Newbie <£3.5K budget

70\ʹspenguin

If you can easily afford 3.5k on a new bike then go for it and get the best thing you possibly can! We advise people who have a 1k budget without batting an eyelid so I dont see why this is any different - you just have a bigger wallet than most of us and fair play to you for that!

Good luck and I hope you get something that looks and feels great!

felix.london

Having literally just written something along the lines of;

"I find it very hard to recommend Specialized bikes anymore"

...this has got Stumpjumper FSR Comp Carbon written all over it hasn't it!!??

In all seriousness if I was about to drop that kinda money I'd definitly be getting a test ride on of those bad boys!! 8)

Duffryn

Thanks . The Stumpjumper FSR Comp Carbon seems to have lots of good user reviews. Looks the great too ! Its definately on my short list. Shame its not available with 29" wheels though.

felix.london

Duffryn wrote:

Thanks . The Stumpjumper FSR Comp Carbon seems to have lots of good user reviews. Looks the great too ! Its definitely on my short list. Shame its not available with 29" wheels though I may give up on that idea

It is in the States!

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/mountain/stumpjumperfsr/stumpjumperfsrcompcarbon29


And it's about £500 less than the 26" version here!!..just look at that.. 8)

Duffryn

That looks amazing. Long way to go for a demo ride but might be tempted to grey import and risk it

felix.london

Who needs a demo ride when a bike looks like that?

lawman

grey being the key word when it comes to specialized... some of the most boring looking bikes on the planet.

70\ʹspenguin

I must say i am not a fan of spesh bikes either.

You mentioned the niner earlier. The Jet Carbon RDO would be more my choice as its just so sexy! But thats all subjective i guess.

lawman

One of my mates from uni is sponsored by Niner, jesus they are nice bikes! Tbf spesh have the demo8 team, which is stunning, the rest... well turd, polish...

70\ʹspenguin

lawman wrote:

One of my mates from uni is sponsored by Niner

*is jealous*

lawman

yeah its a damn nice bike, but he is bloody quick!

paul.skibum

My mate rides a Stumpy 29er (nto a carbon one) and it seems to suit him, he's an experienced rider but uses it to good effect.

My advice would be to try and get at least a road spin in on a 29 and 26 inch wheel version of the same or similar bikes and see how they feel. For me the slower handling and lessened ability to lift the wheel/jump the bike plus the stand over height for my short ass put me off 29ers. I also fear change.

The Stumpy 29er is a 100mm travel bike where as the stumpy 26er is a 140mm travel bike - for me and what I want to ride i'd rather have smaller wheels and more travel than big wheels and less.

3.5k will get you a great bike - I'd steer away from the ultra racey rides like the scalpal and the bigger meaner dh bikes and settle on a shorter travel xc/trail oriented bike like the Spesh Camber or its equivelant. The more neutral position for riding will benefit a beginner over a more stretched racer and it will remain light enough for general use on roads and tow paths and what not as well as trails. Plus it will still have enought trail orientation to grow with you should you progress to anything a little harder.

Lawman's comments on spesh being polished turds is nonesense - although possibly the camber is the least apealing of the current lines.

At that price point for the most part it will be hard to get a bad bike but it might be easy to get a bike that doesnt suit you!

lawman

They look like polished turds, and the only spesh I've ridden that I liked the ride of was an enduro, which is wayy too much bike for the OP. I must admit I'm not a fan of FSR designs, they just seem to soak up too much effort and bob all over the place. They also seem in most cases expensive for what you get, much like trek, giant etc, and as I say, I'm not a huge fan of the looks or design. Their more gravity focused bikes where pedalling isnt so important seem quite good.

The Rookie

Back on topic if we can....

Cycle show at the NEC coming soon, 1km outdoor track for demo rides, just remember if your unfit the last bike you ride won't feel as good even if it's better!

Personally I'd say stick with a circa £1K bike and see what you do and don't like doing and then and only then) use the rest (plus what you can get back on the first bike) spend on the bike that suites your by now known needs, better still if you can get a nearly new used bike as you'll loose little.

The Anthem gets great reviews as a 'does everything fairly well and nothing badly' (aka 'the only bike you'll ever need' which we all know is rubbish, we all need 1 more bike than we have now!) all rounder which will allow you to expore which type(s) of riding you enjoy.

DF33

Please email me in 12 months time when the bike has spent 9 months in the garage after the 5 or six rides you had on it at the beginning, I have £500 cash ready to buy it from you.
Ta
Cheers
Peter

The Rookie

Not at all helpful in encouraging someone into our great sport......

felix.london

The Beginner wrote:

Not at all helpful in encouraging someone into our great sport......

indeed...the jealously is strong in this (that) one

Dandelionclock30

I would get a bike for about a grand go and ride it for a year and build your skills etc and see if your going to take to the sport etc.Then after 18 months or so then upgrade if you feel the need to.
Then you wont have wasted loads of money because you know its for you and your going to stick to it.
Also you will by then have a btter awareness of what you want out of riding and what it the best bike for you and your riding.
Remember if you spend 3k and then want to sell it you will lose at least 1k straight away!

felix.london

£1K to you might be £3K to the OP. He might've just inheritable £1 million that he's gotta spend, like in Brewster's Millions It's his money.

Most people would think spending a grand on a bike is ridiculous and tell you to get one for £300. It's all relative.

If you've got the money what's the problem with getting an awesome bike. Plenty of people buy stuff on credit with ridiculous interest rates that they can barely afford to pay back..now that's stupid!

styxd

I'd buy two or three different bikes if I were to spend 3.5k on bikes. Spending that much on a single bike is pointless anyway, especially for a beginner.

felix.london

That doesn't make any sense. Why's it pointless?

felix.london

...for someone that spends every summer in the Alps doing monster climbs, riding singletrack and downhill it wouldn't be pointless. Or for someone that's got a goal of riding the Trans-Provence or the Mega in a couple of years it wouldn't be pointless either.

A lot of people on here need to open their minds a bit. Not everyone is the same as you. People have different goals, ambitions...different ways of life and ways of living. A bit deep for a Wednesday morning, I know but giving advice like "that's a ridiculous amount of money to spend on one bike... especially for a noob" - that to me seems pretty pointless :?

Dubdemand

If someone has the money to spend on a bike be it expensive or not what does it matter! If you're new to the sport and have the budget to get something decent then why not? Who are we to judge!

I have probably spent more money on my new bike than my skill level requires but I get a huge amount of pleasure from owning such a nice machine and I love getting out on it...

There are some very immature posts/users on here who should try and think before posting - its not the warmest welcome I have seen on a forum! :roll:

Anyway, OP I can't recommend anything at your end of the market but for the record I have recently bought a couple of carbon HT cubes and my wife and I are really enjoying them... I also really like the look of Canyon and Norco bikes but have no hands on experience!

Whatever the outcome I'm sure you will have an amazing bike and it will give you many hours of fun/pain getting fit - good luck!

styxd

That doesn't make any sense. Why's it pointless?

Well it probably doesnt make sense if you do spend £3.5k on a bike since you'll be the sort of person I'd describe as having "more money than sense"

But seriously,

Deminishing returns and all that. The difference between say a £2k bike and a £3.5k bike is negligable. Obviously the people who've spent £3.5k will argue this fact to justify their purchase.

But as a beginner, he'll have nothing to compare it to anyway, so he may aswell get a at least a couple of bikes - much better value. Plus a road bike aswell, which will help with fitness if nothing else (although then he'll be able to destroy all the fat bastards riding the £3.5k bikes)

styxd

I'm not arguing against spending money - fucking spend spend spend for all I care. It jsut seems a waste to invest it all in one bike!

...for someone that spends every summer in the Alps doing monster climbs, riding singletrack and downhill it wouldn't be pointless. Or for someone that's got a goal of riding the Trans-Provence or the Mega in a couple of years it wouldn't be pointless either.

If you can afford it then fine, but you can do all of that just as well on a much cheaper bike.

felix.london

Do people really buy bikes thinking/worrying about what they're gonna be worth after they've bought them??..I certainly don't but then I buy used bikes to begin with

But if I had the money I'd buy brand new bikes and expensive bikes for sure. I bought my Trek Session 8 used for €2K. If I had the money I would've bought a Trek Session 88 brand new I reckon and that's what £5K ??

..and I'm a DH noob

Of course you can do all the stuff I mentioned on a cheaper bike. My plan is to do the Trans-Provence in 2014 and I'll be doing on my Rockhopper - but that's not out of choice. If I could afford a more suitable bike for that one race - I'd buy it fo shizzle

styxd

I dont know whether you've missed my point or what.

Theres a difference between a cheaper bike and an unsuitable bike.

Ive never done the trans provence, but the mega - I wouldnt attempt that on a Rockhopper!

I'd buy a suitable bike for it. I wouldnt spend £3.5k on it though, as I cant really see what real benefits it would give me over a suitable bike that cost £2k.

Do you get me?

oodboo

styxd wrote:

I'd buy a suitable bike for it. I wouldnt spend £3.5k on it though, as I cant really see what real benefits it would give me over a suitable bike that cost £2k.

The extra would get you above entry level for that type of bike. So you could get lighter bike with better controlled suspension for a start which must be a plus point for the TP.

styxd

So it might weigh a lb or two less (christ, your body weight can fluctuate that much over a day) and the suspension might be better controlled? Just set up the £2k bike properly and learn how to ride it!

As I said, diminishing returns.

felix.london

Surely the advice to a newbie is "get the best you can afford" - just because the OP isn't knocking around the £600-£800 hardtail market this should still stand. Like I say - it's all relative.

If we take Trek Fuel as an example;

You say he should get the EX7 for £2K but if you can afford it why would'nt you get the EX9.8 for £4K. You get a carbon frame instead of alloy, you get a better fork, better wheels and you get XT throughout with a shadow+ XTR mech instead of Deore & SLX.

I don't see why you would get the cheaper model if you could afford the more expensive one?