New Bike time

Billman555555

Hey, i have recently gotten into Trail and All mountain MTB riding, and i think its time for a bike upgrade. I currently own a 2 year old LearSport 2500 Alluminium. It is a fine bike for general riding/cross country but isnt particuarly useful for trail riding.

Budget of about $700-$1500 AU for a Hardtail, and $1000 - $2500 for Dual Suspension. Any company is preferable, i will look at them all. 29" is also prefered, i have ridden both 27.5" amd 29 and much prefer the 29" sizing.

Firstly, which is the better choice, Hardtail or Dual Suspension. The obvious difference is in ride comfort and price, but im still not sure what would be better for me.

Secondly, does anybody have any reccomendations for good Trail/Downhill/Dual Sport MTBs?

Third and finaly, Fox Shox or Rock Shox, im still trying to decide, especialy since lots of higher end bikes come with stock Fox Evo shocks

Thanks.

The Rookie

Links to specs helps, saves everyone looking.

Any reason they are all Treks?

I think you mean trail and downhill, none of those bikes is a Downhill bike.

Any reason you are looking only at 29ers?

Budget? Give us an indication of where you will ride and that will suggest which of the two (Hardtail or full suss) may be the better option.

As for Fox or Rockshox, depends on the model, but the Fox Evo fork is pretty poor if that's on any you are looking at.

Where are you located?

Billman555555

I am located in the good old, very expensive country we call Austrailia. Budget is about $1000-$2500 AU, a little under or over is fine. All treks because at the time that was all i had had a look at, also because i had recently ridden one of my friends trek duals and it was a really nice bike. Also Disregard the bikes i have put up in my original post, right now i think i would rather take in suggestions and compare them when i compile some good ones. The Fuel EX 7 29" i suggested did come with Fox Evo forks/shocks, and after reading some reveiws i realised they are pretty poor.

felix.london

Billman555555 wrote:

All bikes have good reveiws on the Trek website, but im still going to ask.

As a rule, I'd take anything except spec & price that's written on the manufacturers website with a large bag of salt...

Billman555555

felix.london wrote:

Billman555555 wrote:

All bikes have good reveiws on the Trek website, but im still going to ask.

As a rule, I'd take anything except spec & price that's written on the manufacturers website with a large bag of salt...

Thanks, ill take that into consideration

The Rookie

I would certainly consider an Anthem
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/bik ... ifications
Very good bikes, feel like they have more travel than they do making them better downhill than perhaps they should be, yet just as at home doing an all day XC ride.

Billman555555

The Rookie wrote:

I would certainly consider an Anthem
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/bik ... ifications
Very good bikes, feel like they have more travel than they do making them better downhill than perhaps they should be, yet just as at home doing an all day XC ride.

Looks nice, but im still stuck in the Hardtail vs Dual debate. Any suggestions for which one is better for Single Track/Loose Ground Trails and Downhill

The Rookie

oxoman wrote:

a mate who is only 5ft 5" tried one recently and apart from he struggled with handling it looked like a kid on an adults bike.

I don't see that
http://www.bikeblog.com.br/emily-batty-do-canada/

(apparently there is a bike in the photo's as well!)

Billman555555

oxoman wrote:

For a bike to do flatish trails and trail centres then a hardtail would probably be best, but if your looking for something to do harder stuff faster without doing diehard downhill then the Giant Anthem would suit especially the SX which I suspect is out of your price bracket. The Anthems feel like they have more travel than they actually have as mentioned above they climb brilliantly for a full sus bike. If you fancy something with a bit more travel then the Trance would be worth looking at, don't get hung up with wheel size go with the size that suits you. A 29er with a small frame just looks plain daft IMHO, a mate who is only 5ft 5" tried one recently and apart from he struggled with handling it looked like a kid on an adults bike. For reference he got a 26" bike in the end and still keeps up with the rest of us on 27,5s and 29ers apart from out an out sprints. Ps full sus is more comfortable when the trail gets rough and the bones get older.

Thans for the advice, i think i will still compare both dual and hardtail suspension until it becomes closer to buying time. Also, i will consider the posibility of buying a 27.5". As for your 5' 5" mate example, i think ill be alright with that considering im 6' 3" or as us modern metric people prefer, 180cm or there abouts.

The Rookie

190cm.....ahem

felix.london

The Rookie wrote:

oxoman wrote:

a mate who is only 5ft 5" tried one recently and apart from he struggled with handling it looked like a kid on an adults bike.

I don't see that
http://www.bikeblog.com.br/emily-batty-do-canada/

(apparently there is a bike in the photo's as well!)

Yep - looks pretty much bang on to me...

Billman555555

The Rookie wrote:

190cm.....ahem

Closer to 185cm...

Anyway, anybody else got suggestions for a good trailbike?

rockmonkeysc

Giant Anthem is excellent. I have had one and would have another. The Giant Trance is also very good.

Billman555555

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Giant Anthem is excellent. I have had one and would have another. The Giant Trance is also very good.

Ok So now i have the Giant Anthem down as a Dual Suss bike, anyone got any Hardtails they would reccomend?
Im still looking at hardtails, the main problem being price, i think i will get a good hardtail first and stick with that for a while, and then get a dual later.

Billman555555

Ok, i have been doing a lot of reasearch, almost as much reasearch as i have been doing riding for the past week, and i have forged a small list to start off with:

Norco Charger 7.1/7.2 650B
Norco Fluid 7.2 650B

All nice bikes, running low on data right now so no links, but will add in future (1-2 days)
Budget is still the same level 1000-2000 Hardtail, 1500-2600 Dual.

Any suggestions send them in, if you want pictures of the kind of trails i will be nailing, just ask.

Thanks

The Rookie

I'm guessing you don't have a Maths GCSE ....

Billman555555 wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

190cm.....ahem

Closer to 185cm...

Anyway, anybody else got suggestions for a good trailbike?

(6x12)+3=75"
75x2.54 = 190.5cm so not closer to 185cm at all - is it really that hard?

Billman555555

The Rookie wrote:

I'm guessing you don't have a Maths GCSE ....

Billman555555 wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

190cm.....ahem

Closer to 185cm...

Anyway, anybody else got suggestions for a good trailbike?

(6x12)+3=75"
75x2.54 = 190.5cm so not closer to 185cm at all - is it really that hard?

It isnt that its hard, its just that i dont really bother using the imperial system much at all. So sorry, and this crap ipad doesnt have a calculator on it, and i couldnt be bothered to do the calculations.

The Rookie

So why correct me given that you admit you hadn't even bothered to do the maths?

Most smart phones have a calculator!

cooldad

But do most phones have smart owners?

Chunkers1980

Nope, judging by here today.

Billman555555

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Nope, judging by here today.

Firstly, im on my crappy ipad, and ipads dont have calculators, and i couldnt be bothered to download one, and secondly it was like 1am aest when inposted that. Amyway, does anybody have any suggestions or are you all just going to continue to rant on about off topic things like metric to imperial and vice versa?

cooldad

Billman555555 wrote:

Amyway, does anybody have any suggestions or are you all just going to continue to rant on about off topic things like metric to imperial and vice versa?

Billman555555 wrote:

i couldnt be bothered

The Rookie

Billman555555 wrote:

does anybody have any suggestions

Two
1/ Don't have a go at those you are asking for help if you actually want help
2/

The Rookie wrote:

I would certainly consider an Anthem
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/bik ... ifications
Very good bikes, feel like they have more travel than they do making them better downhill than perhaps they should be, yet just as at home doing an all day XC ride.

and I stand by that recommendation based on what you've said about your riding.

JodyP

Billman555555 wrote:

Thans for the advice, i think i will still compare both dual and hardtail suspension until it becomes closer to buying time.

I would recommend an Anthem also but only you can make the decision if you would prefer HT or FS. Why not decide what you want (FS or HT) and then ask nearer the time of purchase.

Chunkers1980

Far too sensible.