Newb who could use some pointers...!

MuchoConfuso

Hello all!

After a lengthy pause in my biking 'career' (after reading the forums there seems to be rather a lot of us who are having long pauses...!) I've decided that I've had enough and I could really do with getting myself a tasty pedal machine.

Right now I'm currently based out in Afghanistan, and when I get home I'll be owner of a rather tasty bonus, a good part of which I'll be looking to splurge on the bike.

My dilemma is this;
1 - I will have this money now because I'm getting back. I don't know when I'll be going out again so I'm not sure as to when/if I'll be another bonus like this.

2 - I (naturally) want to get the best bike for the buck and I've a budget of about £750-1500. So...

3 - Can I get a few pointers on what represents good value for biking!

I'm looking at getting something that can do pretty much everything, that'll be fun to ride and will last me *years*. This is NOT something I'll be selling on a whim. Used on woodland trails, up hills, down dales... and when I get used to it on some holidays and treks!

Initially I've been looking at getting a Giant Trance X3... but not the 2011 models. Not at £2150. I know I *could* save up the money, but for me the bonus is a reward for being out there doing my thang so I can't really bear the thought of it just sitting there.

Some help, any help, any at all would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks all!

EDIT - I should have added, this hasn't been done with zero research. From what I can see, everyone loves their own bike that they've bought, for whatever reason it is. And trying to navigate through the labyrinth of online stores is a virtual minefield on it's own.

5pudgun

Seems a decent choice for what you want.All the big boys do similar bikes. Test ride as many as you can before you part with your well deserved bonus

popstar

Trance X or Spesh Pitch would be my choice in that budget. But again depends on what riding you generally do. Trance X is more suited to UK, Pitch however is burlier.

RIKO

+1 on the Pitch go for the Pro if you can find one in budget wicked fun for hooning about on, they really will take you from the local woods to the Alps

Fars

Welcome back to MTB'ing!

Best advice is always going to be test ride stuff locally, no one should tell you exactly what to get as we're all different builds and riding styles.

You say you want to grow with the bike, well the more comfortable you feel on the thing from day one the quicker you'll grow.

Try and short list what you like the look of and what you can afford, the riding you want to do could easily be done on a hard tail and you'd get a killer spec' for much less than 1500.

However if you've your heart set on going full suspension then go for it, the more you love your bike the more motivated you'll be to get out on it, and full suspension can boost your confidence at times. Your spec' will suffer and it's even more important to trial what you want to buy as it sounds like you want this to last, but it's your bike.

Hope that helps, whatever you get, just enjoy it mate

itsmygame

+1 for the hardtail.......

better to have a top end ht than a low end fs, saying that tho any bike in that range will be more than adequate.

Thewaylander

Welcome back to Biking mate.

If it's a bike to last i would go to the max of your budget and get full sus, that way if you fancy uplift days and all later you can.

With your budget of about 1500 i would be looking at last years bikes, and i would look at 120 -140mm bikes as these will do anything, Down Hill, XC and commute to work. Will look after for years. Also as your just getting back in, FS can give you a bit comfort while all yours parts get used to it again.

So i would look at specialised bikes/ Kona/ Mondraker/ lapirre and all from 2010 to save as much as i could to get as much bang for my buck as i could.

Chris McG

try a specialized camber- a slightly shorter travel option than the pitch but still good enough for most trails

D4V1D

I'm in your boat as well, :P I found out that trail centers are the best place to ride fast as everyone is going the same way. and if your lucky enough you can get to hire some bikes out.
I test rode a Kona 2+2' Kona Abra Cadabra, Kona Blast, Orange crush at Llandgela (went in a group of four and swopped about), then Cannock and hired a Giant Anthem X2, Trex Top fuel 9. I had as much fun on the Kona Blast and was just as quick as all the other bikes (full suspension ones, you still have to pedal). So I went to my local Cube dealer (as they are colourful and well build) and picked up a Cube Acid HT for £610. going to save the rest for riding gear and goodies.

welshkev

i personally would go for a full susser, i paid £980 for my felt which was an '08 model i bought in jan '09. it had a better spec that the spesh pitch (which is excellent btw) i have a hardtail aswell, but the full susser is soooooo much more fun

you can ride most/all stuff on a hardtail that you can ride on a full suss, but you still have all our fillings left at the end on a full susser

tenfoot

I paid £1200 for my full sus Specialized back in 1998. It's still going strong and is the best £1200 I ever spent.

FS is the way forward and last year's bikes are the way to get a decent spec bike for less cash.

D4V1D

If you want all of your pedal power to go into forward motion then a Hard Tail is the best way forward. The bob on the full suspension is just annoying, well for myself anyway (even with the lock outs). I'd say get out and try lots of different types bikes, what someone else likes may not suit you. I was set for buying a full suspension bike until I over-took a bloke climbing a trail on a full suspension bike whilst I was riding my old rigid. but I found down hill trails a real pain with out front suspension, so I decided that a £700 light weight Hard Tail was in order.

If your into big jumps then a Full Suspension may suit you better. I'm into covering miles of trails so I find that a Hard Tail suits me. :P

Spending £40 on hire bikes was money well spent. Saved me £800 on a full suspension that wouldn't of suited me.