1st Mountain Bike: New or Second hand?

superchrispy · May 2012

Hi there I am loking to buy a mountain bike asap (I have already bought and fitted a roof rack).

Having been reading this fourm for the past week or so, I can see the Carrera Vulcan gets good reviews and has reasonable equipment for the price £379 atm. (possibly bigger savings this coming Bank hol???)

my budget is around £350-400

Looking within a reasonable distance on ebay, Ive noticed a older Gary Fisher Pirhana bike for £350.

original Gary Fisher Pirhana spec:

Frame:Gold Series 6061 T6 aluminium with G2 Geometry, Butted Down Tube. Includes cold forged dropouts and bottom bracket
Fork:RockShox Tora SL Coil with 100mm Travel, Custom Fisher Genesis 2 Geometry 46mm offset crown, Coil Spring with Turnkey Lockout, External Preload and Rebound Adjustment, Magnesium Lowers, International Standard Disc MountFront
Derailleur:SRAM X5Rear Derailleur:SRAM X5
Shifters:SRAM X5 9 speed triggerChainset:Shimano M428
Chainrings:44/32/22
Bottom Bracket:Shimano Octalink
Cassette:SRAM PG950 9 speed with 11-32 tooth ratio
Pedals:WellgoFront
Brake:Shimano M486 hydraulic disc with 160mm CenterLock rotors
Rear Brake:Shimano M486 hydraulic disc with 160mm CenterLock rotors
Brake Levers:Shimano M486
Handlebars:Bontrager SSR riser with 25mm rise and 620mm width
Stem:Bontrager SSR with 10 degree rise
Headset:1-1/8" threadless, semi-integrated with semi-cartridge bearings
Grips:Bontrager Race Lite dual density
Rims:Bontrager Ranger disc 32 hole
Front Hub:Shimano M495 CentreLock disc
Rear Hub:Shimano M495 CentreLock disc

The vulcan comes with a 120mm travel Suntour XCM-V3 fork with hydraulic damping and lockout, and also has hydraulic disk brakes.

Any thoughts on what bike would be better to go with? or indeed a better bike for my budget

the bike will be used for cross country trails, paths with the gf and some proper off road stuff with the guys at uni.

supersonic · May 2012

The Gary Fisher is the slightly better bike - but do you know what condition it is in? Buying new at least you know it will be set up, you can try it, a warranty, free service etc. You will still need to learn how to do this stuff, but a 2nd hand bike can throw you in the deep end.

superchrispy · May 2012

In the add, the guy says its been serviced, new brake pads, tyres and grips, looks ok in the pictures (but they are pretty dark)

as im a novice at this, my 1st thought was that the 100mm coil sprung fork might not be as good as the 120mm hydraulic fork?

heres the ebay add:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300717031501? ... 500wt_1202

supersonic · May 2012

Coil is the spring medium: hydraulic means the damper system. The Tora has both.

It looks a tidy enough bike, don't think it is worth £350 though, more like £275.

stubs · May 2012

No returns accepted though. That means if you bought a lemon then you have to chase him via ebay for a refund. That would put me off plus a buy it now for £350 its a bit steep for that maybe offer him a bit off and take a punt.

My Dad always said never buy the first thing you see there are always plenty more for sale. Its a good philosophy and one day I will follow it

waby1234 · May 2012

I'd say if you are a novice buy new for peace of mind

superchrispy · May 2012

thanks for your advice guys, I recon -as mentioned above- with my inexperience I may as well go with the Carrera as the GF doesnt seem to be substantially better given the potential risks.

Im going to wait a couple of days and see if there are any new/better offers on at Halfords over the bank hol weekend.

Thanks again

ElliesDad · May 2012

Just don't fall into the same trap as I did. I got into biking earlier this year and at the time only had a budget of £250 - £300 so went for the Carrera Valour, I didn't really understand about the spec of bikes! Over the first three months I realised I had made a big mistake in that I got bitten by the off road bug and the Valour couldn't really cope with it so I ended up selling the Valour on eBay finding the extra money and getting a shiny new Boardman Comp HT from Halfords!

So the lessons for me are, 1) get a bike that you know is going to do what you want it to and 2) spend as much as you can stretch to!

EH_Rob · May 2012

Spend as much as you can afford and ideally more. I got a cheaper bike than I maybe should have (although I wasn't sure how much I was going to ride it), and have pretty much replaced everything on it now. Half out of necessity, half out of enjoying fettling and new shiny things.

Would be interesting to know if I'd have done the same with a more expensive bike in the first place. Probably would have if I'm honest!

superchrispy · May 2012

for my budget £350-400, the carrera vulcan does seem to be the best speced new bike at that price (please do correct me if im wrong), and has several 5* reviews. Thing is I have seen 2nd hand full sus bikes at £500 pretty much only £100 over my budget... but scene as ive only ever ridden hardtail and enjoyed it im thinking get the vulcan, and if I out grow it either add the odd upgrade or sell and put the extra into a better bike.

From what I can see on here possible future upgrades would be the fork and wheels? by which time id hopefully know more about mountain biking, and what I want and need from my bike

supersonic · May 2012

£400 will get you the Voodoo Hoodoo with the Halfords discount codes.

superchrispy · May 2012

The only code Im aware of is NUSMAY12 which is no longer valid, is there another Ive missed?

Im kind of hoping there will be a sale event on over the coming Jubilee weekend, so dependent on offers I might be able to stretch to the Hoodoo

ElliesDad · May 2012

I looked at the Hoodoo and the Rockrider 8.1 before I finally stretched my budget for the Boardman. They didnt really fit me and didnt feel comfortable but thats just me, great bikes with rave reviews. In the case of the 8.1 you will find it hard to beat in that price range.

If at all possible, I really would scrimp/save/beg borrow to get either of these bikes.

OCLV74 · May 2012

if you get into riding just accept you 'will' upgrade, the plus point is that if you upgrade your ride, if you fancy something different, there are loads of frame-only stuff out there to be had, then it's just a small matter of transferring the stuff over. There are so many videos online on how to do every aspect of bike maintenance, literally step by step, you can't go wrong, spend a bit on the right tools, usually 50 -100 notes, and you can change/ maintain just about every aspect of your steed.
A note of caution, this mtb sales section can seriously deteoriate your wallet, and your OH's patience. If you keep an eye on the classifieds on here, you can upgrade relatively cheap, most folk here are pretty honest, and the prices are usually very good. Remember if they are officinados like you, most stuff will be well loved so when they sell usually the stuff will be well serviced too!
Good luck and enjoy your biking, keep checking the classified, I mean Supersonic is the king on here, it's like the classified are favourited in his head!

The Rookie · May 2012

The Voodoo Bantu is at £369 right now (cheaper then the Vulcan right now and better specced).

engleburt34 · May 2012

Personally i would go for what bike you feel properly comfortable on as after a few rides on a bike you dont feel good on will possibly put you off a bit, shop around for a while and test ride as much as you possibly can! ive been looking for the past 4 weeks, Im looking to buy a full bounce and have so far sat on about 7 different bikes to find one i fit on nice.... although i am 6 6". i would try and find at least another £50 if you can, give yourself more choice.

paulski1966 · May 2012

Keep an eye out for online deals, I recently got the Voodoo Hoodoo for £397 from halfords (£450 online price with 10% off for a voucher code i found online, plus another £8 off because i bought a bottle cage, bottle and muc off- which were also on 3for2

)

I was seriously considering the second hand route, but to be honest for the little extra it costs I'd go down the new bike route, just for peace of mind.

superchrispy · May 2012

I just couldn't wait any longer!

I went and got the Voodoo Hoodoo today, there was no price change at halfords (£449.99 - £50 off) though I did get a £10 voucher and cashback through Quidco, Im well aware there will probably be another 10% discount code in a few days/weeks, but I'd been waiting for weeks.

Collect tomorrow at noon, so itl be straight on to the roof rack, and off to some local trails.

Thanks for your input everyone, I stretched as far as I could to the £450 mark and from what ive read, Ive got one of the best bikes at that price

Unreal1066 · June 2012

I'm glad you stretched your budget on mountain bikes i'm afaid on the whole you get what you pay for. It is worth it in the end buying the best bike you can afford. It is nearly always cheeper to buy a complete bike than to compromise and feel you have to upgrade parts to get what you want out of the bike.
Although it is fun upgrading it is nearly always more expensive to buy the parts seperately. Manufactures have the option to buy componants in bulk so usually get the parts cheeper than you can through retail.

1st Mountain Bike: New or Second hand?

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