Help me choose a bike? (£500-550 max budget)

LeeTheBee

Hi folks.

In a bit of a situation here. I'm well aware that £500 isn't much and getting anything particularly decent for such a price is hard to come by, but unfortunately I'm not rolling in spare cash, so I kinda need help picking out one of the following bikes; see here http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... ductBrand= - What'd be the best choice for my price constraints? I'd like a decent all-rounder if at all possible.

I'm kinda torn between the Calibre Two.Two and the 13 Incline Alpha. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know.

I previously had a Saracen Tufftrax 2013, which I got for £220 a couple years ago and I've quite enjoyed it, even if it did weigh 400 tons and had awful brakes. I just want something a notch upwards which will last me a good few years. I do mostly light off road stuff.

Help?

JGTR

£500 gets you far more bike these days than it ever did, both are great bikes, I don't think you'd be dissapointed with either, cheaper the better as you can spend the spare on converting to tubeless and s decent set of tyres.

supersonic

Both great choices - the Alpha with the air fork would swing it for me though.

LeeTheBee

Yeah I was liking the air fork and the frame on the Incline. Regardless though, I think anything would be lighter than the Saracen I had... good grief that thing was heavy.

Crazyjenkins01

I'm on a Carrera Vengeance. due to short timescale, impulse buying!
if i'd looked around a little more i think the Two.Two might have been a contender!

The advantage of mine was just under £300 and have been able to spend a bit on some upgrades that have enhanced it immensely. that being said, I'm not the best rider in the world...

LeeTheBee

I might have to flip a coin between the Two.Two and Incline. I doubt I'll be assed to invest in upgrades for a while, so on that front, if I had to just take what I was given an stick to that, would the Incline be the better option?

supersonic

The incline is the better bike in my opinion. The fork is considerably better than the basic RockShox. The drivetrain and brakes on the .22 are slightly higher spec on paper, but I doubt you'd notice a difference. The Incline is also 27.5 - not better in itself, but more parts are being made for this platform.

stuisnew

I'd be tempted by a voodoo bizango-£599 rrp but Halfords have almost weekly 10% off sales which would put it in your price range. Reviews incredibly well. I know you may not want other options than the two you mention but it's at the same place as the Incline!

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... ntain-bike

darren636

There's a lot of choice but at this price there's compromises.

I'd be tempted to go for a better fork and settle for lower spec shimano gears etc.

darren636

There's a giant talon on Paul's cycles, £599
With a nice discount. Decent all round.

LeeTheBee

I might just go for then Incline. I'll rule the Two.Two out. How does the Vegeance and Fury stack up? I can't see any up-to-date reviews on this site and I really don't want to go comparing specs on other websites when I'm not knowledgeable on bike parts.

So far it's looking like the incline. I imagine the gears are better than what I had on my Saracen... Good grief those were horrendous.

The Rookie

Its not clear in the specs, but if the Fury is an air fork its a good option at that price.

The vengeance is decent value but the fork isn't as good as the Raidon's on the others.

mrbubbaman

supersonic wrote:

Both great choices - the Alpha with the air fork would swing it for me though.

I'm in the same boat and looking for a new bike, preferably from Halfords due to the discounts that are available via websites.
The 13 has some sketchy review because of the Clarke's brakes, are they really bad that you would notice?

I was looking at the Voodoo Hoodoo and the Voodoo Bazinga, the latter being a 29er, which the guy at Halfords advised against, due to me being 5'5" tall, something about step off height??

He's ordered a Hoodoo in for me to test on Friday, to see if I like it. I might ask about the 13 then

supersonic

The Clarks Exo aren't their best offerings - patchy. But their M2 brake is very good, and you can buy a whole set for £35. Or Shimano M355. Basically it is a cheap upgrade. A fork costs much more to upgrade to the Alpha standard.

The Rookie

I wouldn't drop to the coil fork of the Hoodoo.

The Bizango is a 29er, but your height doesn't mean a 29er won't fit you (wheel size doesnt change the raltionship of pedals, grips and saddle of itself), the bottom bracket height on the Bizango is similar to the 26" hardtails leaving a similar standover height (height of the crossbar under your crown jewels), standover height is not a measure of whether a bike fits, it's in the 'nice to have but not crucial' category.

LeeTheBee

mrbubbaman wrote:

supersonic wrote:

Both great choices - the Alpha with the air fork would swing it for me though.

I'm in the same boat and looking for a new bike, preferably from Halfords due to the discounts that are available via websites.
The 13 has some sketchy review because of the Clarke's brakes, are they really bad that you would notice?

I was looking at the Voodoo Hoodoo and the Voodoo Bazinga, the latter being a 29er, which the guy at Halfords advised against, due to me being 5'5" tall, something about step off height??

He's ordered a Hoodoo in for me to test on Friday, to see if I like it. I might ask about the 13 then

I thought the brakes just needed bedding in?

supersonic

All brakes need bedding in correctly - the Exo can be a bit patchy in build quality, but is not a bad brake. No worse than an entry level Avid.

LeeTheBee

supersonic wrote:

All brakes need bedding in correctly - the Exo can be a bit patchy in build quality, but is not a bad brake. No worse than an entry level Avid.

If it's not bad, then it'll easily destroy the rim brakes I had on the Saracen Tufftrax 2013. I really love the look of the frame on the Incline.

If I do get, I'll have to get new mudguards because I had the Topeak Defender M1 and M2 and while they had great coverage, they were weak and I didn't like the idea of quick release guards.

I may wait to see if a deal pops up on the Incline or that just being greedy lol?

mrbubbaman

LeeTheBee wrote:

supersonic wrote:

All brakes need bedding in correctly - the Exo can be a bit patchy in build quality, but is not a bad brake. No worse than an entry level Avid.

If it's not bad, then it'll easily destroy the rim brakes I had on the Saracen Tufftrax 2013. I really love the look of the frame on the Incline.

If I do get, I'll have to get new mudguards because I had the Topeak Defender M1 and M2 and while they had great coverage, they were weak and I didn't like the idea of quick release guards.

I may wait to see if a deal pops up on the Incline or that just being greedy lol?

Looked at the Incline today and it's the one I'm going for. Using Quidco, British cycling discount and pre buying Halfords vouchers using my Quidco registered credit card, will give a good discount and a fair bit of cashback.
Just sorting it out today, then need a roof carrier to collect. Halfords had one discounted to £30 but it wouldn't fit my roof rails!

stuisnew

Worth remembering that Halfords price match. I asked them to match an online price for some Thule carriers which they did. I paid less than half what Halfords had them for before the price match.

LeeTheBee

Okay, still not got a bike but getting one real soon, it's between the current Halfords 13 Incline Alpha 27.5 or the Voodoo Bizango 29er?

What would be the better option? I have no intention of changing cables or adjusting anything, I just want to outright use it and stick with that.

I'm not going to complicate anything by other models, so it's defos between these two. Which one? Opinions?

Thanks for the help.

core00

LeeTheBee wrote:

Okay, still not got a bike but getting one real soon, it's between the current Halfords 13 Incline Alpha 27.5 or the Voodoo Bizango 29er?

What would be the better option? I have no intention of changing cables or adjusting anything, I just want to outright use it and stick with that.

I'm not going to complicate anything by other models, so it's defos between these two. Which one? Opinions?

Thanks for the help.

I went for the bizango nice and light bike, adjusted the handlebar, spacers, brake levers and gears as soon as I got them. Only used at trail parks for 2 days and so far so good except my lack of skills hah but that's another story.

I think its 2016 hardtail winner again for under 750 sub category.

I think you get 28days return policy if you don't like the bike or doesn't fit you as long as its on resaleable condition.

LeeTheBee

LeeTheBee wrote:

Okay, still not got a bike but getting one real soon, it's between the current Halfords 13 Incline Alpha 27.5 or the Voodoo Bizango 29er?

What would be the better option? I have no intention of changing cables or adjusting anything, I just want to outright use it and stick with that.

I'm not going to complicate anything by other models, so it's defos between these two. Which one? Opinions?

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the reply.

Anyone else wanna chime in?

There's a review on here for the VooDoo, but I don't think it has a similar rating to the Incline - I imagine this is because of different release dates or models. I'm not even sure if the review for the VooDoo 29er on here corresponds to that of the VooDoo 29er in Halfords at the moment. Hmm...

core00

LeeTheBee wrote:

LeeTheBee wrote:

Okay, still not got a bike but getting one real soon, it's between the current Halfords 13 Incline Alpha 27.5 or the Voodoo Bizango 29er?

What would be the better option? I have no intention of changing cables or adjusting anything, I just want to outright use it and stick with that.

I'm not going to complicate anything by other models, so it's defos between these two. Which one? Opinions?

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the reply.

Anyone else wanna chime in?

There's a review on here for the VooDoo, but I don't think it has a similar rating to the Incline - I imagine this is because of different release dates or models. I'm not even sure if the review for the VooDoo 29er on here corresponds to that of the VooDoo 29er in Halfords at the moment. Hmm...

I think it'd be the same model, from the thread I read elsewhere voodoo release new stuff every 2 years and the review was released in 2015.

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... -15-49837/

LeeTheBee

core00 wrote:

LeeTheBee wrote:

LeeTheBee wrote:

Okay, still not got a bike but getting one real soon, it's between the current Halfords 13 Incline Alpha 27.5 or the Voodoo Bizango 29er?

What would be the better option? I have no intention of changing cables or adjusting anything, I just want to outright use it and stick with that.

I'm not going to complicate anything by other models, so it's defos between these two. Which one? Opinions?

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the reply.

Anyone else wanna chime in?

There's a review on here for the VooDoo, but I don't think it has a similar rating to the Incline - I imagine this is because of different release dates or models. I'm not even sure if the review for the VooDoo 29er on here corresponds to that of the VooDoo 29er in Halfords at the moment. Hmm...

I think it'd be the same model, from the thread I read elsewhere voodoo release new stuff every 2 years and the review was released in 2015.

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... -15-49837/

Thanks for the heads up.

Edit* I've ordered the 18" VooDoo Bizango 29er... Saved that £70 plus I got nearly £17 cashback.

Looking forward to its arrival.

LeeTheBee

Oh dear... where do I start. Okay so first of all, about a week ago I had the bike delivered... without a box. So when I wanted to return it for a smaller frame, I was told I can't have it picked up because it has no box. Thanks courier. Of course the courier lied saying it was delivered in a box, but it wasn't.

The 18" frame on those 29" wheels is just far too big. Even with the seat-post at its lowest point I am on the tips of my toes... I went to halfords today to get a BOX, to send the other back and the guy said I could just cut some of the seat-post off as he didn't recommend me switching to a 16" frame. I did originally think about hacksawing the seat-post but given how much a pain in the ass halfords have been this past week I didn't really fancy it.

I came home, after having decided to just chop a bit of the seat-post off, but before doing so, it dawned on me... even when standing flat footed, the frame is touching my bollocks. Do you have to be a giant to be able to ride a 29er? Had this bike at 26s, I'd be rolling around by now, but it seems adding stupidly massive wheels to the mix only makes it 100,000x more difficult.

I think at this rate I'm just going to get a box and return the bike. I've had enough of this pissing about.

If there are any good, similarly specced bikes around with smaller, non-penny farthing wheels, then I'm all ears.

:evil:

supersonic

Can't you just take it back to the Halfords you went to get a box from?

stuisnew

It is a great bike, I understand and sympathise with your predicament but it's a case of the wrong size not necessarily the wrong bike. A 26 or 650b bike in the wrong frame size will present the same issues.

LeeTheBee

A 16" frame is the best option then? It's the lowest frame size available. I'm 5ft 10 an that's the highest size suggestion for the 16". There are no other frame options.

The gaps between the frame and the wheel on the 18" is tiny already. Rgh

stuisnew

Halfords don't do test rides but will let you sit on one, does your local store have a 16" you could try?

LeeTheBee

stuisnew wrote:

Halfords don't do test rides but will let you sit on one, does your local store have a 16" you could try?

This seems like my only option. I'm going to have to ride the bike 3 miles to get to Halfords. I'm not wheeling it there.

The gaps between the frame and the wheels in some places is alarmingly narrow, my concern is that a 16" frame is going to be even smaller. In fact, it makes me wonder how on earth a smaller frame is going to work on this without the wheels almost making contact.

Is a a 16" frame really the only option? I imagine frame sizes and height guides are skewed when the wheels are beyond the 26/27s which are so common? I know these height things are just guides but damn 16 is a small frame for thoe big ass wheels... that being said, I think this is my only option.

?