MTB advice

Gordy6040

Hi Guys

I'm looking at getting back into mountain biking. Havent done any cycling in years and the new brands and technology is a bit of a mine field.

At the moment i'm looking for a bit of advice. With a budget of max €1200 i reckon i'm better off with a decent hard tail rather then a lower end full suspension jobby.

Anyone got any recommendations on what one to go for? the terrain would be a mix of technical climbs and decents with pleanty of fire roads thrown in.

This will be part funded by the tax back scheme so dont point me towards your sales thread please.

Tenzor07

Cough up a few more €€€ and get the Anthem X4 Ok so the part's are very basic, but the frame is the same right through the range so plenty of scope to upgrade as you progress..

deandean

You'll get a good hard tail for that price, in me experience 100mm fork travel is plenty unless you're gonna be going mad.

In my experience:

• frames are frames, not huge difference;
• Get the best 'spec fork you can
• Buy from a LBS. I'd buy parts 'n stuff mail order but not a bike.

derv

you can get this for 1200 in cycle superstore in tallaght

http://www.cube.eu/en/hard/ltd/ltd-race-grey-metal-blue/

my mate bought one last week at loves it.

I bought the Cube Acid 3 weeks ago from the bike store in Kilkenny. Have done 3 road trips...nothing major...20k each time, and went to Ballyhoura trails last Saturday. Was an absolute pleasure. My brother in law was with me...he has a Cube acid from 2 years ago, and did a few ks on mine down there....he thought there was a major difference in the fork. I did alot of research and shopping around. The bike was €920 in most places...slightly cheaper on cycle superstores, but for €900, the crowd in Kilkenny assembled and checked the bike, threw in a helmet, mudguards, pump, pouch for carrying phone etc, water bottle and water cage. About €100 worth of accessories, and free 6 week, 6 month and 12 month check.

Stark

Own a Trek 6300 which I bought over a year ago but if I was buying again, would probably go for a Lapierre Raid 700 for around the same price. Shorter stem and more travel, makes it easier for some of the technical downhill stuff. Borrow a friend's 5 year old one sometimes and I usually have more fun on it.

davidsr20

Bought a cube acid myself 3 weeks ago love it cube are a great bike and are high spec. Mine cost €919 and has rock shock recon and XT transmission so a Great spec. Only differance in the cube ltd is the slight differant frame maybe 1lb lighter.
Ballyhora rent cube Mtb because there a great bike to take abuse.

Gordy6040

deandean wrote: »

You'll get a good hard tail for that price, in me experience 100mm fork travel is plenty unless you're gonna be going mad.


In my experience:

• frames are frames, not huge difference;
• Get the best 'spec fork you can
• Buy from a LBS. I'd buy parts 'n stuff mail order but not a bike.

yep, i dont reckon i need much in terms of suspension.
would you not buy from chain reaction or wriggle, they look pretty competitive to me and there are some huge discounts out there.
have you heard of problems with on line guys?

Gordy6040

derv wrote: »

you can get this for 1200 in cycle superstore in tallaght

http://www.cube.eu/en/hard/ltd/ltd-race-grey-metal-blue/

my mate bought one last week at loves it.

looks good, cheers Derv

Gordy6040

slookie wrote: »

I bought the Cube Acid 3 weeks ago from the bike store in Kilkenny. Have done 3 road trips...nothing major...20k each time, and went to Ballyhoura trails last Saturday. Was an absolute pleasure. My brother in law was with me...he has a Cube acid from 2 years ago, and did a few ks on mine down there....he thought there was a major difference in the fork. I did alot of research and shopping around. The bike was €920 in most places...slightly cheaper on cycle superstores, but for €900, the crowd in Kilkenny assembled and checked the bike, threw in a helmet, mudguards, pump, pouch for carrying phone etc, water bottle and water cage. About €100 worth of accessories, and free 6 week, 6 month and 12 month check.

Cool - hard to beat the local bike shop for service:).
thanks for the reply

Gordy6040

Anyone come across Willier .
i found this one here

I dont know anything about the brand though. Spec and frame looks ok.

deandean

Gordy6040 wrote: »

would you not buy from chain reaction or wriggle, they look pretty competitive to me and there are some huge discounts out there.
have you heard of problems with on line guys?

It's more so because you are more likely to have a problem or two with a new bike and it is very handy to drop it back to LBS to get it sorted.

My last new bike, there was a free service & tune-up included, I will be getting them to tune the gears and brakes, and I see one other poster above got three tune-ups included. Now that is worth money, saves you 50 euro a shot.

Here's what I would do: This is if you are in Dublin; apologies if you're not, I just know the local names: take a 1/2 day off, go to
- Cycle Superstore
- the big bike shop in Parnell Street (Cycleways I think)
- Recently enlarged bike shop along the Luas line near Jervis
- Place in Dundrum town centre, they do skiing stuff, etc too

There are lots of others too, these are the ones I know of.

Tell them your budget, get a feel for what's on offer, and look for the best chainset and fork etc.

Many of the shops have a demo bike you can take for a day or two, I found this brilliant, 'try before you buy'.

One really handy kit I have, esp if you're gonna be on the road some, is a remote lockout for the fork, mounted on the handlebars. I have the fork locked about 3/4 of the time! Dunno if you'll get one for that price though.

EpicMTBLadies

Hi Gordy

If you are looking for advise on what bike to buy for mtbing try Alfie and Robin in Expert Cycles in Rathfarnham. Aflie is currently the XC maters national champion and Robin is a former mtb olympian and cuurently the elite XC national champion. So it would be safe to say they know a thing or two about what might suit you best!
Give them a try