Newbie to MTB's. Please advise.

Spartacus1981

Hi guys,

Forgive my ignorance but I got into riding through Road Cycling (which I still do). However on a recent trip to Girona where a good friend lives (lucky bastard I know), we turned to the MTB's. An old school Kona Cindercone 26" bike and some basic cube Hardtail. I loved it !!

So .. Eventually, or sooner than I'll be allowed, I want to buy a MTB. In fact I want to buy one right now but don't yet have the space. I've come here for some advice.

Below are some bikes I've been looking at that I think might represent good value. To give some more background info, I'm a fairly fit 34 year old weighing about 75kg at 5'11, and mainly want to ride Trail type stuff with good climbs and decsents, and potentially some hard endurance MTB rides up to 5/6 hours at a time ? I understand the fork is apparently very important, but know very little other than that. I was thinking Hardtail, but maybe you guys could help me a bit more as I could possibly be swayed. Anyway here were some bikes I'd looked at.

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s182p5 ... 7-5-3-2014

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/grand- ... x-9-9.html

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Trance-2- ... _84140.htm

I understand some of you are more Hardtail than Full-Sus and vice versa but I'd really appreciate some help either way.

Many thanks

The Rookie

That's two flighty XC bikes and a trail full Susser, so will you be riding XC or gnarlier trails? For an XC FS the Anthem would be more suitable.

Welcome to the fun side of cycling by the way!

Spartacus1981

Thanks @ The Rookie : ) Yes a lot of people keep telling me this is the Real Cycling and where the fun is : ) I love the banter I have to say !!

Excuse my stupidity again but what's the difference exactly between XC (Cross Country) and gnarlier trails ? I thought they were one in the same ? The only real life experience I have so far was on dry and dusty natural gravel type trails through forestry in Girona, and once here the other week on a little bit of local stuff where we got stupidly muddy and seemed a bit more technical up and down steps, through loads of mud and over some rocks. I've only tried Hardtail btw so far.

I think what I mean I'd mainly like to ride would be flowing type / hard and challenging type routes through forestry etc. I'm not targeting jumps or tricks or insane downhilling for now. Maybe target something like dirty reiver next year for example ?

Which type of bikes do you think would be suited to say a long challenging ride like that ? I don't know why but I'm veering towards Hardtail but I could be barking up the wrong tree ?

Spartacus1981

I know technically Dirty Reiver is more of a Gravel Bike biased event but I'm not really clued up on XC events coming from a road background. I did see many did the course on MTB's though.

The B'TWIN RAFAL 720 looked decent too as I saw people on here were talking about them, but I can't find any for sale now.

winter_zombie

Hi
Well from what you have said about your riding needs here is what i would recommend
you haven't said any budget £££ but with the Grand Canyon AL SLX 9.9 costing £1500 i will take that as your max budget

Hardtail

VooDoo Hoodoo £500
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... -_-TopLink

Boardman Mountain Bike Comp 27.5" £519 (sale price)
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... -_-TopLink

decathlon B'TWIN Rafal 720 Mountain Bike - 27.5" £599 (sale price)
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rafal-720-mo ... FIH6y.EtNw

Full Sus

Boardman Mountain Bike Pro Full Suspension 27.5" £1199 (sale price)
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... nsion-27-5

Giant Trance 27.5 2 2016 £1499 (sale price)
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/318671/pr ... #clFinance

So their is my pic's all at different price points
The Hardtails ive picked as ive been on a voodoo and i was until last week a boardman owner
both the voodoo and boardman are great hardtail bikes and fun for a 2-3 hour ride,both would handle your desired trail's.
i haven't been on the Rafel 720 but i have read a lot of good reviews on this forum. but the rafel is a more xc bike

The Full Sus bikes will again do what you want but be much more comfortable on 4-5+hour rides and more suited to the hard endurance you may want to do.
Again a boardman full sus as its a great bike and a good spec at this price point, also halfords have a bike sale every few months so you will be able to get some ££ knocked off.

Giant Trance 2 2016 model Full Sus
I dont own a giant trance 2 yet but i did have a demo day test ride on a trance 1 last week, and to put it simply the bike is amazing. so good i have sold my boardman pro ht and i will be ordering my giant trance 2 2016 next week
the 27.5 or 650b wheels did feel better on the local red route and the full sus knocked out most the bumps i would normally feel and it was more a floaty feeling. and felt less hard work.
im a bit older than you (42) but we are the same height and weight so it depends on how or what you want to ride and the feeling/feedback you want from the bike

i know others will have their views as we all do but at £1500 the giant is a amazing buy

kevinharley

Bilkobaggins wrote:

I know technically Dirty Reiver is more of a Gravel Bike biased event but I'm not really clued up on XC events coming from a road background. I did see some did the course on MTB's though.

FTFY

The perfect bike for the Dirty Reiver is a CX/Gravel bike, ideally with tyres around 40c ... most people were riding bikes of that ilk, although there were a few on HT's, and fewer still on FS. A racy, light XC Hardtail would have been OK (a mate did it on his Cotic Solaris 29er, but with 40c tyres) but a FS was definitely overkill. The Dirty Reiver is about 180km easy-going gravel fire roads, 10km tarmac, and 5km more techy, rutted, stony double/singletrack.

I'm not suggesting that for your use, a CX / gravel bike is the way to go ... if you're looking at easy-going trails, long-distance non-technical events, it might be ... and you can certainly have some #dropbardirtygoodness fun on singletrack. But a CX would become out of its depth, or less fun (for most people) on rockier/rootier singletrack, or trail centre stuff.

Sounds like a light-ish HT is the way to go, will do the long-distance stuff as well as the trail-centre stuff ...

Spartacus1981

Thanks for replying guys. I appreciate you taking the time to do so as I have very little MTB experience at this point. The B'TWIN Rafal 720 Mountain Bike - 27.5 does actually look good and might have been an option if I could find one.

A nice light / flighty HT does sound like it would be the route to go for a mixture of trail and longer distance. I have been looking hard now at the Kinesis FF29. That looks up my street. Now just to find one in a medium .. Have seen a couple for sale on FB, Gumtree etc, but all in large : (

JGTR

If you're doing longer distance XC then go for a 29er......and a double ring up front