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£1k for a mountain bike

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

Why do you keep using the car analogy? It has no merit at all for the OP's needs. A ton and a half of car would crash at the first corner if it had no rear suspension, but thousands of bicycles have no trouble at all using a bit of 'give' in the tyres and frame.

Of course, if you're that set in your beliefs, just buy the OP a nice £3k fs bike yourself!
 
My prostate is still fine. I can 'pedal' well enough on my HT and have no intention of riding in Wales, the Peaks or Scotland.
 
"No one buys a car with only two front shock absorbers, why would you buy a bike with only two?"

Why do you keep using the car analogy? It has no merit at all for the OP's needs. A ton and a half of car would crash at the first corner if it had no rear suspension, but thousands of bicycles have no trouble at all using a bit of 'give' in the tyres and frame.

Of course, if you're that set in your beliefs, just buy the OP a nice £3k fs bike yourself!

Oh you're missing out not going to Wales. So have you ever actually 'mountain biked'?

No need to spend 3K at all, great Canyon FS for £1250 there.

The analogy is great, car goes better and more comfortable with four shockers, same as a bike. Without four, a car could only go up and down a nice road slowly and delicately unless driven by a pro, similar principal.
 
Not at all.

And full suspension doesn't equate to more fun, necessarily. I'd just be going faster WHEN I crash.

Without knowing exactly where the OP will be riding and how rough it is, you really can't say.

And £1250 is way over budget. That's before anything else gets bought in addition.
 
Not at all.

And full suspension doesn't equate to more fun, necessarily. I'd just be going faster WHEN I crash.

Without knowing exactly where the OP will be riding and how rough it is, you really can't say.

And £1250 is way over budget. That's before anything else gets bought in addition.

Dosent equate to more fun? don't be ridiculous, sounds like you've never even ridden one properly, well you haven't as you haven't even been to Wales! but its the internet , so you'll tell me shortly you've owned 25 FS's and traded them all for a HT :rolleyes:

Crashing is less likely on a FS, but as ever, we all crash, badly, but I caused way more damage on a HT back in the day.

Last years models can be had at a steal at the right time, and the upgrade to a proper bike from a Sunday cruiser is worth the additional whereever one rides. I ride a FS on the street, albeit with a slimmer slick tyre profile, so it matters not where you ride unless you are just street commuting on concrete etc.
 
"Oh you're missing out not going to Wales. So have you ever actually 'mountain biked'?"

Yes. Table Mountain a few years ago. Loved it, but being a clumsy git I left a trail of blood behind me.

I've other interests, and I'm 54, so taking time out to drive to Wales is a non-starter. And my inevitable injuries would take even longer to heal now. I'll just stick with East Anglia/Thetford forest inbetween everything else I do.
 
"Oh you're missing out not going to Wales. So have you ever actually 'mountain biked'?"

Yes. Table Mountain a few years ago. Loved it, but being a clumsy git I left a trail of blood behind me.

I've other interests, and I'm 54, so taking time out to drive to Wales is a non-starter. And my inevitable injuries would take even longer to heal now. I'll just stick with East Anglia/Thetford forest inbetween everything else I do.

Thetford - that explains the HT obesssion.

Try doing some riding on a FS in some cool places, you'll soon change your tune, I can assure you!. I feel itts best to have experience and knowledge of 'both' before arguing against one or the other, otherwise it becomes a somewhat 'fundamentalist ' pov.
 
You keep ignoring the crucial points that the OP doesn't want to spend more than £1k and doesn't intend to ride anywhere remotely rough.

Yes, if was single, twenty five and lived in the Yorkshire Dales, for example, I'd have the best FS I could afford and wear it out very quickly.

And ffs, I'm not going to move house and buy a new bike!
 
You keep ignoring the crucial points that the OP doesn't want to spend more than £1k and doesn't intend to ride anywhere remotely rough.

Yes, if was single, twenty five and lived in the Yorkshire Dales, for example, I'd have the best FS I could afford and wear it out very quickly.

And ffs, I'm not going to move house and buy a new bike!

He said tracks, gravel etc, so FS would be a good choice.

I have definitely toyed with the idea of moving to Wales for those reasons!
 
The only reason I went FS over HT when I last brought is because I knew I would be taking it to Scotland, it was a great decision, although we had to cut a few trails short because the friend I went with was on his HT, we swapped on the way back of one trail, It was supprising how much smoother my FS is. I brought it as a 2010 model in 2012 for half price (£900) which imo was a bargain for a well spec'd downhill MTB.
 
He said tracks, gravel etc, so FS would be a good choice.

For many tracks and certainly for gravel, the right tyres and a plush fork will be more than good enough.

But hey, the great thing is that there's a huge choice of bikes out there and, even with the current exchange rates, there are some incredible bikes at prices that don't require a remortgage.
 
Off topic but..

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.

Interesting and a fair point about the difference between owning and using a bike. I'm not a hard-core mountain biker - I divide the time with other activity including road riding and on and off-offroad motorcycling. Had to go back through the memory archives to check how much mileage I've actually put up on the Cube. Overall it has probably totalled about 50 'proper' offroad runs of usually 3-4 hours at a time, with a mix of dry dusty trails in the hills around Addis in the early years, and more latterly stony/muddy single-track runs here. So maybe 150? hours solid riding with a mix of climbing, flats and downhills. Looking back, I did actually bring a spare set out to Africa with me - which I had forgotten, apologies, and the current ones are probably as close to down to the metal as makes no difference - but that's somewhere round 75ish hours use per set. That's probably not a million miles away from a years worth of hard weekend trail usage.

On the hard-tail / soft tail front, I'd have a fairly simple view that in terms of cost - a 1000 quid hardtail is always going to be a better bike than any 1000 quid full-suspension bike. I'd take a higher spec set of front forks anyday over a couple of average specced dampers front and back.
 
More deliberations. Went back to our local bike shop today. I am not sure what to do to be honest. I liole that shop but its basically Whyte bikes and nothing else. However the bosses bike is up for sale in there second hand but it looks in very good shape.
Its an Orange P7. However he wants 1250 for it. And this is how this starts isn't it?

lol
 
Off the wall suggestion - why not a couple of year old bike rather than brand new? If nothing else, this will either reduce budget for a HT, or allow purchase of a decent FS.

I’d also say go for a FS bike. I bought my end of line Mongoose NX something or another FS cheap through a distributor friend at the end of 1998 - I still have it today. I updated shocks in early 2000s to allow full rear lock out, amd it has been all good since then (before hand, climbing was a bugger!). It’s been used mostly as a tarmac commuting bike for last 10 years, with front shocks at max air pressure amd rear locked out it’s been fine - although I’ve gone through 2 crank bearings and 3rd is on way out.
 
Its an Orange P7. However he wants 1250 for it. And this is how this starts isn't it?

lol

“Super-aggressive” say the results on the front page of Google when you search for it. “Wild ride.” It’s also easy to forget what you were looking for when you began!
 
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. :)

FFS. Give yourself a slap. You are being no help whatsoever to the OP.

He arguably doesn't even need front suspension for the type of riding he's planning on doing.

NB Before you attempt to slap me down, I've been riding and racing bikes for over 50 years -on road and off road - and have a garage full of bikes to do all sorts of stuff. My eldest son is a top level MTB rider and is up at Hamsterly on a black run as we speak. Even he rarely rides his full suss.

For the type of riding the OP will be doing I'd NEVER advise a full susser. But obviously you know best as your ridiculous "it has two wheels' comment adequately proves.
 
He said tracks, gravel etc, so FS would be a good choice.

I have definitely toyed with the idea of moving to Wales for those reasons!

For tracks and gravel, full suss would be a terrible choice. I ride tracks and gravel regularly. Never on a full suss and rarely on a hard tail though I do enjoy riding my titanium HT. For the type of riding the OP will be doing there are many bikes that will suit. A FS would be pretty much bottom of the list.
 
More deliberations. Went back to our local bike shop today. I am not sure what to do to be honest. I liole that shop but its basically Whyte bikes and nothing else. However the bosses bike is up for sale in there second hand but it looks in very good shape.
Its an Orange P7. However he wants 1250 for it. And this is how this starts isn't it?

lol

Orange P7 is a great bike. I've had one. My son has one now. Not what you need though.

I ride faster on the road with one leg than my son can manage on his P7 despite his age advantage. Horses for courses. Unless you're planning on doing serious off road and downhill stuff you don't need a P7
 
I think the point people are missing is that although Gary wants an all-round trail bike rather than a downhiller or all mountain bike the best bikes for this are now FS bikes not hardtails. Seriously it will just be a lot more fun and once above a certain price point the hardtail is the specialist choice now not the softtail.

Like I said my only query is the price point. £1000 is a lot to spend on a hardtail and most you are buying things like less weight or improved componentry that is (mostly) designed for doing lots of miles. If you really are just lapping the reservoir with the wife and kids you can could spend half that and nothing would wear out in 10 years of regular use. Indeed the biggest problem with MTB components on regular use bikes is that when they do finally wear out everything has changed and you cannot replace them so you end up buying a new bike.

But it might be that £1000 is not enough to buy a good FS bike and a hardtail really is the better option.

The other point of course is that if Gary's intended usage is just recreational riding with the family then £1000 might well be way too much money. Something half that price will do what Gary wants and easily last 10 years with proper care and maintenance.

FWIW my (out of date) impression is that short travel coil over shock suspension is now super reliable and made in such volume as to be much cheaper than it was. And FS trail bikes are well understood and relatively simple compared to the time when the bike manufacturers were still working all this stuff out. I also don't think there is nearly as much in the way lovely skinny, steel tubed bikes which is what used to make the high end hardtail XC/trail bikes so awesome. Fat aluminium tubed hardtails bikes make little sense to me above a certain price point (which may or may not be £1000).

BTW Gary -- you don't want a P7. They are hardcore bikes for hooligans, very stiff and aggressive geometry. If you are going to buy an Orange you want a Clockwork (although even they are now made out of water formed 6061 -- sacrilege!). P7s are similar bikes to my old Cove (only less cool because Yorkshire not Vancouver):

 


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