Vastly different ratings for bikes are getting me confused!

swelsbyuk

I have £1k to spend on a full-sus. There is no way I can find any more money than this and want to get something asap before the weather starts to get worse. I notice that WMTB gave the Boardman Team 4.5/5 this month but MBR only gave it 7/10 in June. I also notice that MBR gave the Trance X4 10/10 whereas WMTB gives in a paltry 2.5/5 - eh?

So, I'm confused as to what to get - hoped to get it this weekend if possible! Noticed this on Wiggle - it's a big drop in price and the 2 reviews are good:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Felt_ ... 9680/#more

How goes the Felt compare to the Boardman etc?

Thanks for any help and any advice given.

S

Pudseyp

Firstly reviews are only a guide, and are usually indicative of components, ride and value. We are all different and like different things, so we can offer a fair view on say components and value, but how it rides is the difficulty. We could both test one bike and you may love the way it performs and I may not agree...if you get my point...

The Baordman and the Felt are slightly different in that teh Felt has longer travel so in therory should take more abuse..I guess it's the team version your looking at ? They are both great bikes at the price with very similar specs if you take into consideration the extra travel of the Felt...

You need to ask yourself will I be doing drops and aggressive XC, if so the Felt would be better, or if your going to be riding quick trails where it is not so burly then the Boardman would be better

Radioactiveman

Its a big drop in price for a big bike. If you do go for the felt which is a good deal make sure it fits.

You can always make a bike that is a bit small bigger by fitting a layback post,longer stem. If a bike is too big there is not much you can do.

Why not take your time and do a bit more looking and while you are doing that you can save up some more. Just gone back to a hardtail from a full suss that I never really got on with and rushed into buying. ( and spent 2.7k on)

dont rush,try plenty of bikes. A full suss inst the be all and end all ( all though it makes rooty stuff much more pleasant,and that irritating flat but bumpy pedally stuff)

CycloRos

Have you thought about a secondhand bike? that would open up a few more options for you with that budget. Most brand new 1k full sussers will still be compromised somewhere in the build.

Bar Shaker

I sometimes wonder what mark up retailers are running when they can discount bikes by that sort of margin. I would never begrudge a man a profit but some bikes seem to be 50% bike and 50% retailer profit. Admittedly you are buying a 2 year old bike but I'll bet the retailer is still making money on it.

As for the Felt, its a long travel heavy (15kg) bike with lowish grade SLX groupset and brakes. In that spec I would be amazed if anyone did actually pay £1850 for one. It would be great fun as a soft-core DHl bike with that front shock but it certainly wouldn't be much fun riding up any hills.

swelsbyuk

Thanks for the feedback so far. I think you have confirmed what I already knew - it's a good price but probably too much bike for the kind of riding I'll be doing.

Any other suggestions?

Pudseyp

Wouldn't say SLX are a lowish grade...ok not the lightest but strong and durable so ideal on that kind of bike...it's probably on a par with Sram X7 so I would say decent qiuality...most full sussers around the £2k mark tend to have SLX equipment..

Also not sure where you got 15kilo from....it's actually 13.3 !!!! which for a long travel bike is very respectable !

As for the Spec...Fork £400, £200 plus for the rear shock, and £495 for the groupset, and say £150 for the wheels...at RRP..I would say at grand it's a steal.....factor in finishing kit and frame.....bargain....ok agree it should be more around the £1,500 mark but compared to similar specs they are around its retail value...

Bar Shaker

The Boardman and the GT iDrive 5 are both excellent bikes. Light, good kit and exciting to ride.

If you wait a few weeks, more 2011 stock will be rolling into the shops and you may get more choice for your money with discounts on 2010 bikes that are currently out of your budget. You need to move quickly though as retailers can sell their old stock pretty quickly.

Bar Shaker

Pudseyp wrote:

Wouldn't say SLX are a lowish grade...ok not the lightest but strong and durable so ideal on that kind of bike...it's probably on a par with Sram X7 so I would say decent qiuality...most full sussers around the £2k mark tend to have SLX equipment..

I would want XT or X9 as a minimum for my £2k.

Pudseyp wrote:

Also not sure where you got 15kilo from....it's actually 13.3 !!!! which for a long travel bike is very respectable !

Type "Felt compulsion 3 kg" into Google. Everyone lists it as 14.9kg. Evans have it as 31lbs on their website.

Pudseyp wrote:

As for the Spec...Fork £400, £200 plus for the rear shock, and £495 for the groupset, and say £150 for the wheels...at RRP..I would say at grand it's a steal.....factor in finishing kit and frame.....bargain....ok agree it should be more around the £1,500 mark but compared to similar specs they are around its retail value...

Evans also have the bike for £999 but say they sold it previously for £1300.

There are many bikes that have wheels, groupset, shocks and brakes that retail at the full bike cost +50%. Those bikes are the bargains.

I still think the Felt would be a good DH starter bike.

swelsbyuk

I suspect that the kind of bike I am looking either doesn't exist or does but at a price point way above what I can afford. I want something that's light and does everything!

I would say that 70% of my riding will be bridleways etc. 20% will be singletrack - I'm hoping to get out to the Quantocks and South Wales in the next months. 10% will be Dartmoor / Purbecks etc.

What sort of bike do I need? Am I right, is the Felt 'too much bike'?

Anonymous

swelsbyuk wrote:

WMTB gives in a paltry 2.5/5 - eh?

This is a pet peve of mine with magazine ratings.
At the moment, pretty much all bikes are good, there are very few stinkers. So we can say that the average bike is great.
So, 2.5/5 should be considered an average mark. Not outstanding, but not bad, just, average. Like most bikes are.
Anything that gets more than that needs to stand out from the crowd in some way, but as it stands, the normal distribution seems to be around 4 or 5 out of 5.

This means that an average score does not actually reflect an average bike.

solsurf

I think the felt is a great deal! That’s the bike my wife rides and its stood loads of abuse where as my cannondale prophet taken on the same rides is falling to bits. And I look after the bikes. IMO the felt represents great value for money, they are certainly well put together and ride very well. Yes a bit heavy, but the equilink works pretty well and seems pretty efficient.

For information the 17.5” frame is about right for me at 5ft 10” hope this helps.

jasoncsh

I share the pain here....I've been umming and rrrr'ing about 4 different bikes....trying to stay and close or even under my budget for the initial ride.

After a lot of advice I kind of settled on the Carrera Vulcan.....and even now (although it's in the checkout basket) I'm now pondering over the Apollo Ridge as it's under budget.... :?

bails87

jasoncsh wrote:

I share the pain here....I've been umming and rrrr'ing about 4 different bikes....trying to stay and close or even under my budget for the initial ride.

After a lot of advice I kind of settled on the Carrera Vulcan.....and even now (although it's in the checkout basket) I'm now pondering over the Apollo Ridge as it's under budget.... :?

NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO!

Do NOT buy the Apollo! Please!

colint

It's not just different magazines that offer different ratings, WMB manages to give totally different opinions of the same bike. I was looking at a Lapierre X Control, rear suspension received a glowing report on the 2008 model, yet the same system is crucified in the 2009 test.

Zero consistency, makes the reviews next to useless. Decide on your budget, the type of bike you want, the minimum spec and then test ride them all

swelsbyuk

Spookily, after working at my firm for over 3 years and not knowing anyone else who is into MTB, a guy has just put a Trek EX8 2010 bike for sale on our notice board. He wants £1200 for it but I suspect he will take slightly less.

He is emigrating in November and is selling loads of stuff. His missus bought the bike for him for Christmas (lucky git!), so it's a little over 7 months old.

What do you think? Is it a decent bike and what sort of price should I be paying? He reckons he's not changed anything on it bar the grips and tyres and that it's in pretty good shape, with just a few scratches.

Pudseyp

Bar Shaker wrote:

Type "Felt compulsion 3 kg" into Google. Everyone lists it as 14.9kg. Evans have it as 31lbs on their website.

Not what it says on there site !! and I guess there the guys that know !!
http://2009.feltracing.com/09-catalog/s ... ion-3.aspx

Pudseyp wrote:

As for the Spec...Fork £400, £200 plus for the rear shock, and £495 for the groupset, and say £150 for the wheels...at RRP..I would say at grand it's a steal.....factor in finishing kit and frame.....bargain....ok agree it should be more around the £1,500 mark but compared to similar specs they are around its retail value...

Bar Shaker wrote:

Evans also have the bike for £999 but say they sold it previously for £1300.

There are many bikes that have wheels, groupset, shocks and brakes that retail at the full bike cost +50%. Those bikes are the bargains.

I still think the Felt would be a good DH starter bike.

I was trying to relate that the parts at retail are worth more than the bike so therefore at a grand its a bloody good buy !

Bar Shaker

swelsbyuk wrote:

I suspect that the kind of bike I am looking either doesn't exist or does but at a price point way above what I can afford. I want something that's light and does everything!

I would say that 70% of my riding will be bridleways etc. 20% will be singletrack - I'm hoping to get out to the Quantocks and South Wales in the next months. 10% will be Dartmoor / Purbecks etc.

What sort of bike do I need? Am I right, is the Felt 'too much bike'?

My riding (like many people here) is the same as yours. You won't need 140mm travel, 100-120mm is more than enough. You will want a bike that is well built and light, with good gears and brakes, for climbing up hills or blasting along bridlepaths. There are plenty of bikes that suit your needs and your budget. I just don't think that Felt is one of them.

Bar Shaker

swelsbyuk wrote:

Spookily, after working at my firm for over 3 years and not knowing anyone else who is into MTB, a guy has just put a Trek EX8 2010 bike for sale on our notice board. He wants £1200 for it but I suspect he will take slightly less.

He is emigrating in November and is selling loads of stuff. His missus bought the bike for him for Christmas (lucky git!), so it's a little over 7 months old.

What do you think? Is it a decent bike and what sort of price should I be paying? He reckons he's not changed anything on it bar the grips and tyres and that it's in pretty good shape, with just a few scratches.

Its an excellent bike and a fair price.

Bar Shaker

I would never trust manufacturers on weight. Retailers can be sued if they claim the wrong weight, so they are likely to actually weigh bikes and accessories.

Pudseyp wrote:

I was trying to relate that the parts at retail are worth more than the bike so therefore at a grand its a bloody good buy !

3 months ago I got up to nearly £1800 for the parts on my bike, excluding the frame. It seems you can get this sort of uplift at around £1k'ish. At £2k its more break even, above £3k all the bits can be cheaper than the built bike. The higher it goes the worse it gets.

If you are happy to nail together your own top end Cervello road bike (how hard can it be?), you can save £2k.

Anonymous

But isn't that why pretty much everyone has a "this blurb and facts etc may vary from actual item" nonsense?

Pudseyp

The Trek is a good buy....though not to disimilar to the Felt...you just need to make your mind up what travel will suffice !

Barshaker...please not titfortat...irrepsective of what the original price of the Felt was, at a grand it's a good buy..you can't denny that if that was the type of bike your were after...

Bar Shaker

Agreed Pudsey.

But for my riding I put a lot of priority on gear set and brake quality, all on a light weight bike.

Not everyone will have the same priorities.

Pudseyp

Ok....but it's for his riding not yours....we all have opinions.....your very happy with your Boardman and rightly so it's a well spec'd bike, but it's not everyones cup of tea which the same can be said about my Marin...advice should be impartial as one size hat don't fit all !!

When you gonna post pics of the steeds !

Bar Shaker

Just for Pudsey...


My Boardman Pro FS


His and her's Carbon Teams