Giant 3 escape 2013 or voodoo marasa 2011/2012

djseaneq

was wondering which one was best to get giant escape 2013 or voodoo marasa 2011/2012 both £300. I am riding 20 miles a day to and from work, so bout 100 miles a week. The roads i use are pretty cut up and full off pot holes any advice would be helpful.

supersonic

Do you have direct links to the bikes?

daddy0

My brother in law has a Voodoo Marassa 2012. Its pretty heavy and Halfords didn't put it together very well at all (the front wheels spokes hadn't been screwed in for example). Its got disc brakes, which is its one selling point, without those it would be a pretty awful bike nearing on BSO territory. Also, I think the Marasa comes in only two sizes, so you're probably not going to get a great fitting bike.

The Giant Escape (I'm guessing you're looking at the 3?) is a lot more basic, but comes in 5 sizes and will probably be lighter. Out of the two I'd probably go for it, but without riding one I couldn't say for certain.

However, what I did when I was in your shoes last year, was I bought a second hand hybrid locally to me. I got a Scott Sportster P4, which cost over £500 new, for £150. It needed some new bits, i.e. cassette, chain, freewheel and tyres, which ended up costing another £100+. However I picked quality parts, better tyres etc and now I have a much better bike that is still quite decent and will last me a long while. Plus I learnt how it all works and goes together and really got back in to cycling road bikes after a few years away from it. I ended up getting myself a carbon road bike at the end of the year because I enjoyed my second hand Scott so much. My brother in law isn't enjoying his cheap new Voodoo quite so much, and is showing signs of wanting to give up on the commuting.

If you must buy new, then I'd recommend you save up some more and spend about £500-£600 on a proper bike.

You could be lucky though and get a nearly new bike for half its original cost.

djseaneq

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65534#tab2

or

http://www.thebikeshopderby.co.uk/giant-escape-3-2013/

thanks for the replies second hand is not an option id rather not the hassel with parts.

buy the way the bike im using cost £160 has done 2000 miles and is in pretty bad shape don't know how much longer it will last

supersonic

The Marasa is ok for the money, a little heavy though. It is certainly better specced than the Giant - which has a particularly nasty drivetrain set up (cheap screw on freewheel and associated weak axle). Also a hi tensile steel fork, the cromoly unit on the Voodoo should be lighter and more forgiving.

For £250 this is a great buy:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/riverside-3- ... ctFeatures

I would get a rigid fork fitted, which will take the weight down, and you'd be left with a solid bike with some good parts.

Burndust

have you considered a carerra, theres a few in that price range

djseaneq

not considered a carrera is that the one from halfords iv'e been told to stay away from halfords there build quality are not good apparently how about these.

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/m11b0s325 ... 2011%29%0A

or

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/m11b0s325 ... 2012%29%0A

im looking at the rrp and they must be better than what im originally going for.

kingofthetailwind

Another option from Decathlon:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/fitness-3-ro ... 88895.html

A bit lighter than the Riverside, and more of a road bike geometry.

djseaneq

A riend of mine said decathlon's bike builds are of a poor standard like halfords is that true.

kingofthetailwind

Generally, Decathlon seem to have a better reputation than Halfords for building.

The stem bolts on my Triban weren't tightened when I bought it in October. But you should always check everything over yourself anyway. I had the bike serviced and the rear wheel trued on Saturday, and was impressed. The guy looked about 16 but knew his stuff.

Burndust

it depneds on your local halfords tbh...some branches do actually have fairly decent knowledgeable staff....i have a carerra crossfire 2 and its been fine, used it all weather and it was setup pretty good...cant comment on decathlon dont have them round this neck of the woods

The Rookie

My Nephew has a Marasa and is very pleased with it, not the fastest on road but the 45mm tyres make it suitable for the roough gravel paths he also wanted to do.

As for the above comment about spokes - that's down to Voodoo not Halfords, a wheel buid isn't part of the PDI! Halfords can be hit and miss, but the build done at PDI is minimal and should be within the scope of any reasonably competatnt person.

djseaneq

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/m11b0s325 ... 3_0_V_2011


Thanks for all the input guys but this is the one I'm going for it spoke to a couple of bike shops they said it's okay.