Cannondale or Ghost

RickyNewcastle

Looking at getting either the Cannondale sl5 2013 or the Ghost SE2000 2013 which bike would you say is the better of the 2. It will be used for general commute and weekend rides for now till I loose a bit timber 20 stone currently, then onto off road at a later date
Cheers

The Rookie

Links?

RickyNewcastle

Aye sorry that would have helped :oops:


Cannondale
http://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.p ... ory_id=149

Ghost
http://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.p ... ory_id=144

supersonic

Both are pretty poor for the money - actually the Ghost is about the worst bike I have seen at 600 quid, truly spectularly awful fork! The SKL5 gets a better damper in there, but there are better options for this cash ie Decathlon, Voodoo and Carrera.

RickyNewcastle

Cheers al look at them, I'm pretty limited to where I can go though due to no cycle scheme at work and needing it on 0% finance

mcnultycop

0% credit card then pay it off.

RickyNewcastle

Another possibility

http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/produc ... cxlXvk3vkc

Boromedic

Most bikes in your price range will have a budget fork but you probably won't notice it too much whilst your trying to get fitter. Stick to a bike with a decent frame and a good base spec, whatever you add in fork performance you'll lose somewhere else on the bike as they are all built to a pricepoint. You can always upgrade the fork later. The entry level Suntour fork isn't as good as the Rock Shox XC but both are limited and the stanchions are only 28mm so both of them will flex more anyway.

Consider either of these as a good start point and find a bike you like with a similar spec:

http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p56297/Giant- ... -Bike.aspx

http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p56293/Giant- ... -Bike.aspx

Both these are on 0% finance and although the LTD0 is over budget, its a great spec for that price and Giant make good frames. The Revel LTD1 also has a really good groupset spec with Deore components , better than the cheaper Alivio and Acera you usually find at these prices.

Let us know what you decide on!

cooldad

Ignore the above. Most frames will be more than adequate, and budget components will work fine.
The fork is the most important thing at these prices and will make or break a bike.
See the sticky in buying advice - you'll get a much better bike much cheaper. Even if you just put it on a normal credit card you'll still be paying less for more.

Boromedic

cooldad wrote:

Ignore the above. Most frames will be more than adequate, and budget components will work fine.
The fork is the most important thing at these prices and will make or break a bike.
See the sticky in buying advice - you'll get a much better bike much cheaper. Even if you just put it on a normal credit card you'll still be paying less for more.

Charmed I'm sure, lol !

I agree wholeheartedly that the bikes in the sticky are far better value than any other bikes mentioned thus far in this thread, in fact that Decathlon Rockrider 8.1 is such amazing value that it should be illegal! That's as long as you can live with the more retro riding position (reminds me of my old P7 when I rode it, great fun!) and the clipless pedals. I've pointed a few folk in that direction at work. Might be a bit of a back breaker though if your trekking miles rather than hitting the trails.

However the OP stated he needs to buy on finance, he may not have access to a credit card and and the Rock Shox XC on the Giant 0 is a good budget fork on a well specced quality frame. That said if he does have access to one around the 19% APR mark (average these days) bought the Decathlon and made payments on it over 12 months he would pay around the same as the more expensive Giant in which case I'd ignore me aswell!

cooldad

If he can't get a credit card, he probably can't get finance anyway. It's not a guarantee from the shop, it's an external finance company.

supersonic

Buying any bike at this money with a fork that is undamped is a big mistake.