Voodoo Hoodoo 2013/14 model - Good buy still?

tonyburton

I thought my luck was in after discovering I could get my hands on a Voodoo Hoodoo for around £360, after reading the rave reviews it got here... then I discovered that the review was the 2011/12 model and by some people's reckoning, the 2013/14 is significantly inferior.

I've never owned a mountain bike, my other bike is a Galaxy Dawes, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm after here - reading around, it's likely the worst I'll be doing is Blue Rated trails - possibly the odd red. The remote lockout on the fork doesn't interest me, and the coil forks on the one I tried "felt" smooth, but obviously being Halfords, I could only test them in the store anyway.

Set against the above, I can get the Voodoo Bantu 2011/12 model (which still has air forks according to Halfords site) - that for around £290. Or I could go for a Carrera Fury for around £490 - all from Halfords.

What do people think? I suspect the Fury is the best bike of the three, but is it worth the significant price increase, and will I need it.

I've also just found the Carrera Vulcan - going for £360 which with 20% off I can get for around £290?

Hoodoo 2013: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Hoodoo 2011/12: Orig Review and spec: http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... o-12-46194
Orig spec: http://www.voodoobikes.co.uk/bikes/mountainbikes/hoodoo

Bantu 2011/12: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Carrera Vulcan: Review: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... n-12-45673

cooldad

Link to the spec would help.

anj132

It's not significantly inferior and £360 is a great price, I doubt you'll get anything close new.

I think it's worth paying that bit more over a bantu but the Fury is a bigger jump and not worth it.

Hoodoo will cope fine with blue/red trail centre runs.

thelonegroover

If your looking at previous years models, try Pauls cycles, then specialise in older season bikes.

slickmouse

I looked into these in quite a lot of depth a few months ago

The downgraded hoodoo, has now coil forks and no remote lock out, compared to the previous model, neither of those should be a deal breaker The Bunto is substantially the same bike, with lower equipment levels and a considerably greater weight, about 2 .2 kg from memory, though it retains the air forks, these are an older and heavier model to those that were fitted on the hoodoo. The all-round better kit makes the hoodoo the much better buy IMHO
But whist considering forks as a main factor in purchase, the Fury has Suntours XCRs, which are a reasonable fork, but much inferior to those fitted on either the Bunto or the Hoodoo and the Vulcan is cheap for a reason, its HEAVY

The main (and only) criticism I’ve heard leveled at the hoodoo, is the hardness of the paint, which seems to scratch deeply at the SLIGHTEST provocation, the display model in Halfords was marked up just from the getting it on and off the rack to sit on, I’m not sure what they will look like after a couple of years of hard use, id attacked it with some diamond hard wax if I got one

anj132

slickmouse wrote:

I looked into these in quite a lot of depth a few months ago

The downgraded hoodoo, has now coil forks and no remote lock out, compared to the previous model, neither of those should be a deal breaker The Bunto is substantially the same bike, with lower equipment levels and a considerably greater weight, about 2 .2 kg from memory, though it retains the air forks, these are an older and heavier model to those that were fitted on the hoodoo. The all-round better kit makes the hoodoo the much better buy IMHO
But whist considering forks as a main factor in purchase, the Fury has Suntours XCRs, which are a reasonable fork, but much inferior to those fitted on either the Bunto or the Hoodoo and the Vulcan is cheap for a reason, its HEAVY

The main (and only) criticism I’ve heard leveled at the hoodoo, is the hardness of the paint, which seems to scratch deeply at the SLIGHTEST provocation, the display model in Halfords was marked up just from the getting it on and off the rack to sit on, I’m not sure what they will look like after a couple of years of hard use, id attacked it with some diamond hard wax if I got one

as above but I think he meant the Vulcan not Fury in regards to the fork

slickmouse

indeed, i was getting it mixed up with the kraken, with the XCRs on, the Vulcan has the XCMs which would seem another reason not to buy it and the fury, the ST raidon airforks, but still no remote lock out

so in a shoot out with the fury, its if the air forks and the better paint are worth the extra purchase price ?

DanDax1990

No issues with the paint on my Bokor.

slickmouse

DanDax1990 wrote:

No issues with the paint on my Bokor.

there may not be, but as he isnt thinking of buying one, im not sure its relevant ? on the display hoodoo in halford i could pick the paint off with my thumb nail

James Q

But being a mtb and being used on the trails etc you cant expect it too stay scratch free for long.

tonyburton

Thanks guys,

I've had a good go on the Voodoo, (albeit on a carpark) and it feels like a great ride, so I've decided to go with that.
Thanks for the paintwork tip - I'll try and get some protection on it asap - probably a good idea anyway with a MB.

Now I just need to work on my other half, who's only been riding since I got her a MB last christmas, to try some trail riding....

sgtpepper1969

No problems with my Voodoo paintwork either

slickmouse

sgtpepper1969 wrote:

No problems with my Voodoo paintwork either

is your a 2013/14 model ?

DanDax1990

I doubt they decided to paint certain models to a lower standard than others, don't be a numptey.

slickmouse

DanDax1990 wrote:

I doubt they decided to paint certain models to a lower standard than others, don't be a numptey.

Why do you doubt it ?

The hoodoo has inferior frame wheels, forks gear set, chain set, bearings to the boker, in fact save for possibly a few nuts and bolts it has inferior everything, why would you doubt it also has inferior paint ?

The hoodo is being built down to its £499 price tag, which would seem the reason it has dropped its air forks and remote lock out, in order to preserve both the retail price and the profit margins, it seems quite a reasonable assumption that they have also reduced the paint quality or just as likely the curing time

Have you actually looked and compared the hoodoo paint with that of your boker ?, the paint job is dull and grainy, its a good approximation of what i could achieve with two aerosols, it stacks up badly against the high gloss finish on the kraken let alone a quality machine like the boker

Perhaps, that doesn’t really matter on a utility vehicle, but the paint is also noticeably soft, I put my thumb nail in a existing deep scratch on a display model and another inch of paint just peeled away. I don’t know enough to say it isn’t a batch problem and some are fine, but I have read adverse comments in reviews saying their paint is soft, which is why I did the thumb test in the first place, you can’t do that with my trek, that’s difficult to scratch with a screw driver

your comment is like me complaining that ford focus clutches are rubbish and you saying that can’t be so be so coz your mondeo is fine, it doesn’t really move the issue on a great deal

That said, even with the paint issue, the hoodo is still head and shoulders better £ for pound than anything else at that price

The Rookie

Can we trust someone who can't spell Bantu?

The frame you picked paint off sounds faulty, paint adherence to alloy is never as good as steel and preperation is even more critical.

slickmouse

The Rookie wrote:

The frame you picked paint off sounds faulty, paint adherence to alloy is never as good as steel and preperation is even more critical.

Indeed, so the question would be, is it an individual frame, a batch issue or an endemic fault across the model? The fact that others are commenting about the paint quality suggests is more than just one faulty frame?

Woodmonkey

It won't be as glossy as the kraken, the hoodoo has a Matt finish! I had a look at the new hoodoo, the frame isn't noticeably different to mine and the paint seemed fine. My hoodoo is three years old in November and the paint is fine even after some good knocks. It has a few chips as you would expect, but they stay chipped and don't start to flake or anything.seeing as geometry or the colour hasn't changed I would guess the frame is exactly the same just the components changed To bring it down to the £500 price point as previously said.

DanDax1990

The Rookie wrote:

Can we trust someone who can't spell Bantu?

The frame you picked paint off sounds faulty, paint adherence to alloy is never as good as steel and preperation is even more critical.

BOKER.

DM222

Woodmonkey wrote:

My hoodoo is three years old in November and the paint is fine even after some good knocks.

I think they're referring to the paint on brand new / latest model Hoodoo's

DM222

anj132 wrote:

It's not significantly inferior and £360 is a great price, I doubt you'll get anything close new.

+1

The Rookie

DanDax1990 wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

Can we trust someone who can't spell Bantu?

The frame you picked paint off sounds faulty, paint adherence to alloy is never as good as steel and preperation is even more critical.

BOKER.

No definately mean BANTU if you'd read the thread first.......

slickmouse wrote:

The Bunto

slickmouse wrote:

n either the Bunto or the Hoodoo

DanDax1990

The hoodoo has inferior frame wheels, forks gear set, chain set, bearings to the boker

He's getting the Bokor mixed up too...

tonyburton

Yes, the Bokor is £200 more and it's not available currently. I also liked the Bizango, but that's also not available until at least Christmas according to Halfords Customer Services.

I got the Hoodoo, and I'm fairly pleased. The paint job looks ok...only bug bear is the gears. I don't know if it's just in comparison to my other bike - a 10 year old Dawes Galaxy tourer, where the gears are sublime - quiet and you can just keep pedalling while changing up or down. On this, several times, while changing down, going up-hill with strong pressure on the pedals, the gear's initially slipped and then crashed into place with such a jolt it nearly threw me off. They also made quite a lot of noise which changing.
Is this because they're brand new and need to settle down? Or is this expected behaviour from this quality of gear?

DanDax1990

They're possibly not set up just right and need a bit of adjustment but changing gears whilst giving heavy pressure on the pedals isn't ideal anyway?

slickmouse

tonyburton wrote:

Yes, the Bokor is £200 more and it's not available currently. I also liked the Bizango, but that's also not available until at least Christmas according to Halfords Customer Services.

I got the Hoodoo, and I'm fairly pleased. The paint job looks ok...only bug bear is the gears. I don't know if it's just in comparison to my other bike - a 10 year old Dawes Galaxy tourer, where the gears are sublime - quiet and you can just keep pedalling while changing up or down. On this, several times, while changing down, going up-hill with strong pressure on the pedals, the gear's initially slipped and then crashed into place with such a jolt it nearly threw me off. They also made quite a lot of noise which changing.
Is this because they're brand new and need to settle down? Or is this expected behaviour from this quality of gear?

no its coz halfords haven't set them up properly, whilst i agree its not ''ideal'' its what you have to do from time top time to keep going and the gears should do it with out much fuss,