Advice for ATB 1st Purchase

newtoit

Hi all

New to the forum and mountain biking (although I've clocked up enough miles on road bikes over the years) although I have done a bit offroad on my old Apollo :oops: . Please be gentle with me!

Want a HT for rough trails, forest tracks etc in an area where there's a fair bit of climbing to do. Although I've not had a womens' specific bike before I have read a few reviews and am probably inclined to try one. I'm 5'4" and a slight build. Don't have a big budget, would like to spend less than 600gbp ideally. I've been looking at the Specialized Myka Elite and the GT Avalanche 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0. Any views on one vs another or whether there's anything else I should be looking at.

Would also happily consider buying secondhand, if anyone could point me in the direction of a good site.

Thanks in anticipation of all your help

supersonic

Don't just look at womens models though - as many are basically the same as the mans, albeit with a different saddle. This can be changed easily enough!

What local shops do you have? I recommend a new rider buys new, as you'll get to try the bike, get fitted, have it build, free service and warranty: all useful stuff as you learn maintenance.

newtoit

Thanks for your reply Supersonic. My road bike was a man´s version and I am open-minded as to male vs female bike. It's just that having done a bit of research online it sounds like womens' bikes have come on a long way and being of slight build and not that tall I had thought that a bike designed with a woman's physiology in mind might be better for me than that designed for a male. I know there's no substitute for trying a bike out properly but I probably need to narrow down my options first - I live in the hills in a remote part of Spain and it's a long trek to a small shop for food so unfortunately I can write off a LBS :!:

Do you have a view on the bikes mentioned? I have also looked at the male version of the GT Avalance, and Specialized´s Hardrock Pro.

Thanks again

newtoit

Well I'm wondering if I've asked the wrong question (or put it in the wrong forum) or it's just that the bikes I've suggested are beyond mention ... so I'll try a different tack.

Given what sort of riding I want to do (my inexperience and lack of access to a LBS), am I better to go to a Decathlon (as I know there's one within a couple of hours' drive) and sit on the bikes and buy a Btwin that feels OK and can be set up for me, than buying an (arguably) better spec bike online that I haven't tried?

Mrs Toast

Women specific bikes tend to have shorter top tubes, working on the theory that women have proportionally longer legs and shorter torsos than men. I tend to find them too cramped, especially the Specialized women's bikes - I ended up getting a regular Stumpjumper FSR, despite being 5ft 2. Hobbity legs, see.

If you do need a shorter reach then there are still 'bloke's' bikes out there that feel quite 'short', including the GT Avalanche and the Ibis Mojo (although that's obviously a bit above and beyond what you're after! :P).

The only thing I'd be a bit vary of is that the lower end bikes tend to have coil forks, which on men's bikes seem to be set up for an average bloke. If you're under 10 stone you might struggle to get any action out of them! That might not be a problem depending on what you're riding though, and you can always upgrade at a later date.

Stiff_Orange

newtoit wrote:

Given what sort of riding I want to do (my inexperience and lack of access to a LBS), am I better to go to a Decathlon (as I know there's one within a couple of hours' drive)

Hold on you say there are no LBS, but you will drive 2 hours to a Decathalon?

I would probably say that there isn't anywhere in the country (Okay maybe Durness in the far north of Scotland) that doesn't have at least have a dozen LBS within less than an hours drive.

If you post up your location (just the town) I'm sure people on here will give loads of shops to try.

Then have a phone around and find out who's got what that you can try on. Remember your only going for sizing. You best bet it to try as many bikes as possible, if the shop only has the top of the range model with carbon this and that costing £xxxx still give it a try because the geometry will be basically the same as the more affordable models in the range.

Mrs Toast

Stiff_Orange wrote:

If you post up your location (just the town) I'm sure people on here will give loads of shops to try.

newtoit wrote:

I live in the hills in a remote part of Spain and it's a long trek to a small shop for food so unfortunately I can write off a LBS

newtoit

Thanks Mrs Toast, that's helped.

I have sat on a few bikes now (having just had a short trip to the UK) and am now focusing on two bikes: the Scott Contessa 20 2011 and the GT Avalanche 2.0 (ladies) 2011. Both are designed specifically for women.

Anyone got one/has a view of the relative merits of one over the other?

Thanks

supersonic

I'd lean towards the Scott - lighter overall weight, and better fork. Rest of the parts are very similar.

I have seen Decathlons in Spain as my parents live there, but don't know how many there are!

Gentabout

Shame you live so far away as we have my partners 2011 GT avalanche up for sale as we have just bought her a Trek Fuel 8.

Dean

newtoit

Gentabout wrote:

Shame you live so far away as we have my partners 2011 GT avalanche up for sale as we have just bought her a Trek Fuel 8.

Dean

Shame I didn't know that before Gentabout as I'm a Faversham girl myself and was in the UK for a week until Tuesday 11th. I do like the GT, my OH has recently bought the Avalanche 1.0 and while it's too big for me I have been known to have a sneaky outing on it!

ats

My better half has a scott contessa 30 and she loves it.Personally I think you could do a lot worse the scott has a good spec but is a little heavy but most are for that price