Mountain bike comparison

Sniipe

I have a friend who is buying a mountain bike, but I know little about the SRAM V Deore, so I thought I'd ask here for your opinions.

Ignoring the prices on the site which is better? (components, weight, etc..)

Ghost HTX Lector EBS Carbon Mountainbike 2009
Or
Specialized Stumpjumper Marathon 29

Both are amazing bikes, but which would be better?

Morgan

Ignoring the prices, the one which costs twice as much is better .

How on earth has he narrowed it down to those two?

Note that the Specialized is a "29er" i.e. it has giant wheels. This will ride differently to a regular mtb and also make getting replacement wheels/tyres/tubes more difficult. I've never ridden one so can't really comment further.

I doubt anyone in Ireland has ever ridden one of the Ghost frames, but it looks nice.

Sniipe

interesting about the 29" wheels

Kearney Cycles went to some bike convention and liked the ghost bike and so he brought a good few back with him and they seem to be selling well for him.

The prices on the webbies(and probably not the best prices) are different to shop prices (but I don't know what the shop prices are)

seamus

The Stumpy has overall the better spec, but it does have those 29ers. Curious as to why he's looking to spend upwards of €1500 though if he doesn't know much about bikes?

thebouldwhacker

*drool*
I'm a sucker for Specilized so I'd have to say that would be my preferance but if your mate is looking to spend big money have a look at these on adverts.


ex racing Frame only

ex racing full Bike

Sniipe

The adverts are a no go, this bike will be used as a cycle to work and will be subsidised

Idleater

Sniipe wrote: »

The adverts are a no go, this bike will be used as a cycle to work and will be subsidised

Are you sure about that?

according to the Revenue booklet pdf on the scheme:

9.6 Can a bicycle be bought anywhere, e.g. online from abroad, or
will it have to be bought in Ireland or from a pre-approved selection
of shops?
There are no limits as to where the bicycle should be purchased by the
employer.

thebouldwhacker

Yea but the scheme basically works by returning the tax paid to the bike shop, no tax on second hand bikes off tinternet so no 'tax back'.... if you know what I mean

blorg

It has to be a new bike. It specifically excludes second hand bikes.

The bike can be bought from anywhere in the EU.

@thebouldwhacker- it is an exemption on the income of the employee receiving the bike, it does not work by returning tax paid to bike shops.

Idleater

blorg wrote: »

It has to be a new bike. It specifically excludes second hand bikes.

Noted.

How about shop bought "as new / ex demo" ?

What I mean is, the shop has no issue with selling it, the company has no issue purchasing it, there is no obligation for me to disclose every particular to the Government, so is the only issue here with my conscience?

blorg

nereid wrote: »

Noted.

How about shop bought "as new / ex demo" ?

What I mean is, the shop has no issue with selling it, the company has no issue purchasing it, there is no obligation for me to disclose every particular to the Government, so is the only issue here with my conscience?

I think you would be fine there, I can't actually even find the thing about "no second hand bikes" but I think it is mainly there to prevent fraud, it would be easy to buy a second hand bike from a friend for more than it was worth, split the tax savings, etc.

Soccerchipie

Some employers are placing restrictions on where you can purchase bikes as they do not want to be dealing with a large number of different retailers..... A little anti-competitive IMO:mad: