What can £1k buy as a Full Sus?

larkim

Obviously Halfords, Decathlon etc need to come into the fray at that sort of price point.

But what should you bottom line be expecting to get from around £1k (+/- 15%)?

Also, if the buying timing was either this side of Christmas, or before the end of Feb next year, which period is more likely to present a decent time?

CitizenLee

£1k would buy a Giant Anthem from Paul's Cycles, or a Giant Stance from Rutland. Bump it up to £1200 and the Specialized Camber would be an option from Tredz. That's just a couple of examples without knowing what type of riding it would be for. Bascially just go on all the big bike sites and look in their sale section, most will have one on at the moment. I don't think Christmas will make much difference as you tend to find the discounts appear before the new models come out, so 2013/2014 bikes are already be cheaper.

Here's more...

http://www.discountcyclesdirect.co.uk/c ... CSS_ID=695

Saying that, personally I'd be looking at used bikes for that money.

The Rookie

Christmas won't make much difference to a bike very unlikely to be bought as a Christmas present!

lappymatt

£1200 would get my upgraded Zesty 314 PM me...

larkim

The Rookie wrote:

Christmas won't make much difference to a bike very unlikely to be bought as a Christmas present!

There must still be something of a boost in sales as adults "treat themselves" to a new bike at Christmas.

I suppose I'm asking in general is there some value for money to be got at that sort of price range. Clearly at £100 you can't buy anything decent new (hardtail or full sus). And probably at £400 you'd be unable to walk away with a brand new full sus which would be anything other than a full sus BSO.

But given you can pick up the Rockrider 520 S for £480, which (to my untrained eye) looks like a half decent starting option (http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-52 ... nformation) and that for £800 the 700 S looks OK-ish too (http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-70 ... 89292.html) I was wondering whether tipping into four figures achieved significantly more.

Its clearly unlikely that at £1000 you'd pick up the perfect bike for a first foray into full sus riding (I thinking trail centres and the like), but is the general feeling that "to get X specific feature you need to be spending at least Y amount of cash" where "X" is something that is an absolute essential and "Y" is a figure higher than £1000.

Angus Young

larkim wrote:

Its clearly unlikely that at £1000 you'd pick up the perfect bike for a first foray into full sus riding (I thinking trail centres and the like)...

The Boardman Team FS could well be described as the 'perfect bike for a first foray into full sus riding'.

supersonic

Interesting looking machine - and for a 2015, good value too:

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant ... oCR4Tw_wcB

shuffc

http://www.swinnertoncycles.co.uk/bikes-c97/mtb-c105/full-suspension-650b-c389/stance-27-5-2-full-suspension-mountain-bike-p50131

Giant Stance - Rockshox ft & rear shocks only £999

Angus Young

oxoman wrote:

PS top hate is people with all the gear and no idea and totally useless to boot.

If they're enjoying themselves then why be so miserable? Who made you sherif of the trails?

Antm81

The Stance at pedalon that supersonic linked to looks pretty good, plus from experience theyre a decent retailer, and the podium points can get you a few nice things to go with it.

larkim

oxoman wrote:

Having done Cannock and sherwood numerous times on a diamondback BSO without any issues, then upgraded to a carrera fury still doing the above plus Brenin and Llandegla with no problems on the Fury. My times have improved over the time but not because of the bike. I am currently looking to get an upgrade to a full sus myself having been lent one to try at cannock recently. As money doesn't grow on trees i will be getting a rockrider 9.2 or similar. You don't have to spend a fortune to get a decent bike, i usually post strava times in the top 30 to 40% for most trail centres i visit, which hopefully shows you don't need an all singing all dancing bike to ride reasonably quick. PS top hate is people with all the gear and no idea and totally useless to boot. The Boardman is a good bike bike but i think the RR700 is better value and the RR9.2 even better, don't be put off by brand name snobbery its not worth it.

Interesting, thanks. The £1k bike idea is for someone who is getting top 25-30% on Strava segments at trail centres, and is looking to push on. Money is the limiting factor, talent probably less so! (And no, its not me!)

rockmonkeysc

Getting in to the top 25% at trail centres is pretty easy due to the amount of really slow riders at trail centres, the top 5% is where the quick riders are.
I doubt that a full sus will make you any faster at Cannock, the trails lend themselves pretty well to hardtails.

CitizenLee

It's almost like no one already mentioned the good deals on Giants in the 2nd post :roll:

larkim

Can I frame the question more specifically then please!

What is the product level for key components such as the forks, rear sus, drivetrain that I should be looking at for this sort of price range?

e.g. Rockrider 9.2 has RS Sector DL 130mm forks, X-fusion RLX rear shock and a combination of SRAM X7/X9 3x10
Boardman Team 650B has RS Sector Silver 130mm forks, an unnamed RS rear shock, SRAM X5/X7 2x10

But one of the Giant's linked to has RS 30 Gold (120mm) and RS Monarch R, with Alivio / Altus 3x9.

I know fit and comfort are highly important, but it would be nice to be able to set a benchmark for what you should expect at that point, and then compare the other compromises (and colour scheme!) to come to a view on the "best" option.

Matt

CitizenLee

That must be the 2015 Giant Stance you’re referring to?

It will be a better platform to upgrade upon in the future, and has an arguably better suspension design than the others, but the fact it’s a 2015 bike means you won’t get the best value/spec.

This Giant is under £1k and has a mix of XT and Deore, along with RS Reba forks…

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s1p494 ... M-X-2-2013

Or for £99.99 more this one comes with a mix of SLX/Deore, RS Recons and the latest “must have” wheel size…

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s1p552 ... 7-5-3-2014

TrailAndError

I have the Rockrider 9.2 if you want any input. Pleased with it, for the money it is light at around 13kg, the components are decent and the fork in particular is great at this price point. The NEUF thing works, no pedal bob.
I agree if you are buying something with a view to upgrade over time then the Stance is a good starting point. It probably has better geo. But its nearly a kilo heavier and the fork isn't as good.

I'm actually selling mine soon as the top tube is a little too cramped on the medium frame, if I'd got a large in the first place I'd probably hang on to it.

cooky73

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sunn ... prod121792

any good?

cooldad

cooky73 wrote:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sunn-shamann-s2-suspension-bike-2013/rp-prod121792

any good?

Bargain. Sunn have gone bust, but CRC warranty so worth a punt.

dirkpitt74

How about Canyon Nerve 6.0AL for a smidge over £1200 with delivery.

Review HERE.

parkinpants

Perhaps the question should be is it wise to spend £1k on a full sus? Getting a full sus but only spending a £1k on it comes with inevitable compromises elsewhere. For example, my friend got a £1k full sus from Halfords and it's ridiculously heavy so he falls to bits on climbs. If you have your heart set on a full suspension you might want to think about saving up a few more pennies and going for £1500+, preferably £2000+. Long term you might regret capping yourself at £1k.

That said, here's a Kona on sale at CRC for £1350 (go on spend a bit more!)
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kona ... prod123658

That Canyon posted above also looks a good bet - direct from Germany with no middle man taking a cut = value.

If you absolutely can't spend more than £1k, give some thought to settling for a hard tail (suspension just removes the added thrill of fearing for your life that a hard tail gives).

rockmonkeysc

You are making no sense. That Kona is pretty heavy, quite a bit (around 4lb) heavier than a Boardman for a grand from Halfords.
That's the old model Process which was a real tank and that fork is terrible (big fork with no compression damper is not good).
There are plenty of good FS bikes for a grand. The Giant bikes linked at the start of the thread are really excellent, the same frame you get on the top spec £3k bikes. The Boardman is very good as well, certainly not at all heavy.