Road biker turning to Mountain biking

Blue9320

So I've been cycling for a few years now and enjoy getting out in the road but I'm looking at rolling back the years and going getting muddied up on some trails and forest riding.
I've got a budget of about £1200 and my question is, do I go for an entry level full sus bike or spend the same amount on a hardtail with a better spec?
I do like the look of the bird zero am but I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to get down the same trails as a few friends who are all on pretty decent full sus bikes.

Wooderson

Unless you're talking about chasing your mates downs some chunky DH type trails - i.e. with big stepped root or rock shelves and massive ruts - you'd have just as much fun and still be in control on a hardtail. In any case those sort of trails can be ridden on a hardtail, but that'll come from the technique you'll have lots of fun re-learning!

A £1,200 Bird hardtail would have a very nice spec and I'm sure you'd appreciate the benefits of, for example, a dropper, decent tyres and a groupset upgrade, over an similarly priced full susser.

I'd say go BIRD or a lovely Lime Whyte 901

LimitedGarry

Definitely would recommend the hardtail.

Blue9320

Wooderson wrote:

Unless you're talking about chasing your mates downs some chunky DH type trails - i.e. with big stepped root or rock shelves and massive ruts - you'd have just as much fun and still be in control on a hardtail. In any case those sort of trails can be ridden on a hardtail, but that'll come from the technique you'll have lots of fun re-learning!

A £1,200 Bird hardtail would have a very nice spec and I'm sure you'd appreciate the benefits of, for example, a dropper, decent tyres and a groupset upgrade, over an similarly priced full susser.

I'd say go BIRD or a lovely Lime Whyte 901

thx for the reply I will take a look at the 901 too, I had seen good reviews

rockmonkeysc

Full suspension isn't better than hardtail. It's just different.

RichardSmart

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Full suspension isn't better than hardtail. It's just different.

I personally prefer full-sus, although it really depends on how much you have to spend - I have a Scott MC10 full-susser which I absolutely love, but it really depends on your budget - my best advice would be to go somewhere like Glentress where you can hire both hardtails and full-sussers, test-ride a couple of bikes and take it from there. Just steer clear of the two-thousand pound full-sussers and you should be OK...

wmorgs

Gottta say i prefer a full suss as being nearly 50 i feel less tired and battered than on my old hardtail after a ride.
Loads choices at that budget for hardtail even few decent full suss as well.
Hardtail: Whyte 901, Laura Trott MTB. Boardmans
Full Suss: Boardman Pro when back to £1200, the calibra bossnut , giant trance
Borrow, beg, hire some to find which you prefer.

Blue9320

Thx fellas, I will give these bikes a looking at this evening

mark_fogel

The Calibre Bosnut is £899 at the moment and a really good entry level full sus, leaves you some change for a dropper.

Alternatively if you are planning to cover miles consider a more XC type bike, Chain Reaction have some deals on Cube Stereo 29er.
Also have check out Paul's Cycles they have deals on a Merida 500 and Giant Anthem.

bigmitch41

Full suss all the way.

The Rookie

I'm with wmorgs, as I got to 50 I was finding trail centres were an issue on my HT, not uphil but using my legs as suspension on the downs which is why I now have a short travel full susser.

Wooderson

Entry level full susssers, which do tend to have twitchy XC-based geometry and cramped, narrow controls, leaves me a little cold and I wouldn't really recommend that for a new or returning rider - especially if you're trying to enthuse them with how fun MTBing is! I also think it's too easy to confuse plush comfort with suspension performance - like how riding with a rear shock with no rebound damping can feel to a novice like the suspension is actually 'doing something'.

I don't have a hardtail these days, but I love that companies like BIRD and Whyte are designing budget and mid-range trail hardtails that have fun and confident handing as the cornerstone of their design brief. I appreciate that bikes in the £1000 price point can be hard to appreciate on paper, when full suspension offered by Calibres and Boardman looks so tempting, but that's all the more reason to ride a few on trails to see if budget rear suspension is worth the compromise to other parts of the spec.

mark_fogel

Wooderson wrote:

Entry level full susssers, which do tend to have twitchy XC-based geometry and cramped, narrow controls, leaves me a little cold and I wouldn't really recommend that for a new or returning rider - especially if you're trying to enthuse them with how fun MTBing is! I also think it's too easy to confuse plush comfort with suspension performance - like how riding with a rear shock with no rebound damping can feel to a novice like the suspension is actually 'doing something'.

I don't have a hardtail these days, but I love that companies like BIRD and Whyte are designing budget and mid-range trail hardtails that have fun and confident handing as the cornerstone of their design brief. I appreciate that bikes in the £1000 price point can be hard to appreciate on paper, when full suspension offered by Calibres and Boardman looks so tempting, but that's all the more reason to ride a few on trails to see if budget rear suspension is worth the compromise to other parts of the spec.

I don't think I agree with some of this, yes there are cheap bikes out there with poor suspension however Calibre and Boardman both have a decent Monarch R or RL rear shocks with rebound damping and regarding controls, the bars are wide enough at 740-760mm depending on size and model. I would say that both Boardman and Calibre are trail bikes and definitely not XC specific.

Tone C

I don't think I agree with some of this, yes there are cheap bikes out there with poor suspension however Calibre and Boardman both have a decent Monarch R or RL rear shocks with rebound damping and regarding controls, the bars are wide enough at 740-760mm depending on size and model. I would say that both Boardman and Calibre are trail bikes and definitely not XC specific.[/quote]


Yea, I own the Boardman Pro FS along with a couple of hardtails. The Boardman is more of a trail bike than my Cube Acid which is more like a XC bike.

mrbubbaman

I'm 40 this year and started mountain biking again last year. Started off with a cheap £400 hard tail and it wasn't long before my body wished I bought a full suspension. After 6 months I bought a Boardman FS Pro and was well chuffed with it. It's a lot easier on the body and I can keep up with my mate on the cobbles and bumpy bits.

I still have the hard tail..... It sits in my shed and may get used by the Mrs if we all go out as a family.... One day

Just go straight for the full suspension, otherwise I think you'll wish you had a few months later

Blue9320

So after a week of researching and nagging the wife I've managed to get a bit more on my budget and think I have it down to 3 bikes,
I'm still liking the looks of the stealth bird
https://www.bird.bike/product-category/complete-bikes/zero-am-hardtail/

The on one codaline 27.5
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOCOD27GX1/on-one-codeine-275-sram-gx1-mountain-bike

Or the late contender which I've stumbled across
https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/1364/sCategory/508#

If Anyone has any experience on these or got opinions on them then I'd be happy to hear them.

johnas7

ive got the YT capra AL1 and absolutley love it. Few of my friends have YT's aswell. Although on this forum a lot of people say they are tanks at climbing. They certainly arent. The on one looks a nice bike aswell.

Blue9320

johnas7 wrote:

ive got the YT capra AL1 and absolutley love it. Few of my friends have YT's aswell. Although on this forum a lot of people say they are tanks at climbing. They certainly arent. The on one looks a nice bike aswell.

That's a nice looking bike! I read a few comments on youtube by owners of yt bikes and they don't seem to have any problems with the bike climbing either.

jamski

mark_fogel wrote:

Wooderson wrote:

Entry level full susssers, which do tend to have twitchy XC-based geometry and cramped, narrow controls, leaves me a little cold and I wouldn't really recommend that for a new or returning rider - especially if you're trying to enthuse them with how fun MTBing is! I also think it's too easy to confuse plush comfort with suspension performance - like how riding with a rear shock with no rebound damping can feel to a novice like the suspension is actually 'doing something'.

I don't have a hardtail these days, but I love that companies like BIRD and Whyte are designing budget and mid-range trail hardtails that have fun and confident handing as the cornerstone of their design brief. I appreciate that bikes in the £1000 price point can be hard to appreciate on paper, when full suspension offered by Calibres and Boardman looks so tempting, but that's all the more reason to ride a few on trails to see if budget rear suspension is worth the compromise to other parts of the spec.

I don't think I agree with some of this, yes there are cheap bikes out there with poor suspension however Calibre and Boardman both have a decent Monarch R or RL rear shocks with rebound damping and regarding controls, the bars are wide enough at 740-760mm depending on size and model. I would say that both Boardman and Calibre are trail bikes and definitely not XC specific.

There are definitely some good value and well specced full suspension bikes out there. I'm personally pretty sold on the Marin Hawk Hill. Arguably not as well specced as the Calibre Bossnut or Boardman Team fs, but there's something about it I really like, and has some nice features. Definitely trail focussed, not xc.

midgehulluk

I really like the jeffsy, what about the bird aeris?

mrbubbaman

Blue9320 wrote:

So after a week of researching and nagging the wife I've managed to get a bit more on my budget and think I have it down to 3 bikes,
I'm still liking the looks of the stealth bird
https://www.bird.bike/product-category/complete-bikes/zero-am-hardtail/

The on one codaline 27.5
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOCOD27GX1/on-one-codeine-275-sram-gx1-mountain-bike

Or the late contender which I've stumbled across
https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/1364/sCategory/508#

If Anyone has any experience on these or got opinions on them then I'd be happy to hear them.

I see your budget crept up like mine did!

I'd take either of the 2 full suspension over the hard tail, although Bird bikes are meant to be really nice.

cooldad

Good thing about Birds is you can talk to the guys who dreamed them up, designed them, tested them and put them together.
IMHO the new Aeris 120 is almost the perfect bike for most people. Short travel proper trail geometry, although the big brother 145 is outselling it by far. (And out of stock until next month)

I'm a bit biased as they are friends, but in fairness, I ride a 29er 120mm trail bike, so not too biased.

cooldad

Bit over budget for a FS though.

Blue9320

mrbubbaman wrote:

Blue9320 wrote:

So after a week of researching and nagging the wife I've managed to get a bit more on my budget and think I have it down to 3 bikes,
I'm still liking the looks of the stealth bird
https://www.bird.bike/product-category/complete-bikes/zero-am-hardtail/

The on one codaline 27.5
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOCOD27GX1/on-one-codeine-275-sram-gx1-mountain-bike

Or the late contender which I've stumbled across
https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/1364/sCategory/508#

If Anyone has any experience on these or got opinions on them then I'd be happy to hear them.

I see your budget crept up like mine did!

I'd take either of the 2 full suspension over the hard tail, although Bird bikes are meant to be really nice.

yeah the more I look the more I wanna spend,probably won't tell the wife the full price :twisted:

Briggo

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Full suspension isn't better than hardtail. It's just different.

That's why Danny Hart races on a hardtail isn't it.

rockmonkeysc

Briggo wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Full suspension isn't better than hardtail. It's just different.

That's why Danny Hart races on a hardtail isn't it.

Is faster better? It's not necessarily more fun. I did two seasons downhill racing on a hardtail and I can honestly say it was great fun. More fun than racing full suspension, partly because I could take it less seriously because the speeds were lower.
It all depends on your definition of better.
Danny Hart, like all pro racers rides what he's paid to ride. I know a couple pro riders and they don't like all the kit they ride on but it's what pays the bills.

theraggyone

I would get the bird hardtail . I sold my banshee spitfire v2 and now ride a dartmoor hornet and its bloody brilliant fun , there is alot to be said for the reliability and cheaper maintainance of a hardcore hardtail. Yes full suss is good and can be quicker(rider dependant) but a solid trail hardtail will manage most stuff in the uk without issue and they are an absolute blast to ride .