advertisement


£1k for a mountain bike

I used www.paulscycles.co.uk for my last bike (a lovely full suspension Mongoose), they have some great deals, especially if you don't mind not having this years model. I was also quite tempted by the 'Cube' hardtails when I was last in the market, and they still seem well spec'd for the money imo.
 
Canyon. Wont get more for your money. Well regarded and will see them on basic family singletracks to gnarly Black route downhills.

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/

Needs to be full suspension these days, preferable with lockout for the long road climbs - most come with lockout now. Why you wouldnt be interested in full suspension I dont know? Thats like buying a car with only the front shockers working! Gone are the days of wallowly rear suspension, unless its a Voodoo.

1K is around entry level, but should get you a fairly decent Canyon. I'd probably go with 27.5" rims, 29's are like wagon wheels and a bitch getting up steep technical climbs, and around 140mm travel geometry, you could try 120mm for more cross country type cycling, but the 140 is nice to have once you hit some flowing downhills. I would avoid 1 x10 gearing for what you need it for, opt for 2x10, 1 x 10 is great but unless you are a hardcore MTB'er, the 2x10 is just more versatile.

With cheap end bikes or budget bikes from big manufacturers, you get a lot less for your money and the weight of the bike is frustrating, its why I like Canyon , I will have a Canyon as my next bike (current is a Commencal Meta AM although havent been able to ride for a while sadly)

'Canyon. Wont get more for your money' - how much do you want to bet?
'Needs to be full suspension these days' - I disagree. Hardtail is good for less serious riders, freeing up cash for better components.
'I'd probably go with 27.5" rims, 29's are like wagon wheels and a bitch getting up steep technical climbs' - I disagree, 29ers give great stability and a smooth ride.
 
One disadvantage of my long legs is that bikes in my size are very rarely in the sales. I've tried and tried, but the bargains are only for you ordinary people.
 
Needs to be full suspension these days, preferable with lockout for the long road climbs - most come with lockout now. Why you wouldnt be interested in full suspension I dont know? Thats like buying a car with only the front shockers working! Gone are the days of wallowly rear suspension, unless its a Voodoo.

I would agree. Hardtails are for the serious, skilled racers who worry about resting heart rates and are not ashamed to wear lycra in public. For normal recreational riders a FS bike is in my experience the better trail bike choice hands down. It will be more efficient (improved traction will make more difference than weight), more comfortable and by order of magnitude more fun.

It will also open up a lot more trails. We are not talking about full on downhill here but flow trials, berms, a little bit of air and some minor technical sections. You can for sure ride all those awesome maintained forestry commission and bike park trails on a hardtail but it will be miserable as f**k unless you are 24, have 1% body fat, drink red bull and don't plan on using your knees in later life :)

The one caveat is I have no clue about budget and it might be that £1000 a FS bike is so compromised that a hardtail is indeed the better option.

And I say all this as someone who was a committed hardtail fan as I mostly rode street, park and dirt in the later years of my bike riding. But I look at what people get to do now on MTBs and think back to my days yomping up random bridleways, dodging sheep and cow pats and think "what on earth was I thinking?".

However, note that I am down with the kids and YMMV for the more middle aged amongst us :)
 
that colour is indeed horrendous. what were they thinking?
Not at all, it's a great colour. I rebuilt a bike, it had been boring black, it's now ASBO orange. Great colour. I'm going to do another one day, I want Kawasaki Green, black moving parts. Or brighter still. Grey is for battleships.
 
Can you get cyclescheme and salary sacrifice (i.e. ~half price if top rate tax payer & NI refunded)?
 
Not at all, it's a great colour. I rebuilt a bike, it had been boring black, it's now ASBO orange. Great colour. I'm going to do another one day, I want Kawasaki Green. Grey is for battleships.

Some battleships, perhaps. Why not paint your next one as a dazzle bike?

USS_West_Mahomet_-_19-N-1733.jpg
 
I was also quite tempted by the 'Cube' hardtails when I was last in the market, and they still seem well spec'd for the money imo.

I've had a Cube hardtail for the last 5-6 years. Taken it out to trails in Ethiopia, the US as well as all of the wet and muddy stuff here in Ireland - including all 53km of offload rain, muck and general mountainous offload torture that passes for 'Da Cooley Thriller'. Got it for a net outlay of 500 quid under the local bike-to-work scheme (1000 euro otherwise) and the thing has never missed a beat, nor needed a penny spent on it. Seriously, two sets of tyres, but ne'er a brake pad nor chain required as yet. Decent bit of kit. Notwithstanding my mates riding 29 Inch wheeled machines, making mincemeat of the more open trails with their poncey improved 'roll-over' performance, I'ii probably stick with it for the next 4-5 years too :) Darn fine machine all-told.
 
Yeah, that was supposed to read "if it hasn't needed new pads yet". There's nothing special about the disc brakes on a Cube. You can go through the front pads in a couple of weeks of gritty downhilling, or a bike can be sat around doing nothing for years and the pads won't have worn at all. They're just a few mm thick. I also tend to go through a pair of front pads in a year.
 
Yeah, that was supposed to read "if it hasn't needed new pads yet". There's nothing special about the disc brakes on a Cube. You can go through the front pads in a couple of weeks of gritty downhilling, or a bike can be sat around doing nothing for years and the pads won't have worn at all. They're just a few mm thick. I also tend to go through a pair of front pads in a year.

I think some of the cyclists on here believe mountain biking is a single track on a Sunday for an hour or at best a red route in Wales once a month, hence the fascination with hard tails and their brake pads lasting a year.

My friends and I can go through a set of pads on a Sunday in Scotland or the Alps.

I would agree. Hardtails are for the serious, skilled racers who worry about resting heart rates and are not ashamed to wear lycra in public. For normal recreational riders a FS bike is in my experience the better trail bike choice hands down. It will be more efficient (improved traction will make more difference than weight), more comfortable and by order of magnitude more fun.

It will also open up a lot more trails. We are not talking about full on downhill here but flow trials, berms, a little bit of air and some minor technical sections. You can for sure ride all those awesome maintained forestry commission and bike park trails on a hardtail but it will be miserable as f**k unless you are 24, have 1% body fat, drink red bull and don't plan on using your knees in later life :)

The one caveat is I have no clue about budget and it might be that £1000 a FS bike is so compromised that a hardtail is indeed the better option.

And I say all this as someone who was a committed hardtail fan as I mostly rode street, park and dirt in the later years of my bike riding. But I look at what people get to do now on MTBs and think back to my days yomping up random bridleways, dodging sheep and cow pats and think "what on earth was I thinking?".

However, note that I am down with the kids and YMMV for the more middle aged amongst us :)

Exactly what I was trying to say! The Hard Tail will 'do' its a job and for the hardcore few, but for sheer comfort, skill improvement, experience, safety, a bigger experience, a FS is the way to go. Once you've actually ridden one on a big trail, theres no go back to a HT. Back in the day when FS was new, there was issues with bobbing and energy sapping movement when climbing, but with the new modern shocks and lockout features, its just like riding a hard tail when needed but with the versatility of opening it up. Getting a HT to jump is quite a feat, a FS you can invoke a bounce which gives you much more increased skill, and ability to go anywhere.

No one buys a car with only two front shock absorbers, why would you buy a bike with only two?
 
Chronicals,

Read the OP's posts. He's not a budding dh racer or 100 mile per week singletrack blaster!
 
Chronicals,

Read the OP's posts. He's not a budding dh racer or 100 mile per week singletrack blaster!

Neither am I, but a FS is a superior bike for pretty much everything that includes some dirt, thats my point. If he wants a bigger, more comfortable and fun experience everytime he rides, a FS is the way forward. If you wants a Sunday morning prostate breaker peddle, then sure, HT will be ok, it has two wheels afterall. :)
 


advertisement


Back
Top