Best £2k XC/trail bike from Evans??

matthewhope

Firstly, as a newbie here, hi everyone!

I recently had my beloved 2005 Kona Caldera (with numerous upgrades - Reba Race forks, DT Swiss wheels and hubs, Chris King Headset, XT brakes etc etc) stolen so now it is time to get a replacement.

The two key criteria are: (1) maximum cost of £2,000; and (2) has to be available through Evans. This is because I want to use my firm's ride to work scheme, which is only available through Evans, and I am willing to contribute a maximum of £1,000 on top of the £1,000 ride to work allowance. Appreciate that people have mixed views about Evans, but there we go, I am stuck with them for this purchase.

http://www.evanscycles.com/categories/bikes/mountain-bikes/f/unisex#!Brake%20Type=Hydraulic%20Disc;Wheel%20Size=29%20Inch%20Wheel,650b%20Wheel!price_from=1000;price_to=2100;on_sale=;sort=desc;

I am about 1m 84cm tall (just nudging 6"1' on a good day) and a "solid" 90kg (14 stone). Not really fat (I promise!) - I used to be a rugby player before I had three ACL reconstructions!

Since I grew up and still have family in Winchester, the area I ride the most is the South Downs. Also have family in Somerset right on the edges of both Exmoor and the Quantocks. That is really the sort of terain that I am looking to tackle with the bike (ie long cross-country/trails). I tend to go for pretty long rides when I can to keep my fitness up, so would need a bike that will be comfortable for me to ride for several hours at a time (I am even hoping to have a crack at the South Downs Way 100 miles on it). I am also keen to test out some of the trail centers in Wales in due course (eg Afan).

I guess some of the main considerations which I have to weigh up and which I have not decided on yet are:

Hardtail vs Full Sus
Carbon vs Aluminium
650b vs 29er (have decided I don't want 26' wheels again)

I am leaning towards either a carbon hardtail or an alu full sus (don't think I can get a decent carbon full sus through Evans for £2k, but correct me if I'm wrong) probably with 29 wheels (although I've never ridden a MTB with either 650b or 29 wheels so that is the main thing I want a test ride to confirm).

The Scott Scale 930/730 or the Scott Spark 950/750 get good reviews and seem to roughly fit the bill:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/spark-750-2014-mountain-bike-ec056739
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/spark-750-2014-mountain-bike-ec056739
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/scale-930-2014-mountain-bike-ec055676
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/scale-730-2014-mountain-bike-ec055670

Or perhaps something from Trek instead?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/superfly-97-2014-mountain-bike-ec054510
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/superfly-fs-7-2014-mountain-bike-ec054523

I'd be most grateful for any thoughts on any of the above bikes or indeed any others similar ones available from Evans for £2k which I might have overlooked. Evans are very tight on test rides (and sadly I don't have huge amounts of spare time either), so I am hoping to narrow down a shortlist of bikes with your help and then book test rides on the final candidates. I'll also check out views on another forum to see how they compare

Over to you...! Thanks!!

Matt

The Rookie

You can't add to the £1000 cycle to work (rental scheme) as who would own the bike?

May want to think again.

matthewhope

I went in to Evans and asked them the question specifically - and they very clearly said that I could "top up" the ride to work scheme. Anyone else done that?

The Rookie

It happens occasionally (usually at small local shops where the person is a regular anyway), it's against the ride to work tax scheme rules and if your caught HMRC will come after you for the tax, I'd be very surprised if you actually got it through with a large company like Evans (maybe you spoke to the wrong person), again, who would own the bike? You with your £1K or Evans with theirs (until such time as you actually buy them out after the scheme as ended).

matthewhope

Thanks for the "heads up". Without wishing to get into a long and boring tax discussion (as a finance lawyer, I have more than enough of those in my day job!), it would only be the £1,000 ride to work vouchure that would be tax exempt - any amount that I top up would be net of tax. If Evans say they do it, hopefully they will do it!

And if the ride to work scheme turns out not to be available to me for this reason, then I'll probably just buy the bike myself out of my own pocket anyway (although obviously then I could buy it from another supplier).

Either way, the question re bike choice still stands, so all thoughts would be massively appreciated!

Chunkers1980

Either way that bike is rubbish for the money.

I think you'd be best using your own money and buying from elsewhere anyway.

matthewhope

Which bike?

matthewhope

The Rookie wrote:

It happens occasionally (usually at small local shops where the person is a regular anyway), it's against the ride to work tax scheme rules and if your caught HMRC will come after you for the tax, I'd be very surprised if you actually got it through with a large company like Evans (maybe you spoke to the wrong person), again, who would own the bike? You with your £1K or Evans with theirs (until such time as you actually buy them out after the scheme as ended).

Just called the ride to work "expert" at Evans who confirmed that it was fine to top up the £1000 voucher with a cash or credit card payment...

kajjal

It breaches the terms of the scheme to top up with your own money. The bike has to be owned solely by your employer until you make the final value payment. If suppliers choose to ignore or bend the rules then you need to be aware of the consequences if HMRC find out.

matthewhope

OK ok, sorry, I shouldn't have posted again re the tax situation. Let's park that.

Please let's focus on the fun stuff - the bikes!! For my build and the kind of riding I do, would any of those Scotts or Treks be any good?

Are there any important points I should think about when trying to decide between:
Hardtail vs Full Sus
Carbon vs Aluminium
650b vs 29er?

All pointers on bikes very gladly received. Thanks

Chunkers1980

Nope, none, it's what you want

chrisw333

Just a quick one, the tax saving on £1k does drop to a smaller proportion when you are considering a 2 k bike.

You MAY get a better deal elsewhere for say 1.6K than 2k at Evans. particularly if you look at Pauls Cycles.

For the riding you describe I would personally go for a shortish travel full suss - one option would be a giant Trance or Anthem if you are happy with 26" wheels
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b4s1p494 ... E-X-2-2013

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b4s1p494 ... M-X-1-2013

arthur_scrimshaw

The Rookie wrote:

You can't add to the £1000 cycle to work (rental scheme) as who would own the bike?

May want to think again.

You can if your Company agrees to apply for a Consumer Credit Licence - see below form the Cyclescheme website.

'What is the maximum value bicycle and safety equipment package employees can select through the scheme?

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has issued a group consumer credit licence to cover Employers implementing Cycle to Work Schemes that are limited at £1000 inc. VAT per Certificate. To view and download a copy of the licence please click here.

Employers who have their own Consumer Credit Licence Category B (consumer hire) can allow employees to request Certificates of a higher value. Alternatively, employers wishing to increase the Cycle to Work Certificate value can apply for their own individual Consumer Credit Licence from the Office of Fair Trading. For further details please contact our Helpdesk on info@cyclescheme.co.uk.'

Boromedic

matthewhope wrote:

OK ok, sorry, I shouldn't have posted again re the tax situation. Let's park that.

Please let's focus on the fun stuff - the bikes!! For my build and the kind of riding I do, would any of those Scotts or Treks be any good?

Are there any important points I should think about when trying to decide between:
Hardtail vs Full Sus
Carbon vs Aluminium
650b vs 29er?

All pointers on bikes very gladly received. Thanks

As Chunkers says above we could offer our personal opinions on what wheel size, material and type of bike we'd buy but you need to decide what you want and what you're using it for. I personally wouldn't buy a 26" wheel bike again, I think the benefits of 650b and 29" are great for me but there's many people on here who much prefer 26. You need to try a bigger wheel bike and see what you think, one of my ride buddies just can't get on with them no matter how much he tries em. Full suspension is great for some people but again, I personally don't like em and can't be arsed with the extra chew maintaining one and within my budget could afford a better HT so that was my choice.

If it was my money I'd get the best 29" HT I could get Aluminium or Carbon, but it isn't! I ride mainly XC with the occasional trail centre and my HT is perfect for that, if that's the kind of riding you're doing then I don't think you'd go far wrong with something similar. Having checked the Evans website there isn't any 29" HT's on there that I'd buy, too expensive for not the best spec. As the advice says above, check out other sites I think you'd get a better deal by putting your £1000 down on a better bike and the paying the rest on 0% finance or something.

matthewhope

Thanks Boromedic, that is really very helpful. Sounds like we do pretty similar types of riding. I found that my old Caldera handled most things that I was going to throw at it (no extreme downhill stuff) so if I could get something kind of similar then I'm sure that would be fine. However, given that I have never really ridden full sus before, I wondered whether most people would recomend that? SImilarly, I do like the sound of the bigger wheels but obviously can't be sure until I've tried them.

The issue I have is lack of time to test a variety of bike so the more pointers/recommendations I can get to narrow down the list before I start test, the better.

With carbon, is there a concern of damaging the frame easily if it gets knocked going in the car or something similar, let alone having a crash on the trail (something I try to avoid!)?

Boromedic

matthewhope wrote:

Thanks Boromedic, that is really very helpful. Sounds like we do pretty similar types of riding. I found that my old Caldera handled most things that I was going to throw at it (no extreme downhill stuff) so if I could get something kind of similar then I'm sure that would be fine. However, given that I have never really ridden full sus before, I wondered whether most people would recomend that? SImilarly, I do like the sound of the bigger wheels but obviously can't be sure until I've tried them.

The issue I have is lack of time to test a variety of bike so the more pointers/recommendations I can get to narrow down the list before I start test, the better.

With carbon, is there a concern of damaging the frame easily if it gets knocked going in the car or something similar, let alone having a crash on the trail (something I try to avoid!)?

No probs, there's plenty of good guys on here willing to offer advice but you need to narrow down what you're after first and then maybe people will then suggest various bikes to you. Full sus ain't for me but for others they're mustard, if you're nursing old injuries or hurtling down drop offs or jumps then maybe it would be the better choice. Magazines kind of pigeon hole bikes to certain traits or riding styles but other than at extreme ends of the spectrum you can do most things on any decent MTB, obviously some are better suited to more aggressive riding than others and will take the punishment better. I did a charity ride last year and one of the strongest riders was a dude on an ancient German steel hardtail with 26" wheels, he did every harsh rocky descent and climb as well as the guys on 4000 full sus bikes, goes to show that the old adage all the gear and no idea rings true sometimes.

I can't offer any expertise on Carbon I'm afraid, it was out of my price range at the time so never looked at it. However I've discussed the same fears you've described to my carbon owning friends and they have had zero problems with anything despite knocks and crashes. In many ways my understanding is that they actually resist crash damage as well or better than Aluminium bikes, and the weight gains for climbing are pretty awesome :-)

Boromedic

Can you get to a shop near a trail centre and try out more styles of bike to narrow down your choice? You could hire a full sus and hardtail in one day, try a 29" HT first see how you find the bigger wheels. Then either try a 29" full sus or reduce it to 650b, if the wagon wheels aren't your thing.

matthewhope

Boromedic wrote:

Can you get to a shop near a trail centre and try out more styles of bike to narrow down your choice? You could hire a full sus and hardtail in one day, try a 29" HT first see how you find the bigger wheels. Then either try a 29" full sus or reduce it to 650b, if the wagon wheels aren't your thing.

That would certainly be ideal. I live in London these days but spend quite a lot of time down in the South West. Any ideas for a good place that would let me do that?

Hypnoticjam

Evans allow you to top up. I did it and several colleagues have as well.

buddy_club

If it were me i'd have untick the 29er/650b suggestions, and get the Specialized Status 1. But thats just me. And its not what you want. Which is what matters here.

rockmonkeysc

Status is a good bike. Not a lot of use for the OP though.
If they ever sell it frame only I would buy one, it rides better than the Demo with the right build.

buddy_club

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Status is a good bike. Not a lot of use for the OP though.
If they ever sell it frame only I would buy one, it rides better than the Demo with the right build.

Yeah exactly mate, wish I had £2000 to spend on a bike, that kind of money is a bit hard to come by as a teenager

Briggo

The Rookie wrote:

You can't add to the £1000 cycle to work (rental scheme) as who would own the bike?

May want to think again.

You want to think again.

rockmonkeysc

buddy_club wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Status is a good bike. Not a lot of use for the OP though.
If they ever sell it frame only I would buy one, it rides better than the Demo with the right build.

Yeah exactly mate, wish I had £2000 to spend on a bike, that kind of money is a bit hard to come by as a teenager

If I had £2k to spend a Status would be well down the list. The frame is great but the builds are shoot.

matthewhope

Well I eventually pulled the trigger on the Process 134 at a very good price and it's great! Haven't had a chance to really test it out yet but got a trip to Exmoor planned in a couple of weeks to give it a decent ride.

Also got a Kona Blast for the missus while we were at it, which she loves. Unfortunately they are matching black/yellow so we really do look like a couple of gimps. Oh well...