What mountain bike?

jameshayes

Well!

I'm in the market for a bike, I will initially be using it for a small amount of commuting, 12kms round trip - but I do hope that in the near future I can bring it up the hills and do some mountain biking...

My budget is 1k (via biketowork.ie) - cost to not include safety / clothing

I'm 5'11'' and not very heavy at all!

Thanks in advance!

seamus

You'll normally be told that you're mad to buy an MTB for commuting, but for 6km each way and the fact that you plan on actually going mountain biking, I think you're making the right choice.

The array of bikes available to you at your price point is just completely enormous. I wouldn't know where to start recommending a specific bike tbh.

Basically what you want is a front-suspension XC bike (XC being cross-country), also known as a hardtail. You don't need full suspension.

At a bare minimum you want a bike with hydraulic discs and 100mm travel on the front fork. If it has these, then that's a relatively good indicator that it's a solid bike. Cable discs or 80mm forks and you're into the cheaper stuff which may not hold up as well on the trails.

I've always liked Cube MTBs, here's a decent one.

Easiest thing to do is to tell us what shop(s) you can buy from and that will narrow down the field somewhat.

In future if the MTBing bug bites it would be worth buying a pair of commuting wheels that you can stick slick tyres on and just swap wheels when you're heading out on the trails. The knobbly tyres are destroyed by tarmac and the slick tyres will make the commute much faster.

jameshayes

Thats a great reply, thanks!

Well, with work we use biketowork or the halfords equivalent but I dont think i'll be heading there... the options are;

dublin:
MacDonald Cycles City Centre
Penny Farthing Cycles
Delaney and Son Cycles
Cycle Ops Ltd.
MacDonald Cycles Rathgar
Hollingsworth Cycles Templeogue
Expert Cycles
Cyclepower
Giant Dublin
ICycle Kimmage
Wolfe Cycles


thats about it really - they're all close to work / home - I'd prefer not to have to travel too far just in case i need aftersales

ford2600

For a €1,000 this is probably best value on market
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3008#tab-reiter2

Comes with Mavic Crossride wheels and Rockshox Reba fork. Not possible for you with your bike to work set up.

Have a cube mtb myself, great value bike for what you want. As seamus says choice is enormous, I'd be inclined to choose shop which is most knowlegable on mtb's and helpful with advice. Other posters might help on that, I'm not based in Dublin.

Mountain biking is tough going, but is savage craic, like being 12 again!

Enjoy.

P.S. When using off road especially, clean bike after every ride. Muck and slime eats up drivetrain, hubs, all sorts of bearings if you don't clean it and lube it.

random.stranger

I'm a bit dubious about the fork on that cube to be honest.

If you're anywhere near a decent halfords I'd consider this much better value for money:
http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_777799_langId_-1_categoryId_212589#tab2

jameshayes

random.stranger wrote: »

I'm a bit dubious about the fork on that cube to be honest.

If you're anywhere near a decent halfords I'd consider this much better value for money:
http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_777799_langId_-1_categoryId_212589#tab2

I would have put halfords down as the bikeworld of cycles, overpriced & under knowledged? Was I wrong?

random.stranger

They sell a lot of tat alright & staff knowledge/experience may vary (that's why I said a decent halfords).

Boardman are a well regarded brand.

Tenzor07

jameshayes wrote: »

Thats a great reply, thanks!

Well, with work we use biketowork or the halfords equivalent but I dont think i'll be heading there... the options are;

dublin:
Expert Cycles

thats about it really - they're all close to work / home - I'd prefer not to have to travel too far just in case i need aftersales

Talk to the guys @ Expertcycles Rathfarnham.

One of whom is none other than Robin Seymour, who has been Irish MTB champ for the past number of years, can't get better advice than from someone like that eh?

funkyjebus

+1 on the Canyon, I have a 2012 model. You will not get anything better for the money or even close to it. Went to the cyclesuperstore site and this has pretty much the same spec but comes in at €1,745.

You are trading about €500+ of upgrades for a bit of after sales service.

FWIW my friend had an issue with his Canyon and they asked him to take it to the LBS and they paid for it so it not like you get no after sales service.

jameshayes

spent an hour looking up the Boardman Mountain Bike Team 2012/2013 - http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_777799_langId_-1_categoryId_212589

and I cant seem to find a bad review, people are clutching for straws saying the tyres and pedals aren't the best but thats it...

Working out at 62 euro down and 40 per month I think I may have a winner...

ford2600

think if you have an axa policy you get 10 or 15% off. Or find someone with one!

studiorat

random.stranger wrote: »

I'm a bit dubious about the fork on that cube to be honest.

If you're anywhere near a decent halfords I'd consider this much better value for money:
http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_777799_langId_-1_categoryId_212589#tab2

I would have put a Reba as a lighter and better fork than the Recon. The 100mm travel and QR on the reba would probably be more of an XC set-up. The Recon more suited to trail riding I suppose. I'd prefer the 120mm for trails. A 120mm Reba would be ideal IMO. There's also the Voodoo Wanga with a Revelation fork in Halfords, more trail orientated again I guess. You'd ruin these bikes commuting them daily though, or increase their maintenance time/cost.

Give yourself about €150 for helmet shorts and a pair of gloves. Maybe €50 for spares, toolkit etc. And then whatever a lock is going to cost for commuting.

Regarding Halfords my local one is managed by the sectary or the local cycling club, I'd have no trouble with his knowledge of bikes etc.

random.stranger

studiorat wrote: »

I would have put a Reba as a lighter and better fork than the Recon.

So would I

The fork on the cube is a RockShox XC32

studiorat

random.stranger wrote: »

So would I

The fork on the cube is a RockShox XC32

I was looking at the Canyon

jameshayes

So after having the bike (boardman club mtb) a few weeks and after building up a bit of cycling stamina a friend and I went to ballinastoe mountain bike trails. It was both our first time mountain biking and it was epic, bike stood up to the challenge more than I did, uphills were tough but the downhills made up for it ten fold!

The rush was epic, proper epic!!