In need of advice on new bike.

peppermintmoe

Hey all,

I've been mountain biking for about a year now and I am becoming really passionate about. When I first started I picked up a trek 3900. However, I'm starting to out grow the bike, and want to pick up an overall upgrade.

I've been looking at the Orange crush, the Orange clockwork and the Kona Shred. Does anyone have any advice on weather or not these bikes are good for trail riding around the UK (Llandegla, Coed Y Brenin, Forest of Dean, Cannock Chase ect).

I'm also open to other bike suggestions, but ideally a hard tail in the £1300 range.

Thanks in advance.

Moe Peppers.

rockmonkeysc

Those are all terrible for the price. You can get a good full suspension bike for that price.

fielonator

I'll second that. You can get an even better full suss 2nd hand for much less. It takes a bit of trawling but there's plenty of choice on ebay and gumtree. I recently saw a 2012 marin mount vision for £800. Not their best work by any means but well suited to hammering round trail centres.

If it's a hardtail you're after I'd be looking at Whyte's new ones, designed for fun rather than racing.

njee20

What if the OP doesn't want FS? They're not inherently better after all...

What about something like an On One 456C?

ride_whenever

The crush is pretty fun. Make sure to try and sit on the crush as they size a bit funny.

fielonator

Everyone should want full suss, they're just better.

kajjal

fielonator wrote:

Everyone should want full suss, they're just better.

Not for real men though we don't need the "padding" , just need to feel the trail

Being more serious, test ride a variety of bikes and see which you like the look / ride of. Then do the price and spec comparison to work out which is best value for you. I did this and ended up with a 2013 Specialized Carve ( now called Crave). While other bikes had a better component spec for the price the Carve for me looked good and felt good on the test ride. It's been a great XC and trail bike for me.

muddpuppy

There was a whyte905 2012 model at winstanleys for a grand in large only though when I last looked was close to buying one before deciding to save a bit more for an fs I'd put a link up if I knew how maybe some one else can. Then there's the boardmans pro 29er like njee mentioned earlier the on one which comes in sram or shimano flavour I believe

marcus'73

I can't understand the comments on here recommending getting a cheap full suss bike over a decent hardtail. What is the point of having suspension at both ends if it is so poor it doesn't work properly. At this price point you would be making real compromises, probably ending up with a useless flexy fork, shonky gears and heavy wheels. Budget is obviously important here and you want to be riding the bike not saving up to replace substandard parts you trashed first time out.
There's not much in the UK you can't ride on a decent Hardtail, ok it might be harder to tackle some of it than with full suspension but that doesn't mean it's not fun.
I would agree with the quotes here suggesting you look at something like a an On One 456

Tuga

I had the same dilemma a few weeks ago and decided to buy a good hard tail rather than a not so good full suss. Also when I speak to guys who have been riding for years, somehow they all went back to hardtails with big forks at the front...seems to be the perfect combo and I can now understand why.
Back then I was looking between the Spesh Carve 2013 and the Scale 940...went for the second option for 1100 quid, a massive 600 quid off original price (thanks you mr. Evans!)
For that price if you really search around (ideally during sale season) you can get a lot of choices!

rockmonkeysc

At this price you don't have to have poor suspension. If you shop around and look at ze Germans as well you can get a very good full sus bike for around this budget.
For example a 2013 Giant Trance X2
http://www.ashcycles.com/site/giant-trance-x2-2013
Or a Rose Granite Chief http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-gr ... aid:710711

Both are excellent bikes and great value

brucie45

Custom build would be good at that sort of budget, something like a Cotic Soul (Bfe) or On-one 456 (c), as others have said there is a possibility ov a FS but it appears you want a HT. Have a look at the aggressive hardtail thread for some insperation, its in the your mountain bike forum. Aggressive hardtails are sooo much fun to ride.