Caliber saw

Mule1
Mule1 Posts: 5
edited June 2019 in MTB general
What do you think good bike for the

£200 roughly

Hydraulic disc brakes
Quick release
Xct frond
Ridge frame
7x3

Comments

  • lemonenema
    lemonenema Posts: 216
    Its pretty decent for that price, I wouldnt be able to build one that cheap for the same money.
    The fork will be poo, but itll still be ok, the brakes are actually pretty good, Clarks exo hydraulic, wheels wont be anything special and may have a fair bit of flex in them but again, not a problem with disc brakes.
    7x3 will be fine, not the current flavour but will get you where you need to go. Its a bit heavy but you cant argue at that price. I wouldnt buy it with the mind to upgrade anything, just buy and enjoy riding.
  • Mule1
    Mule1 Posts: 5
    Mine that I just got came with shimano not Clarks exo hydraulic disk's not sure why but there good to me what do you think not sure of the model
    :?:
  • lemonenema
    lemonenema Posts: 216
    without knowing the model I cant comment
  • mattyfez
    mattyfez Posts: 638
    Mule1 wrote:
    Mine that I just got came with shimano not Clarks exo hydraulic disk's not sure why but there good to me what do you think not sure of the model
    :?:

    They'll be low end shimano hydraulic brakes, but i doubt there's much if any difference really between them and the clarks.

    Pretty much any hydraulic brake is better than cable disks or rim brakes,.
    I wouldn't think too much about it... I guess they ran out of clarks and substituted them.
  • bonzo_banana
    bonzo_banana Posts: 256
    Bear in mind it is more mountain bike style rather than actual mountain bike. The basic 7 speed freewheel means the bike is vulnerable to damage at the rear as the axle is unsupported and much easier to bend plus freewheels have a tendency to wobble and not shift as accurately and on a mountain bike where mud and crap gets into places shifting reliability can be reduced so it will be poor with a 7 speed freewheel. If anything 6 speed freewheels shift better than 7 speed as the shifting tolerance is wider.

    That seems to be the big compromise on the bike that reduces its strength and reliability. Everything else while entry level seems fit for purpose. If you really wanted to use it off road I guess you could use it as is until it breaks which could be sometime depending on your weight and how aggressively you ride and then if it does fail replace the wheel with a freehub based rear wheel with a 7 speed cassette. An 11-34 cassette like ETC sell would give you a much better range of gears with a much faster high gear. The supplied freewheel will be something like a 14-32T as freewheel pawl mechanisms are quite weak so they have to limit the high gearing to 14T not 11T. Good bike for £200 but doesn't meet what I would describe as the minimum component level to be a real mountain bike. Also bear in mind while XCT forks are Suntour's entry level XC forks they are only just ok for light use, their XCM forks are much stronger.

    Personally I feel the bike would have been better if they sacrificed the hydraulic disc brakes and went for mechanical disc brakes if that would have given them the money to have a proper freehub based rear wheel with cassette. I mean what's the point of giving it fantastic stopping power if you have to ride the bike conservatively so you don't damage it? I guess it makes sense if the majority of buyers are just going to use it on the road.

    Hopefully go outdoors have fitted a hardened chromoly steel rear axle in the wheel to give some additional strength although no substitute for a freehub. If you look closely at the picture on the site you can see the rear axle has a nut which means it's a solid axle so at least they haven't fitted a quick release axle which are likely to snap in a mountain bike with a freewheel.
  • mattyfez
    mattyfez Posts: 638
    It's a £200 bike bozo, but congratulations on answering a a question that wasn't asked :D
  • lemonenema
    lemonenema Posts: 216
    Plus you can easily get a replacement rear wheel for about £60 so it's hardly an issue.
  • bonzo_banana
    bonzo_banana Posts: 256
    mattyfez wrote:
    It's a £200 bike bozo, but congratulations on answering a a question that wasn't asked :D

    Are you a 11 year old or something, the poster asked what people thought of the bike and I stated what I felt was the failing of the bike and how it could be remedied by an upgrade.
  • bonzo_banana
    bonzo_banana Posts: 256
    lemonenema wrote:
    Plus you can easily get a replacement rear wheel for about £60 so it's hardly an issue.

    I've already stated you can buy a replacement rear wheel but the issue is if you are spending £60 more for a replacement wheel why not put that £60 towards the bike itself so you end up with perhaps a basic mountain bike with XCM forks not XCT and a proper 8 speed cassette with 8 speed shifters not the very limiting 7 speed which prevents a wider choice of cassettes.

    At this price level it is usually unlikely that it would make sense to buy and upgrade immediately as there could be other compromises to reach that £200 price point, common ones are steel seat posts and handlebars adding additional weight, straight gauge tubes in the frame etc.

    Also changing the rear wheel will mean you lose a matching pair of wheels visually which personally I'm not bothered about but many would be.
  • mattyfez
    mattyfez Posts: 638
    Bonzo Banana wrote:
    mattyfez wrote:
    It's a £200 bike bozo, but congratulations on answering a a question that wasn't asked :D

    Are you a 11 year old or something, the poster asked what people thought of the bike and I stated what I felt was the failing of the bike and how it could be remedied by an upgrade.

    Sorry mate, don't know what was up with me when I posted that.. Must have been having a bad day, my apologies for being a dick.
  • Mule1
    Mule1 Posts: 5
    Rrrr got them to fit quick release on the back lol one gonna have fun with that then :lol:

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