For the guys who have bought the RR 8.1 or Voodoo Hoodoo....

Tora75

Just wondering as this seems to be bikes of choice around the 400-500 price bracket how you are all getting on with your bikes?What you you have been upto on them?Also any issues and made any changes to either of the bikes......

Planning on buying one this week at some point so what to gather some info in one place.Many thanks for all your feedback..

Cr3do

I've ha the RR 8.1, since April and have had no problems at all. I've had a few crashes and the bike has held out very well, even tho I weigh 21 stone.

A couple of people have even commented on the parts, saying they are a really good spec.

Uli

I have got access to Hoodoo and I think it is great. I really like the geometry and how it handles. It is really good XC bike that may give you loads of fun. If it was mine I would probably put shorter stem and replace rear Alivio mech to get better shifting under heavy load. The fork requires some tweaking to get right setup for your preferences and behaves well but I only tested in in Swinley Forest and Chilterns so no madness. IMO for under £500 you can't go wrong.

MonkFunk

Rockrider 8.1 here also. Had it for about 3 months with no problems apart from a bent mech hanger which was easy to replace. Been mostly riding Bedgebury as well as a few local trails. It's a great ride for the price. I didn't really appreciate quite how nice it was until I went out with a mate on his cheapo Falcon, we swapped bikes for a bit and I couldn't wait to get back on mine! It was so much lighter, easier to handle and smoother all round. I would definitely recommend it.

jeannot18

I have had the RR since last year. This is my first MTB bike and can't really fault it. I have replaced the stock tyres, slightly wider bars and shorter stem and some MG1 pedals. I had last year trouble with gear indexing, and Decathlon replaced the back derailleur and cassette (free of charge). Just came back from doing the South Downs way and managed to bend the back derailleur (still don't know how as I did not have any big off), but again Decathlon agreed to replace it free of charge (downside is that I have to wait for the part to arrive). I can't really fault Decathlon, I am not sure how Halfords deals with its after sales, others may be able to help with that.
JC

Unclejonny

Great feedback as I'm in the same boat as Tora, I'm also looking at the canyon yellowstone 4.0

Jon

Uli

I have never ridden on Yellowstone but on the paper it is more expensive than Hoodoo. It has XT rear mech but cheapish coil fork instead so not sure if the ride is going to be in favor of Canyon.

Evvo

I too have an 8.1 which I have owned for around 4 months I swapped the pedals for v8's & have just swapped the poor standard tyres for Continental mountain kings which has transformed the grip of the bike, other than that it is standard & fine for me, a few cycling friends have had a go & all have said how well it rides.

Good Old Bakes

Had a RR 8.1 since April and it gets better - or rather I do - the more I ride it. My first real MTB so I can't compare it to owt else - apart from a 15 geared, V braked, hard nosed, £100-when-new-8-years-ago Falcon - but I'm glad I made the choice.

Replaced the stock tyres with Schwalbe Landcruisers, which in turn are waiting to be replaced with Maxxis Ignitors, swapped the stem for a shorter one and the pedals for Shimano 530's.

Oh, most important of all - took the bloody reflectors off the wheels!!!

anj132

Tora75 wrote:

Just wondering as this seems to be bikes of choice around the 400-500 price bracket how you are all getting on with your bikes?What you you have been upto on them?Also any issues and made any changes to either of the bikes......

Planning on buying one this week at some point so what to gather some info in one place.Many thanks for all your feedback..

Voodoo Hoodoo and had it 5 or so months.

Changes

Wellgo B54 pedals (much gripper pins than the standard pedals)
Changed from standard stem of 90mm to a used titec 50mm one
Longer bar from standard of IIRC of 680/690 to a sunline v1 745 38mm riser
MT15 wheelset due to me writing off the front wheel plus SSC rotor adapters
a QR seatpost clamp
a NC17 headset top - was being a bike tart matching other parts
chainstay protector
....and a bottle holder

Issues

No where stocking a 16" to try for fit
Problems with front wheel untrueing before writing it off (LBS said wheel was incorrectly laced)
Parts not torqued correctly out of the shop, i.e. stem & grips
Seatpost too long, catches on internal screw mounts to get it low enough (hacksaw sorted the seatpost out)
Paintwork seems to scratch really easily but it's a mtb so it's partly expected
Bent front gear shifter - my own fault (now kind of works with some bodging)

I've ridden different types of terrian, I like a varitey of riding doing local DH stuff but I'm not doing 3ft plus drops yet or doubles. Bike seems fine for XC as well but have consider getting a slighter long stem for climbing, i.e. 70mm.

Overal, I'm pretty happy with with the bike. I paid £405 (using NUS code) for it new so I feel like I got a lot of bike for the money. Most of the upgrades I did were when they were on offer or just 2nd hand. No decathlon near by for me to have had the RR option. I would have thought the decathlon was more suited to XC than trail riding due to fork length and IIRC steeper head angle but I reckon these are minor differences I don't think you will go wrong with either. I do like having an air fork and being able to adjust it with a shockpump. Tyres on hoodoo also seem popular - saves chaning these. Main thing - get one and ride it until either you or the bike breaks! Then fix up and do again!

If I were to do 'upgrades' again, I would focus on other non-bolt on bike stuff, i.e. multi-tool, bottle holder + bottle or camlebak, gloves, glasses, bike spray, chaintool, split links, chain lube, skills book, knee protection, bike security - 10% of bike cost(?), the list goes on forever not all necessary but does help. Worth budgeting for some of this if you don't have it.

Perhaps If I only had £500 and could get the voodoo for £400, I would get the voodoo and spend the spare £100 on other items noted above.

Sorry for long post but I hope it's of help.