Hi, new to MTBs and need a bit of advice choosing one...

Hierotochan

Hi there,

I'm a roadie & havn't owned a mountain bike since before the Raleigh Activator was de rigueur.
Having spent alot of time (and money) on my road bike I decided to borrow a Lapierre Zesty for the day and very much enjoyed spending the day riding around Epping Forrest. Pretty much out the door I was sold on the full-sus bouncyness & through the day (& after a couple of pints) I polished off my old BMX skills and was jumping up & down anything I could find. With my laps around the trails & deciding to take the long way home I think I covered about 80 miles and enjoyed every bit of it!

So, I've begun saving for a full-sys complete. I won't have the full amount saved until April (budgeting £4500-5k :shock: ) I guess but I'm considering 1 of 5 bikes. As I don't know what I really want/need I was hoping for some friendly pointers and guidance while I spend away a small fortune on the n+1 bike.

Hopefully I will be riding trails/Enduro, as I snowboard it's the closest thing I can get to doing that through the summer. I understand that for riding such terrain I'm looking for something close to a DH bike but without the slack head-tube angle and with more gears!

Here are my considerations so far:
1. Lapierre Zesty 914/Spicy 916
2. Whyte 146X
3. Ghost Cagua Lector
4. Trek Slash 9
5. Yeti ASR 7 XO

These are very different (and expensive) bikes, but as I'm going to have a long time to wait until I can afford one hopefully I will be able to make an informed and appropriate decision.
There are a couple of features that are very different between them, and I'm sure I'll have to compromise somewhere (i.e. 1x10, finishing kit, cockpit, dropper-post Etc.). There is alot of variance, not least of which are the fork/shock combos but the actual travel and group sets too. As it's all new I'm confused by most of the figures, but I know what I like and will have the time to test ride them all by April. They way seem like alot of bike for a newbie, but I like to buy once and buy right. That and I know my potential/limits, know where I'll be riding (mostly) and know what I like the feel of.

So my preferences so far are: I like the solid clunk of SRAM gears, plus the levers feel great. I want the ability to ride somewhere like UK Bike Park (and possibly visiting Morzine/Avoriaz in the summer) and go big/fast without thinking I should have bought a full on DH rig. Oh & I like the look of the Fox forks. While that is just cosmetic it's important, everyone likes to look at their bike and think it's pretty!

Dose anyone have any recommendations for bikes on (or not on) the list?
As of yet the Lapierre Zesty it the only one I've ridden so I don't have alot to go on, but I think I'll need more travel as I bottomed out both ends more than a few times (hence the inclusion of the Spicy) even though the shocks were set up for me (75kg, 5'11', 17.5" frame).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

J.

richg1979

You have quite a mix of bikes there.

will you be covering a lot of miles on the bike? lots of climbing? or more dh?

Hierotochan

Hi,

I'm planning on doing as much riding as possible, anywhere really but my local will be Epping Forrest & I'll want to get out to Wales/Peak District a few times.
As I said I snowboard and have a couple of friends who own and run chalets in The Alps, so with any luck I'll get out there a couple of times in the summer for some trail riding. Knowing myself I'll want to start jumping bigger and bigger stuff, so I guess as much travel as possible would be helpful, but I was trying to stay away from a full on DH bike as they seem to be impractical for much else and I'd like to do some XC with the missus and a long Enduro with a friend with it too (so I'm considering the Talas to make the climbing easier).
As far as Spec. goes I'm leaning towards the Ghost, it's got pretty much everything I want on it.

I've just re-read that & I seem to want a bike that does everything!

chez_m356

have you also looked at http://www.canyon.com/_uk/ the nerve AM or XC range might have something thats suitable, and maybe could save you a few pennies too

Hierotochan

I love the look of the Canyon bikes, they have a great Spec. but, and this may seem odd, but I like to support local businesses and try not to buy online if possible. It seems to have come back to me so far so I'm sticking with it!

supersonic

In that case you local shops should offer ypou a test ride!

Hierotochan

supersonic wrote:

In that case you local shops should offer ypou a test ride!

They did, hence lending me the Zesty for a weekend. I'll make my way through the list as the 2012 models arrive instore.

benpinnick

Id consider the Remedy over the slash for the type of riding you'll likely do.