Newbie looking for some info

polsonm87

Hi all,

Bought a 2nd Boardman hardtail of a mate only to find the frame was cracked so he took the bike back and after doing a bit of research i found what am after, so bought a new Voodoo Hoodoo to get me back into mountain biking, lost intrest when i passed my driving test lol
Read some great reviews about the Voodoo Hoodoo, hopefully have it home in a week.
Anyone got one?

I Would love to build up my own full suspension bike over time to a high spec. Any suggestions?
Also any good websites for parts etc?

cheers

The Rookie

Welcome, the Hoodoo is a great choice and a good starter bike. Lots on here but not mine, I have a Carrera (link in sig) that is ever so slightly non standard.

Building up a bike can be pricey, you have a few options, buy new shopping around from the usual suspects lie CRC, wiggle and Merlin or (while the £/€ rate is good) some of the German sites like Rose or bike-discount.de or you can do what I do and either buy a suitable used Donor bike and reframe it or buy bits from the classifieds to build up on a budget, mine stands me just over £600 inlcuding some of the lesser parts that have ben on and off it and also things like tyres which I have for different terrain, not bad for the spec. (which now includes a Deore HT2 crankset and Shimano XT/XTR brakes).

polsonm87

Thanks for the help!!! Yea some good review on the Hoodoo for under £500!

What type of frame am i looking for? I dont want to build a Downhiller just something a step up from a Hardtail if that makes sense... lol

oxocube1

Well once you have the Hoodoo (very good bike for the price by the way and you can get it for £435 at the moment which is a bargain!) you will have a decent HT Cross Country bike. So when looking to build a Full Suss you may want to go for something more suited to Trail riding (the next step up from XC) or possibly leaning more towards All Mountain.

If going for a trail bike you would probably want a frame that has somewhere in the region of 120mm-140mm suspension travel front and back. Going higher than that will generally take you into the All Mountain category. And you would not want something that is too heavy otherwise climbs will be made very difficult.

In terms of components, I personally always prefer Shimano parts over anything SRAM but the SRAM equivalents are often a little cheaper. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com is awesome for parts but be warned it will be difficult to go a couple of weeks without buying anything!!

Don't be fooled by the Hardtail aspect of the Hoodoo though, as it can easily be ridden over anything that a full susser would. I know a lot of people that swear by HTs and are just as capable on the rough terrain as a full suss.

Hope that helps!

polsonm87

Thanks for the help!!!!

Yea can't wait to get the Hoodoo home!

I don't think i'll be pushing the limits of the Hardtails but i'd just like to build my own bike! I'll keep my eye out for a trailbike frame and see where it takes me

Thanks again!

anj132

polsonm87 wrote:

What type of frame am i looking for?

Only you'll know this after you've ridden for a while and then you'll probably want several different types

But the HT will probably suffice for now, I have a hoodoo as well and at times I wish I had a FS it still doesn't stop me having a go the local DH tracks.

I would personally say ride and maintain the hoodoo, do some upgrades and this will help when it comes to building a FS at later date.