nOOb bike advice

walesm55716

Hi all
i have recently taken up Mountain Biking and have got the bug big style. I have been borrowing a friends upgraded Trek Fuel full susser, however, i think its time to buy my own bike and am confused as hell about what i should be buying, any help would be appreciated.
I have been looking at a few models ( budget around the 1200 to 1400 mark for 2010 models and would be a finance purchase) but would like a full suspension setup with a large size fram (i am 6'-3"). I have been riidng mainly single track trails with the occassional drop offs and jumps etc so nothing spectacular. The models i have been interested are below you recommendations / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

So here goes

Focus Thunder 3.0
Giant Reign 2
Specialized Camber FSR Comp
Scott Spark 60
Scott Genius 60 ( if i can find a large size, )
Mongoose Teocali Comp

Been looking for a couple of weeks now, i am drawn to the genius however i am struggleing to finad a large size frame for the 1399 i have seen it at.

Hope i have not rambled on too long

thanks

walesm55716

Sorry was meant to be

Mongoose Teocali Elite.

Thewaylander

Simple trick is test ride as much as you can,

Should be some bargain 2010 bikes baout now, Specialized always go cheap about now, kona(though i hate Kona) and so on, I would be lookng down this route to get as much toy as possible.

I would be keeping a close eye on the stumpies fsr's from swpecialized to snap up a cheapy.

walesm55716

Thanks will get up to my LBS to test ride a few.

anjs

Trance x might be better suited to you riding style than the reign

cavegiant

Fit is the most important, but for ones to look at for size first the Teocali is one of the best bikes I have seen. My wife rides one and it has absolutely no bob, none but the most plush suspension ever.
Fast nimble, great climber and a stunning descender, can't stress descent enough.

Two years ago she didn't know how to ride a bike, she dropped down porcupine rim a few weeks ago with uber speed.

If you are not aware of porcupine, one professional review read 'the best technical trail I have ever walked down"

The bike helps you learn fast.

robertpb

Should put this on your list www.boardmanbikes.com/mtbfs/fs_pro.html

Shaggy_Dog

I'd suggest you need an XL or 21ish inch frame if you really are 6'3". I'm 5'9" and ride a 19" Gary Fisher which are renowned for having a long top tube.

£1200 to £1400 is scraping the barrel to find a decent full susser, there will be some sort of compromise in either spec, frame or both. The Trek Fuel EX 5 has a cracking frame but a relatively poor spec so is fairly hefty, the Boardman's and a lot of own-brand bikes have lower quality frames when compared to the likes of Specialized, Trek etc.

Personally for your budget and especially your height I'd have a look at a nice 29er hardtail, you get a lot of the speed and comfort of a full suss but without the price tag, weight, complexity or compromise on components and frame quality.

This is what I'd buy http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/gary_fisher_collection/29er_hardtails/xcaliberz/

robertpb

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

I'd suggest you need an XL or 21ish inch frame if you really are 6'3". I'm 5'9" and ride a 19" Gary Fisher which are renowned for having a long top tube.

£1200 to £1400 is scraping the barrel to find a decent full susser, there will be some sort of compromise in either spec, frame or both. The Trek Fuel EX 5 has a cracking frame but a relatively poor spec so is fairly hefty, the Boardman's and a lot of own-brand bikes have lower quality frames when compared to the likes of Specialized, Trek etc.

Personally for your budget and especially your height I'd have a look at a nice 29er hardtail, you get a lot of the speed and comfort of a full suss but without the price tag, weight, complexity or compromise on components and frame quality.

This is what I'd buy http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/gary_fisher_collection/29er_hardtails/xcaliberz/

When did Boardman become an own brand bike, which it isn't.

As for frame build quality, have you bothered to look at them.

Thewaylander

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

I'd suggest you need an XL or 21ish inch frame if you really are 6'3". I'm 5'9" and ride a 19" Gary Fisher which are renowned for having a long top tube.

£1200 to £1400 is scraping the barrel to find a decent full susser, there will be some sort of compromise in either spec, frame or both. The Trek Fuel EX 5 has a cracking frame but a relatively poor spec so is fairly hefty, the Boardman's and a lot of own-brand bikes have lower quality frames when compared to the likes of Specialized, Trek etc.

Personally for your budget and especially your height I'd have a look at a nice 29er hardtail, you get a lot of the speed and comfort of a full suss but without the price tag, weight, complexity or compromise on components and frame quality.

This is what I'd buy http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/gary_fisher_collection/29er_hardtails/xcaliberz/

Ok I'm 6'2" and ride an 18" so test ride and ignore people telling you your size, I tend to like bikes a bit smaller so you can throw them around more.

As for 29" there great if your trails are open but as soon as you begin to get tight with the sharp switchbacks they become hard hard work to get round due to the bigger wheels.

Shaggy_Dog

I was trying to keep it simple. I have ridden several Boardman Bikes, HT and FS, and I've spent a day on a Voodoo Canzo and I have never been particularly impressed. The best I could say is that they're "alright". I am aware that Boardman is a separate company from Halfords, just as Focus is from Wiiggle, but both shops have have exclusive rights to them. Basically the Boardmans, Focus etc, are frames picked from a Taiwanese factory catalogue then stickered up and built up with luxury components, hence the low price. I know people in the trade who have visited the factory where the carbon road bikes are made and were pretty appalled at the manufacturing techniques, basically elderly Taiwanese women cutting sheets of carbon fibe, rolling into a tube then curing it. Not exactly state-of-the-art. They are not low quality in the way that they are not built very well, they just aren't stellar performers frame-wise when compared to something like a Trek because they haven't had the same amount of painstaking R&D go into them. So when I say lower quality, I don't mean in the welds, I mean in the design.

As for 29ers, have you ridden a decent one Thewaylander? Or are you just regurgitating someone elses opinion that you read elsewhere?

Personally, when I'm spending £1,200 on a bike, I want it to be a little bit better than "alright"

Thewaylander

Yarp,

Big wheels are not for more delicate manueveuers and corning, there ok for normal XC but when things actually get really steep they become out of there depth. especially with tight corners.

What they are good at is eating up miles and absorbing trail buzz, there acceleration is a bit off down to heavier wheels but they roll better.

How is all this for you mate?


And as for the frames not alot wrong with the above mentioned frame, other bikes at the price will have better/worse but still I tend to shy away from them as there very nuetral for geometry and i prefer slacker bikes.

dan shard

It all depend on what youre after. Most short(er) travel full suzzers are fairly cheap and well equiped, Cube AMS / Lapierre XControl. Both very good bikes that you can pick up between £1k - £2k. both 100mm - 120mm travel which is enough for anything youll see in Britain

robertpb

This is for you Shaggy Dog,

Boardman design their own frames, that's why they have a design team, they're even clever enough to design Nicole Cookes' bike.

Now Focus have a factory in Germany with 500 workers who design their own frames and every frame is hand built.

Trek whom I have a great respect for have most of their frames made in Taiwan or China, as do most of the large manufacturers, even my Meta 5.5 is made there.

You can guess where a lot of Specialized bikes are made as they are part owed by a Taiwanese company, Merida.

It is said that there are more state of the art frame building factories in Taiwan than anywhere else on the planet, Giant being the biggest.

Sorry but you need to have the facts right before making broad statements.

The Rookie

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

Basically the Boardmans, Focus etc, are frames picked from a Taiwanese factory catalogue then stickered up and built up with luxury components, hence the low price.

Is that the same Taiwese Factories that make the specialized and GT frames?

Simon

Shaggy_Dog

Listen, I'm not trying to have an argument, I'm just trying to make a point that for £1500 you can pick up a bike with a tried and tested and very highly rated platform, albeit with cheaper components or you can get something like a Focus, Pinnacle, Boardman which has a less developed frame with nicer components. On one hand you have a bike that is ripe for upgrading, on the other you have a bike that is as good as it's ever going to get and won't need upgrading.

The Rookie

Yes but the point your making is disagreed with, so that creates an argument doesn't it, you have an opinion, others disagree with it, you keep making it, we'll keep disagreeing, you are as much perpetuating the argument as those you disagree with.

We aren't all label junkies.

Simon

HebdenBiker

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

I'd suggest you need an XL or 21ish inch frame if you really are 6'3". I'm 5'9" and ride a 19" Gary Fisher which are renowned for having a long top tube.

:shock: Well I'm 5'9 and a ride a 15.5" so OP, you need to decide on your own size and not rely on sweeping statements like this. :roll:

Many people make an expensive mistake by buying a bike that is too big for them.

Simon.1

Hi,

I've just been through the same, looked/rode a few bikes. Read loads of posts on here researching! Thought i should start contributing too.

Ended up finding the Lapierre Zesty, really enjoying learning ti ride it! Best bet is get out and test ride and buy what feels right, it can always be upgraded as and when parts wear out!

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lapierre/zesty-214-2010-mountain-bike-ec020990?query=lapierre%20zesty


Simon

walesm55716

Thanks all for your advice . Iwas going to leave it till after xmas however my wife has bought me a Saracen Ariel 1 ( After consulting with a friend who is a bike mechanic) for my birthday. From what i understand it has a good spec for the money, Forks, shock etc so i am happy.

fungus_the_muffin_man

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

I was trying to keep it simple. I have ridden several Boardman Bikes, HT and FS, and I've spent a day on a Voodoo Canzo and I have never been particularly impressed. The best I could say is that they're "alright". I am aware that Boardman is a separate company from Halfords, just as Focus is from Wiiggle, but both shops have have exclusive rights to them. Basically the Boardmans, Focus etc, are frames picked from a Taiwanese factory catalogue then stickered up and built up with luxury components, hence the low price. I know people in the trade who have visited the factory where the carbon road bikes are made and were pretty appalled at the manufacturing techniques, basically elderly Taiwanese women cutting sheets of carbon fibe, rolling into a tube then curing it. Not exactly state-of-the-art. They are not low quality in the way that they are not built very well, they just aren't stellar performers frame-wise when compared to something like a Trek because they haven't had the same amount of painstaking R&D go into them. So when I say lower quality, I don't mean in the welds, I mean in the design.

As for 29ers, have you ridden a decent one Thewaylander? Or are you just regurgitating someone elses opinion that you read elsewhere?

Personally, when I'm spending £1,200 on a bike, I want it to be a little bit better than "alright"

I'd hardly call the Focus FIRST a frame rolled up by an old taiwaness bird and picked out of a generic catalouge :roll:

Briggo

Basically, Mr OP, you need to ignore Shaggy Dog.