Hardcore hardtail or FS for £1000

G3rard
G3rard Posts: 13
edited July 2009 in MTB buying advice
Hi everyone first post on the site although I have been searching the threads on here for the past month trying to decide what bike to get. So time to take the plunge and get involved :lol:

I have recently dug out my old 1998 Spesh Hardrock (with 2 inch of RS Indy S travel and rattles like a bitch!! lol) and rekindled the joys of cycling round my local trails, Brecon Beacons, Tal Y Bont, Port Talbot etc. After almost killing myself takling the Dragon Downhill course in Gethin Forest Ive decided its time to upgrade to something a bit more meaty :lol:

I've got a bit of a dilemma deciding whether to stick with a hardtail or go FS. Ive got £1000 to spend on the CTW scheme and my choices are:

Option1- a hardcore hardtail that will do a bit of everything something like an Orange Crush or Charge Blender which I could thrash around the trails, take down the jumps, ride to work but also whack some lighter wheels and a triple chainset and take on an XC ride.

or

Option 2 - something like a Specialized Pitch Comp which would be able to handle the downs flatout, tackle all the trails can handle but may be a bit of a dog lugging uphill around the beacons allday and overkill to get to work.

I be greatful for any other bike suggestions which I should check out. Ta (and sorry for the super long post).

Comments

  • Si78
    Si78 Posts: 963
    Hi,

    Maybe one of these...

    http://www.bikeradar.com/beginners/foru ... t=12623457

    Si
    Why has my sig been removed by the admins???
  • REMF
    REMF Posts: 106
    FS.
  • JK in the UK
    JK in the UK Posts: 132
    If you're buying new and you MUST stick to that £1000 limit - buy a hardtail.

    You'll be a much much much better rider for it and with the price of bikes these days you need to spend £1k to get a good quality proper offroad HT IMHO....
  • vitaminjayz
    vitaminjayz Posts: 13
    you dont to stick with hard tail thats a myth that you cant buy a full susser for less than a grand .




    just look on pauls cycles at last year models .
  • truespin
    truespin Posts: 155
    well of course you *can* buy a full suss for less than a grand but it'll tend to have relatively cheap chainset & shocks and be relatively heavy...

    A thousand pound HT will be XT/XTR throughout, be light and be right at the top of the end for a HT, you'd have to spend closer to 2k to get near to top end of a full bouncer IMO
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    truespin wrote:
    well of course you *can* buy a full suss for less than a grand but it'll tend to have relatively cheap chainset & shocks and be relatively heavy...

    A thousand pound HT will be XT/XTR throughout, be light and be right at the top of the end for a HT, you'd have to spend closer to 2k to get near to top end of a full bouncer IMO

    A £1k hardtail will not have XT/XTR and is nowhere near the top end of HT performance. Get closer to £2k for that sort of spec. Only a Boardman has near top end kit for a grand but I wouldn't trust one myself. My Stumpy Comp was £1200 but "needed" plenty of upgrades.

    A decent full bouncer can be had for £1.5k but you need £2k to get something properly tasty.
  • The Northern Monkey
    The Northern Monkey Posts: 19,174
    Hardtail.

    http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=33321

    Possibly the best freeride full build going....frame is superb.

    I am in now way biased either :wink:
    Santa Cruz Butcher
  • Steve_b77
    Steve_b77 Posts: 1,680
    For 1k I'd go for a nice hardtail, or if you can get one a very nice 2nd hand one or 2nd hand FS
  • vitaminjayz
    vitaminjayz Posts: 13
    well my giant trance cost me £850 and has xt and xtr and that was brand new .

    GIANT TRANCE 2007 USA VERSION CUSTOM SPEC

    Frame:ALUXX aluminium, Fluid Formed, Maestro suspension system 4.2''/106mm travel
    Rear Shock: Fox Float R with pro pedal
    Fork: 2009 rockshox recon race solo air 100mm with remote poploc
    Headset: crane creek with carbon spacers
    Chainset:deore LX hollowtech 2 2009 with titanium bolt kit
    BB:deore XT hollowtech 2 2009
    Front Mech: Shimano XT 2009 with titanium bolt kit as my 2 week old xtr broke and cant afford another £85
    Rear Mech: Shimano XTR 2009 with titanium bolt kit .
    Shifters: Shimano deore XT 27 speed with gold alloy bolts
    Rims: alex ace18 xc disc rims
    Hubs: formula dc20 disc hubs
    Cassette: SRAM PG950 11-34T, 9 speed
    chain:shimano XT hg93 2009
    Tyres:Hutchinson Bulldog MRC AirLight, wire 26x2.1
    Brakes:Hayes HFX-9 Limited Edition 10th Anniversary with carbon fibre blades (160mm front 160mm rear to keep bike light) with titanium bolt kit
    Handle Bar: FSA CARBON K-FORCE XC RISER HANDLEBAR
    Stem: pizzaz carbon fibre with titanium bolt kit
    Saddle bioflex carbon fibre and titinium
    Seat Pin: fsa carbon fibre
    seatclamp: pz racing carbon fibre
    Pedals:crank bro eggbeater c
    titanium and alloy gold bolt kit
    giants carbon fibre shock guard
    gold titanium qr skewers .

    this is the usa version with black and gold decals paint job where the euro version is plain silver . i prefer the black & gold

    total weight so far 28 lbs always trying to save weight
  • vitaminjayz
    vitaminjayz Posts: 13
    heres a few

    http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b2s1p1505

    http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p1741

    http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p1290



    the mongoose has full xt and is only £1099
  • Si78
    Si78 Posts: 963
    vitaminjayz wrote:
    this is the usa version with black and gold decals paint job where the euro version is plain silver . i prefer the black & gold

    Mmmmmm, just like the JPS Lotus F1 cars. Bet it looks good.
    Why has my sig been removed by the admins???
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    Vitamin - that's an insanely good bargain then.
  • vitaminjayz
    vitaminjayz Posts: 13
    yeah was bargain but was hard work ,basicly the bike cost me £500 from pauls sold most parts off and before shimano price hike i managed shopping around to get the parts it has now .



    the rock shox recon race retail at £379 but managed to bag em on ebay buy now for £140.


    ive worked out what ive spent and sold its worked out at about £850


    heres a pic


    3407101628_480e3f32a4_b.jpg


    yeah im tempted to get some gold leaf john player special stickers but thought may look silly .


    wot u guys think
  • G3rard
    G3rard Posts: 13
    Cheers everyone. Got my voucher last Friday and I went for the Pitch Comp. So glad I went for the FS.

    I bust its cherry in Cwmcarn on Tuesday and was very impressed with it. As expectecd its a pretty heavy beast and took hell of an effort on the way up with the Pikes and X Fusion bobbing around quite a bit but with a bit of effort it tackled the climb of 15km cross country Twrch trail which is a real lung buster even on a light hardtail.

    Once at the top I decided to test it on the freeride park and Y Mynydd Mojo downhill course. The Pitch was so much fun on the way down and I doubt Id be able to get a bike for under £1k that would have been as competent and inspire as much confidence on the way down as this did.

    I cant wait to get out again this weekend :D

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