Which bike to buy?

Mdon

Hi all,

I currently have an old specialized hardrock (can't remember what year it is but is a good 5 years old at least) and after a recent fall off I've decided to buy another instead of repairing it. My budget is only £450 max, I'll only be using the bike on the whinlatter trails in the lakes and some road riding, nothing too serious as I'm only a beginner and don't really intend to go 'hard core' as I'll probably injure myself! Anyhow these are the bikes I've been looking at:

Trek 4300 disc 2012

halcyon talos 2011

felt q520 2012

To be honest I like the looks of them more than anything, so my question is are any of these any good or is there any better spec bikes out there for this price?

Cheers.

Mdon.

FatBurt

At £450 I suspect most will say save an extra £50 and go for a Voodoo Hoodoo

Mdon

Thanks, I'll have a look. I take it the voodoo is worth the extra £100 over the halcyon & felt as these are both £399 at the minute.

FatBurt

It got 5/5 in a recent review and everyone on here seems to rate it in the £4-500 bracket.


It's worth a look if nothing else.

cooldad

Or put some links up to the bikes you are looking at.

Chunkers1980

for £450 you could get some nice forks, wheels and a new drive train and brakes.

Would make a better bike than any of those you list.

70\ʹspenguin

Halcyon looks ok actually. Decent spec for the money and better fork i believe.

Voodoos
Rockrider 8.1(best overall spec for £500 you can buy) but a bit over budget.

If you like the black Felt/cube look then it may pay you to look at some of the German sites as they can sell cheaper most of the time.

Mdon

cooldad wrote:

Or put some links up to the bikes you are looking at.

Felt - http://www.cyclelane.co.uk/m1b0s2p5593/ ... /PRINTMODE

Halcyon - http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34629/Hal ... -Bike.html

Trek - http://www.rutlandcycling.com/40069/Tre ... -Bike.html

Mdon

70\'sPenguin wrote:

Halcyon looks ok actually. Decent spec for the money and better fork i believe.

Voodoos
Rockrider 8.1(best overall spec for £500 you can buy) but a bit over budget.

If you like the black Felt/cube look then it may pay you to look at some of the German sites as they can sell cheaper most of the time.

Can you give me links to the German sites please?

cooldad

Of those the Halcyon looks the best deal.

YeehaaMcgee

Mdon wrote:

Hi all,

I currently have an old specialized hardrock (can't remember what year it is but is a good 5 years old at least) and after a recent fall off I've decided to buy another instead of repairing it.

What's actually happened to the old one?

Mdon

cooldad wrote:

Of those the Halcyon looks the best deal.

Cheers, that's they one I was swaying towards, it's £410 delivered.

Mdon

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Mdon wrote:

Hi all,

I currently have an old specialized hardrock (can't remember what year it is but is a good 5 years old at least) and after a recent fall off I've decided to buy another instead of repairing it.

What's actually happened to the old one?

Nothing major, just needs new chain and rear delarilure but could do with a good service and a few other bits and bobs replaced ie the V brakes etc.

YeehaaMcgee

Well, with that kind of budget you could turn your old bike into something very nice - I'd recommend doing that.

Mdon

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Well, with that kind of budget you could turn your old bike into something very nice - I'd recommend doing that.

I've thought about it but it's looking a bit dated now plus I have a buyer lined up for it, if the buyer drops out for any reason then I'll look into it but I think I would rather have something new as I feel the time has come for a change.

YeehaaMcgee

Your money, but you won't get anything significantly better than what you already have for that budget.

Chunkers1980

And you'd have a lot better bike than any of those if you bolted £450 pounds of bits on it.

Mdon

I know what you two are saying but since it's only cost me a little over £200 to change a new set of hydro breaks, forks and the rest will cost more than this plus I'll still have the same silver hardrock. Where all three of these bike look a lot newer and nicer and I believe that if you like the look of something you'll use it more!

Edit : if you possibly point me in the right direct and show me some decent forks, front chainset, Pendles and hydro disc brake conversion, rear dérailleur and chain then I'd be grateful (just before I spend my money unnecessarily on a new bike)

supersonic

Just go to Merlin cycles - Rockshox Recon forks is £110, disc brakes from £100, Deore chainset £50, rear mech £20, wheels £60, pedals £20.

Chunkers1980

Nope. I'd say a Deore brake group from merlin when in stock and sun wheels for 300. Pedals and 130 on the best rs fork I could find.

Mdon

I wouldn't bother replacing the wheels are they are fine but either way puts the cost way above £250 so therefore isn't worth doing, cheaper to buy another bike which will hopefully be coming on Monday after I order it tomorrow.

Chunkers1980

Eh? You'll have something worse.

YeehaaMcgee

Mdon wrote:

I wouldn't bother replacing the wheels are they are fine but either way puts the cost way above £250 so therefore isn't worth doing, cheaper to buy another bike which will hopefully be coming on Monday after I order it tomorrow.

What?
You WILL NOT get a better bike for £250.

Mdon

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Mdon wrote:

I wouldn't bother replacing the wheels are they are fine but either way puts the cost way above £250 so therefore isn't worth doing, cheaper to buy another bike which will hopefully be coming on Monday after I order it tomorrow.

What?
You WILL NOT get a better bike for £250.

Eh?
I'm paying just over £400 for a bike like I said, but I'm selling my old bike on so it's only costing me £250 to change. If I'm not mistaken, the three bikes I have listed are all better spec than the bike I have now. And I realised I was have a stupid moment yesterday, of course I'll also need wheels as the current one are v brake wheels, not disc.

smartn

Just upgraded my hardrock sport disc with new hydraulic brakes (deore M596 £95) and rockshox silver tk fork (£120). This was following advice on this forum and I've certainly no regrets. I think the way a bike feels makes you want to ride it more, not the way it looks. Shame you need new wheels on yours though as that does make it a tough call.

Mdon

smartn wrote:

Just upgraded my hardrock sport disc with new hydraulic brakes (deore M596 £95) and rockshox silver tk fork (£120). This was following advice on this forum and I've certainly no regrets. I think the way a bike feels makes you want to ride it more, not the way it looks. Shame you need new wheels on yours though as that does make it a tough call.

Cheers for that, I have Given a lot of thought to upgrading the one I already have but to me it's going to cost too much. Why is the specialized frame so much better than the other three bikes to justify keeping it?

Chunkers1980

You just don't get it do you.

Mdon

Chunkers1980 wrote:

You just don't get it do you.

No I don't, why is an old specialized bike so much better than a brand new one. Your saying I should replace almost everything on the bike? The reason I registered on here is for some advice so please explain why the specialized is worth keeping please.

supersonic

The easiest thing to do would be get a new bike, but for 400 quid it is only going to be marginally better. The Hardrocks are decent frames, double butted, light.

You could add something like this - when back in stock:

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/m ... upset.html

These wheels:

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/w ... lizer.html

and this fork:

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/f ... -2013.html

And you'd have a bike far better than anything you could have got.

Chunkers1980

Because when it was new that frame would have been used on bikes that could have be sold for say £700 as they used the same frame with the bottom and top model in spec terms (bits added)

A £300 full bike's frame today will be no where near as good, not even close.

If you change the bits that count you can put more money into them as you are not having to buy again a headset and stem for example which would have negligable performance inporvments not matter how much you spent on them.

YeehaaMcgee

Mdon wrote:

Why is the specialized frame so much better than the other three bikes to justify keeping it?

It isn't "better". It's the same range. So what you're getting won;t be any "better" either. It'll be the same.