New Voodoo or Decathlon

bigmeanbunny

I have been on here before with an indecisive "I'm new, I don't even know what a pedal is" type of post that you probably all hate, however I have finally decided to take the plunge on a mountain bike. I am not sure though if I should use the 10% code I got from Sheffield Sky ride last week to get one of the New Voodoo's Bantu from halfords which is £400. I am getting one of the basic models for the missus so we can have a jaunt about the bike friendly trails and parks, however I wouldn't mind something a bit more rugged to try something a bit more adventurous during the summer hols whilst the Missus is at work. Is there a difference between the rockrider 540 and the 520 that I would notice?


http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/voodoo-bantu-mountain-bike

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-540-mountain-bike-id_8293149.html

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-520-mountain-bike-id_8293188.html

joebristol

I personally like the look of the Voodoo frame and the forks have a little more travel. That said, the biggest thing that jumps off the spec sheet at me is the weight quoted of the Voodoo vs the rock rider. 14.9kg voodoo vs 13.3kg rock rider. If that's right that's massive. On that basis I'd prob go for the rock rider 540 - it also has reasonable sram gearing / cranks vs bottom of the range shimano altus on the Voodoo.

Maybe try and look at both in the metal and see what feels best. My only experience of the altus gearing is on a charity endurance event a month of 2 ago. I don't know how well the gears were fettled in advance, but a lot of people had issues with gears slipping / losing their indexing part way round. Those bikes had tektro hydraulic brakes and they were ok. I faded them a bit on a long descent, but it was in Wales and built up a huge amount of pace on a fire road. Probably unusual - I haven't been to many trail centres where that would have happened.

rockmonkeysc

I wouldn't take too much notice of claimed weights. One might include pedals, there could be a big weight difference between tyres and they often just add up claimed weights from each component which is only a theoretical weight from a CAD model anyway.
With the Voodoo you could also join British Cycling and get another 10% on top of the discount you already have. Halfords let you use multiple discounts on one bike.

leeo666

or u could go for the rockrider 560 which is now £400

bigmeanbunny

Cheers all, I had noticed the weight but also noticed that was for the small model (I am 6ft so can't imagine that I'd be on that) and that it didn't have pedal weight. What's the deal with the the cycle membership and discount then?

joebristol

Rockrider 560 looks a good shout for £400. Better forks, better gears and better brakes. Looks quite a lot better on the spec sheet at least. Claimed weight at 12.9kg for a large frame looks light for the price to me. Presume that's without pedals, but it foes slso come with clip less pedals.

bigmeanbunny

Is the Whyte 603 any good? Noticed that was £425 in Edinburgh cycles today but I can't seem to find a review about it.

joebristol

Don't know much about whyte bikes except I think they're a relatively small British company. The blurb indicates perhaps the frame is a bit more thought through than done of the bigger company's efforts. That said, the brakes are worse, the forks are worse and the group set is worse than the rockrider for £400 mentioned above.

Although out on the trail bike snobs would probably like the Whyte but look down their nose at the rockrider. I get it all the time with my boardman road bike even though it's a reasonable spec with a carbon frame. Doesn't really bother me though.

codfather

R.e. the British Cycling discount; you become a member of BC on any level, cheapest is £20 and you then get 10% off all purchases at Halfords. On top of that, if you sign up for a TopCashback type dealy, you can get 2-3% in cashback as well. I bought a Bizango last year that should have been £600, but with one of their 10% random discounts, it ended up being under £500 I believe.

bigmeanbunny

Had a look at signing up for the british cycling thing, what membership do I want though? I notice the lowest race package offers cheaper bike insurance and magazine subscriptions. Is anyone eligible to apply for that package? would be interested in those benefits.