Christmas Spending Money

glasuni03

Merry Christmas,

I have been fortunate that Santa left me £1500 to buy a new hardtail mtb. The options I'm thinking about being a complete beginner to mtb'ing are:

1. Buy the Orange Crush 2015 or Bird Zero 2015 https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/crush-am, http://shop.birdmtb.com/zero.html

2. Buy one of the following frames and add the Fox Float 130mm CDT fork, shimano components etc.


http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROO45650B/ ... 650b-frame
http://www.santacruzbikes.co.uk/Chameleon/
http://shop.birdmtb.com/framesets.html
https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/crush-am

If I build the bike up I can get decent components from Chain Reaction Cycles. Is the fork going to be decent for the geometry of the frame?

I am a short rider with "29 inch inside length and 5ft 5" in height. Looking to do trail centres and general rides (no jumps etc)
2015 is going going to be a great year for getting into cycling

Your thoughts would be appreciated

The Rookie

I'd take a Rockshox fork over a Fox every time.

You'll almost certainly struggle to match a complete bike by buying as components as you just don't have the buying power of a manufacturer, although it can be a good way to get started if you intend to upgrade later, buy buying those parts really at the bottom end.

cooldad

Of the two bikes, the Bird is superior in every component.(*)
And if you give them a call Ben will go through everything with you - effectively you can have a custom build for that amount, and his advice will be genuine for what you need. He's a very straight guy, a bike fanatic and not a bullshitty salesman.

(*) Disclosure as they are friends, but my statement is true.

Ferrals

Another similar option would be Whyte 901 (or maybe even the 2014 905 if you can find it on discount ) with money left over for a dropper post.

cooldad

Except to upgrade to similar spec would push it way more expensive. Sektor and X7 isn't in the same league.