All Mountain Hardcore Bike

dickie762
dickie762 Posts: 14
edited June 2009 in MTB buying advice
I've been trying to find a used all mountain bike for a while that'll be able to handle various things such as singletrack, the odd bit of jumping and mild dh. The bikes I've been looking at are the Saracen Zen 2/3 and Orange Crush. I'd prefer a long travel full suss but I think I'd be better off saving up a bit more and just getting a hardtail for the time being.

I'm finding it hard to find one in the right size so are there any other similar bikes I could look at? Budget is around £400 really. Hoping to get something soon as I'm well into my biking at the moment and currently don't really have anything suitable to ride!

Only real requirements are a fairly long travel fork (around 140mm), and components that can withstand a beating!

Any suggestions/links would be greately appreciated!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    nost sure what to suggest, but I thought I might chip in and say that long-travel suss isn't great for singletrack or jumping. 140mm should be considered a maximum really, unless you're primarily doing proper DH tracks, and are also using it for general riding.
  • dickie762
    dickie762 Posts: 14
    Well I want a kind of 'do anything' bike as I've only really started doing proper trails. Only really been to cannock and sherwood pines so far, but have done some jumping and dh there. I'm going to gawton and then wales in the next few weeks so as you can see I need something quite versatile!

    I don't mind compromising on the singletrack stuff by having long travel, i'll happily put up with it knowing that the bike can withstand a bit of dh when I fancy it.
  • LDNTrailRider
    LDNTrailRider Posts: 103
    singletrack, the odd bit of jumping and mild dh

    Any XC hardtail will be able to handle that.
  • LDNTrailRider
    LDNTrailRider Posts: 103
    Carrera Kraken?

    http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65499#dtab
  • dickie762
    dickie762 Posts: 14
    LDNTrailRider wrote:
    singletrack, the odd bit of jumping and mild dh

    Any XC hardtail will be able to handle that.

    Should of explained better, that's what I do at the moment, but I'll probably start doing some of the 'bigger' dh spots, which is why I want something with a bit extra travel etc.

    Thanks for the link but would prefer to buy something second hand, think I'd get a lot more for the money.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I'd still reccomend a 140mm-ish as an upper limit.
    For example, something like an orange 5, a marin wolf ridge, a commencal meta 5.5 etc will be fine for pretty much everything. Go much above that , and the downsides of having lots of travel for regular riding starts outweighing the benefits of having it for DH runs.
    Consider that a hell of a lot of Megavalanche riders have 5" travel bikes. I suspect the new breed of ~5" bikes may be far more capable than you give them credit on DH runs.

    Oh, and my ancient marin coped fine during a week od DHing in Les Gets, Morzine . :D
  • Shorty12
    Shorty12 Posts: 478
    His budget is 400 you cant get a orange 5 or a wolf ridge
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    no, I know he can't get those specific bikes, but I'm using them as an example of travel Vs riding capabilities.

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