Ahem..It's another what £500 bike thread

paulneenan76

Friend is currently on an old Salcano thing made out of pig iron and straw, and has asked me for ideas on £500'ish entry level hard-tail. He's done some research and come up with the options below from Paul's Cycles and whilst the older Talon looks good, I'm not sure the Dart Fork is any good, would the Zaskar be a better frame as a base for upgrades? Can I have you suggestions on the best of these - or any other ideas?

BTW, he'd be a medium frame.

Thanks

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p492 ... LON-2-2013

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p384 ... SPORT-2012

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p348 ... LON-1-2011

Cheers

The Rookie

Dart forks are pretty basic, the 3 is about the same as a Suntour XCR, Talon 2 and Zaskar are decent buys, Talon 2 is the best.

paulneenan76

Sods law struck him. He dilly-dallied and the medium Talon2 sold out. He's about 5ft7 so advised against the small.

He's going to speak to the missus about raising the budget to this

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p492 ... LON-1-2013

Any other thoughts on a £600'ish hardtail with a good fork anyone? Or know any alternatives to Paul's Cycles?

supersonic

The usual - Rockrider 8.1.

The Rookie

As 5'7" is well below average height, I'd expect a small to be the right size, I'm 5'9.5" and ride a small.

hairy_boy

I am 5ft 7 inch (without shoes on) and a 31" inside leg and bought a Talon 2 from Pauls in a small.

I would say if I was much taller then it could be small but is actually a good fit for me. I had absolutely no standover clearance on the medium Talon 26" (my Dad has one), whereas I have 1.5" to 2" clearance between plumbs and crossbar with the small which feels about right to me.

I did have to buy a longer seatpost 450mm (with about 170mm of post still in frame) than the original one supplied - think the one supplied is 250mm which is very short.

Has your friend tried any frames in stores - even non-giant ones? Every 18" frame I try (in a hardtail) always feels big. The small frames (16") pretty much always feel right for me.

The difficult thing is that at 5'7" you are in the grey area between sizes so trying them is the best way to judge if possible.

Oh, btw the Talon 2 is a very nice bike with a beautiful frame for future upgrading !

EDIT: FOR ANYONE WHO STUMBLES ON THIS THREAD RE: TALON FRAME SIZING, I have recently tried a Talon in a Medium frame size and found it does in fact fit me better than the small. I have now swapped my small sized Talon for a medium.

hairy_boy

One more thing to mention - the Talon 2 in a Small size does not have any rear rack bosses/mount points. If your friend does want to be able to do any rides (coast to coasts or whatever) with a pannier rack mounted then may be better to not consider a different bike for that reason.

cooldad

I don't actually know anyone who has a rack on their bike.

The Rookie

Well not on a mountain bike, I have one on my commuter......

cooldad

Which would belong in the Commuting forum.

paulneenan76

He upped the budget and went for the Talon1 in the end. Hes got a medium frame coming which I'm sure will be fine - but can always change bars and stem etc if it's a bit long.

Cheers for the help as usual.

The Rookie

I think you've gone for the wrong size, 5'7" isn't close to the average mail height of nearly 5'11" which the medium is designed for.

rockmonkeysc

Medium size bikes vary quite a lot. Peoples shapes vary a lot. There's no reason why some 5'7" riders wouldn't need a medium.
Giant's sizing is a bit small.

paulneenan76

Well, he's had it a couple of days now, and I have to say I'm impressed with it. Have tweaked set up, controls, etc., and whilst I take on-board The Rookie's thoughts on sizing, RockmonkeySC is right this time regarding Giant sizing, it comes up short - surprisingly so for a medium.

He's well chuffed with it.

Paul