Buying a Full Suspension MTB

Hermy

I want to buy a full suspension MTB for general cross country stuff and my budget is around €2,000. What should I buy and where should I buy it? I'm sure that there are endless answers to my query but any hints and tips to get me started on what to look for would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers in anticipation.

Morgan

Whatever you do, don't buy a bike online unless you've ridden it before. This is particularly important will full suspension bikes since all the designs feel a bit different (a lot more so than with hartails). You need to be 100% sure it suits you when shelling out €2k.

Check out the Specialized Stumpjumper and Epic models, Giant Trance, Trek Fuel etc.

You'll get good deals on most 2007 models at this time of year. Here's one for the Trance:
http://www.mcconveycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b0s1p3016

boomdocker

From personal experience i can echo completely Morgan's post.

if you are going to part with that sort of cash, i would head up to mcconveys. they've got the best range in the land (full giant and specialized range from what i remember) and helpful and knowledgeable staff and cheaper than anywhere down here.

if you're looking for a recommendation i bought a specialized stumpy fsr comp there at the beginning of the year and it is a FANTASTIC bike. never had to even as much as tweak the gears since, best 2k I have spent in a long time.....

ps cos i'm a long way from belfast, when i went up i decided to make the most of it and also went to chain reactions place. i called in advance and they put together the bikes i was interested in so I could try them out. extremely helpful aswell...

you could also try real cycles in carryduff. don't know much about them apart from they sell commencal bikes which are meant to be really good - especially the meta 5.5. they have this one on special at the mo - looks like a bargain.....
http://www.realcycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b0s1p1053

Hermy

Thanks for the replies lads.
I'm gonna check out what's on offer in Dublin before heading north just so I can be sure that the saving is worth the trip. I'm not familiar with McConvey or Real Cycles, and I also thought that Chain Reaction were exclusively mail order so now I'll have three shops to visit - thanks for the heads up.
You both mention my budget of two grand - do you consider this excessive?
One last thing if you don't mind - this bike will most likely be fitted with disc brakes which I haven't used before so I'm just curious as to what if anything to avoid in this department?

Morgan

Hermy wrote:

You both mention my budget of two grand - do you consider this excessive?

That depends on the state of your personal finances. But if you're looking at getting a good quality full suss thats the kind of money you're talking about. I assume you're not just starting out mountainbiking - if that were the case you'd be better off spending considerably less and getting a hardtail.

Hermy wrote:

One last thing if you don't mind - this bike will most likely be fitted with disc brakes which I haven't used before so I'm just curious as to what if anything to avoid in this department?

Most hydraulic disc brakes are pretty good quality these days - not much to worry about.

Drapper

fairly new to mtb i'd agree with Morgan, you'd get a fantastic HT bike for 2k and in the sale in the next 3 months you might pick up a gem for a fraction of the price!

again, not advised to buy before a try, but www.pedalon.co.uk have some fantastic bike at great prices! their Giant Composite has been a big hit in our club! http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant_xtc_composite_1.html

Hermy

My current bikes, both of which I built from scratch, cost in the region of €2500 each. I won't be building from scratch in the case of the new machine so I expect it to be relatively less expensive. However based on what I've seen so far I might end up parting with anything up to three grand.:eek:
I'd love some day to build from scratch with full XTR or equivalent and as much titanium as is possible but for now I rely on XT and Ultegra and lavish helpings of aluminium tubing.
I'll keep ye informed of my shortlist as it develops and thanks again for now.