainly light downhill and fun stuff. Bear in mind that we lean on the side of caution when cycling, i.e. no 20ft gnarly drop offs!

Any advice on what to look at? We will happily drive around to try the bikes.

Thank you.

Jools79

Wouldnt bother with a full suspension bike as at £800 the parts will be compromised. (quality wise, not safety)

You will get a much better bike for your money if you stick with a hardtail.

Would definetly recommend a Rockhopper, it has a great frame and comes with decent components for the price, is fast and comfortable offroad as well as on. Expert is a good model to choose, great fork and solid gearing.

The Boardman bikes at Halfords are also meant to be great, though never tried them.

For a left field option try Merlin Cycles, they have Rock Lobster bikes which are fantastic and they can tweak the spec to what you want.

bregante

+1 for the Merlin Malt or Rock Lobsters. look great value

connorhadfield

decathalon do great bikes at amazing prices ill put a link to the bike within your budget. i have the one down from this but with the same frame and i have to say its better than my scott scale 40!!

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/rockrider-8-2-34963146/

jayson

Another big fan of Rock Lobster here, highly recommended bikes and Merlin are a great bunch of guys to buy from

M.C.

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna research and try to find some to ride.

I've been out today and ridden a few bikes. I have now gone off the idea of the Fury, but enjoyed riding a Kona Kula, Felt Q820 and Scott Aspect 10.

The scott was a tad too heavy and the shock didn't feel as controlled as the other too. The brakes felt a little spongey but that might be down to set up. I liked the rest of the bike and the frame felt nice....I felt planted.

The Felt was much better in the weight department, the brakes felt good and the shock felt more plush and responsive. The bike didn't feel quite as solid but it did feel more agile. Not so keen on the SRAM system, but that might be down to what I'm used too.

The Kona was very good, very light in comparisson, very tight and controlled, the forks were great with control and adjustment and the brakes were spot on. The lack of flat pedals hampered the test but I got a good feel. The only downside is that it was a bit over budget and for some reason it doesn't shout out at me.

I'm currently leaning towards the Felt as a compromise between cost and spec, but ultimately all three bikes felt good to ride, far better than what I have.

I'm going to get a ride on the Specialised Rockhopper Expert too.

Chris in Evans Cycles in MK was very helpful and patient today....a pleasent experience.

flamedude

Can't go wrong with a Rockhopper. I had a 07 Rockhopper Pro and it was brilliant, can't do much better for the same money. Just make sure you are totally comfortable with the sizing, they are very long bikes.

Iron Horses are good but I keep hearing horror stories over their frame quality which has totally put me off.

guilliano

Just to chuck in a new option.....

http://fisherbikes.com/bike/model/tassajara

I can highly recomment the Fisher frames.... it's the only frame I've kept and am now building it back up.

Larok

For £800, a no compromises fulll suss here;

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

review here;

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... s-09-33793

Must be a hardtail? Perhaps this;

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Georgeb

Spec wise, that boardman comp fs looks like one of the best specs your gonna get for that budget. I think you should consider that bike for sure.

GJgrafix

I was in the same dilemma and budget as you! I ordered a Bootleg 1.0 from Evans for £800 which seems to fit the bill. I'll let you know what it's like when it's delivered!

M.C.

Time for an update:

Jim and I spent another day on the road looking at bikes. Each time we have walked through the shop looking for contenders in budget and with a woirthwhile spec. We then whittled them down by sitting on them, feeling the weight etc and where possible took a few for a spin.

The only downside is that Jim needs a 19/20 frame and I need a 17/18 so very rarely could we both have a meaningfull ride of the same spec bike.

We both got to ride the Iron Horse Bootleg and were impressed with how taught and controlled it felt. The rear shok has a lock out and the frame is very light which would definately make it a good all-round bike. The Hayes brakes were excellent too. The only thing we were not keen on were the Tora forks, they felt a little crashy at the top. One salesman also pointed out the potential increased costs of maintaining the bike over a hard tail.

I've fallen in love with the Rockhopper Expert, it just felt right, balanced....special! Still haven't bought one yet but its top of the list so far. Jim is still leaning towards the Felt Q820 at the moment and I think he is having another test ride today.

The Boardman bikes look very good on paper but I have heard quite a few horror stories with frame weakness etc.. Is this true? Will the bike last?

I'll hopefully get out again on tuesday to explore some of the other recommendations and yes the HKEK does look good along with the Rockrider...not easy to find one to test ride though.

Cheers.

bails87

I'd ignore the Boardman worries, *IF* there was an issue (on 2 frames apparently) it was only on the full suspension ones, and it sounds like you're set on a HT. I'd recommend them, I've got a HT Pro and love it, but it sounds like the Specialized is the bike for you. Try to test a Boardman, but if not, the Rockhopper seems a good bet.

Oh, and the Boardmans use SRAM, I had never used it before, but really like it (X0 and X9). Got to say I've never had a proper go with equivalent (XT or XTR) shimano though, so I don't have a proper comparison.

supersonic

There are no issues with the Boardman frames.

GJgrafix

Thanks for the review on the Ironhorse, MC
Obviously it's a bit late as I've ordered one, but you haven't mentioned lockout on the Tora's?
Also, when you say crashy, could that just be down to the incorrect setup on a demo bike/air pressure?
I've found Tora's to be pretty decent entry level forks in the past, and you see them on bikes up to around £1500 at times.

heez29

supersonic wrote:

There are no issues with the Boardman frames.

Ill back this up. We have had nothing with the Boardmans. There was one on the hybrid as the cable rub got that bad it tried to go through the fork and the headtube.

J55TTC

Theres no substitute for test riding. You and Jim will end up with exactly what you want.

The rockhopper is a great bike Ive got a comp and very pleased with it.

SDK2007

Lots of good suggestions so far.

You are in the transition between 2009 and 2010 bikes which means you'll be paying 10-20% more for a 2010 and waiting a while for some of them to become available, Boardman for example, or you can grab a 2009 bargain but with limited bike and frame choices.

Jimpanzee

Hey everyone, I am M.C.s partner in crime Jim. I think M.C. has settled for the Specialized Rockhopper Expert. I would go for the same bike myself, but there are no 19" bikes available anywhere by the looks of things.

I am now torn between the Felt Q820 (or Q920 if I can stretch to that much) or the Ironhorse Bootleg 1.

We popped to Chick Sands yesterday to see what people were riding. Unfortunately there weren't many people about, but looking at the runs I was thinking a full suspension bike would be the one to go for, however, as we were leaving, we bumped into some serious looking riders who said having a hard-tail bike is great fun around Chick Sands. However, they all turned up with pretty hardcore full suspension bikes :?

I've been sat here most of the day trying to decide which bike to go for and I really don't know what's going to be best for me. As well as going to places like Chick Sands and Woburn Sands I shall be using the bike to cycle the 4 1/2 miles to and from work along the B-roads.

I know some of you have been good enough to reply already about what to go for, but if you had to choose between the Felt and the Ironhorse which would you go for?

Thanks in advance

Jim.

P.S. GJgrafix, if you've taken delivery of the ironhorse, how are you finding it?

GJgrafix

Jimpanzee wrote:

P.S. GJgrafix, if you've taken delivery of the ironhorse, how are you finding it?

Hi Jim,

Welcome to Bikeradar Sadly I'm still awaiting delivery of the Iron Horse (Evans do a 3 day 'check' on each bike they send out) but as soon as I do get it, I'll let you know how I find it.

Jimpanzee

Thanks GJgrafix. Will be very interested to hear how you get on with the ironhorse. Evan's are ordering one in for me so I can test the Felt Q820 and Ironhorse Bootleg 1 back to back.

M.C.

GJgrafix wrote:

Thanks for the review on the Ironhorse, MC
Obviously it's a bit late as I've ordered one, but you haven't mentioned lockout on the Tora's?
Also, when you say crashy, could that just be down to the incorrect setup on a demo bike/air pressure?
I've found Tora's to be pretty decent entry level forks in the past, and you see them on bikes up to around £1500 at times.

I'd agree with your points, the Tora did feel quite nice under compression, it was just when there was no weight on it riding over grass that it felt almost like it was rattling on its upper stops. I might not have adjusted it properly which brings me to an important point.....The Bootleg we tried had coil Toras, not air as listed on the Evans site. It had a pre-load adjust, lockout and rebound adjust.

I'm not saying it was a bad bike, I just wasn't sure about that one thing. We have both been very tempted by it as the spec is very good for the money. I have found a few bikes that I would like to own, the real question is which will suit the riding I want to do and, in reality, will end up doing.

It is so tempting to up the budget!

Cheers

GJgrafix

M.C. wrote:

GJgrafix wrote:

it was just when there was no weight on it riding over grass that it felt almost like it was rattling on its upper stops. I might not have adjusted it properly which brings me to an important point.....
The Bootleg we tried had coil Toras, not air as listed on the Evans site.

Cheers

It could have just needed a bit more preload adjustment to let the fork sag a little, but I'm not so sure.
I sure hope my bike comes with air forks and not coil!! Will soon find out!
Looking at the differences in specs between the felt and Bootleg, they are very similar with a lot of components pretty exchangeable in terms of spec.
The reason I went with the horse, is that If I wanted, I could lockout the rear suspension and make it essentially a hardtail for the commutes and light XC routes and climbs, then when I meet something a bit more hardy and downward I can let the rear free.
As for the maintenance side of things, it's an extremely simple single pivot design so shouldn't require much more maintenance than a HT, if at all

M.C.

Penultimate update:

There is one more update to come after this one.......the review on the bikes we have bought. Yes we have them in our possesion and both bikes have not been mentioned once by anyone on this thread. The one piece of advice we have followed is that we stand to get a much better deal if we go second hand or ex-demo.

After trekking around the country the third guy we work with suggested we try AJ cycles who happen to be no more than a mile from my front door. We dropped in to see them and found they are a specialized, trek and giant retailer with a large selection. They temted us with some very very good offers on both bikes we had looked at, and others we hadn't such as the Specialized XC FSR and Pitch comp, but our gaze was drawn to two ex-demo bikes that appeared to be amazing value.

This is the first time that we have both been thoroughly excited at the bikes we have tested to the point where we couldn't stop grinning.

Jim's purchase has a few upgraded parts including Hope brakes with carbon leavers and 4-pot callipers and mine has a carbon fibre Monkey Lit handlebar. These bike were beyond our wildest dreams and only marginally stretched our budget. They also chucked in a few essentials and did a stonking deal on some helmets. I can't help but think I should let JIm spill the beans.

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone that has chipped in and thanks for making us feel welcome on this forum. I'm sure we'll grace these pages for years to come and hopefully be able to help others in the future.

Cheers.

GJgrafix

Nooooo...don't keep me waiting!! lol.

Was it a Giant Trance of some description?

Jimpanzee

Ok, seing as it's fallen to me to spill the beans...

After whats been a much more difficult decision than I first thought I have now ended up with a Trek Fuel EX9 2009.



Full off-the-shelf spec can be found here: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec016523 the model I've bought has different fox shocks at the front and as M.C. said, upgraded braking. I'm awaiting a full spec from the previous owner, so will post the upgrades once I have the details.

M.C. ended up with the Trek Remedy 8 2009:



Full off-the-shelf spec can be found here: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec016798 Likewise, M.C. will provide a full spec sheet once we have all the details.

We've only ridden the bikes along B-roads so far, but found them surprisingly comfortable and whilst there is more rolling resistance than a road bike, it never felt like a struggle to ride them.

As M.C. said, we are more than happy with the bikes and never thought we'd be owning bikes with this sort of spec. We're looking forward to giving them their first off road experience in our hands.

Whilst we may not have gone with an of the bikes mentioned during this thread, the advice given has been greatly appreciated and we're both looking forward to (hopefully) many years of mountain biking and activity on this forum.

Just before I go, I must give a quick plug (provided that's ok) to A.J. Cycles in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. The guys there were really friendly and more than happy to help us out with a cracking deal on the bikes. Highly recommend them!

Thanks.

Jim.

GJgrafix

:O :O Holy cow guys, for you to say they only just stretched your budget, I'm pretty sure you got steals of the century!
Both look like superbly specced bikes, well done! I look forward to the reviews!

ps, i still haven't got the bootleg delivered LOL!

Jimpanzee

GJgrafix wrote:

:O :O Holy cow guys, for you to say they only just stretched your budget, I'm pretty sure you got steals of the century!
Both look like superbly specced bikes, well done! I look forward to the reviews!

ps, i still haven't got the bootleg delivered LOL!

We were very lucky to find these bikes. Ok, they are ex-demo's, but neither have had much use, the Remedy especially.

I'll let M.C. write the first proper review, mainly because I will probably be in plaster after the first outing, lol.

Hopefully your bootleg will arrive soon