Scott V's Whyte V's Cube V's Cannondale

[matt21white]

All

Im about to dive into the mountain bike market with £600 - £800 burning a hole in my pocket, but have no real idea on the best bike to get.
I have seen a few I like the look of, and already have a Cannondale road bike which I love, but I know bot all about mountain bikes and am looking for some advise / opinions.
So......
The options are:
Scott Scale 770 - £699
Scott Aspect 710 - £799
Cannondale Trail 4 or 3 - £550 to £799
Whyte 810 - £750
Cube Attention SL - £699

I'm 6'2" and circa 90+KG. Looking for a cool & quality bike to go round and about with the kids, and also take out to local trail forests e.g. Dalby, Guisborough & Hamsterly forests. Not expecting earth shattering spec, but don't want to waste my money either.
Whats the best way forward
Please help!!!

 

[Crackle]

Nearly always the Cubes have better componentry than rivals and that one you listed stands out from the rest. Cubes can have quite short top tubes, which may or may not suit. Whyte frames are also well regarded and the 810 is nice but it has a slack head angle which you'll either like or not. I would generally avoid Suntour forks and pick one with Rockshox tk-solo air or the Fox on the 810. You've also got a mix of 29 and 27.5 wheels in your list, so do you favour one over the other?

 

[matt21white]

Cheers for the response.

Quite like the idea of sticking to a slightly more aggressive head angle, as I do like a bit of speed on the road bike, so why not on a hill.
27.5" wheels is what Im thinking, which sort of pushes out the cannondale too.
Any thoughts on the Scott Aspect 710, I haven't found anyone who has had one in past for info on quality etc.
1 other question, Do I need the remote lockout and rebound adjuster which features on some but not others. Is this a gimmick or genuinely useful?

 

[Crackle]

I don't personally know anything about the 710 but Scott bikes are pretty reasonable. Best bet is to find one somewhere you can try. I personally don't have remote lockout and don't think I'd use it if I had it as my mtn bike is used almost exclusively off-road. On paper it sounds good but in practice it's never used on the two bikes in my stable that have it, neither of them mine I hasten to add.

The Whyte will start to come into it's own on built trails with the slacker head angle giving more stable steering on the rough stuff, the Scott is a more typical XC bike, it all depends how you think you're going to ride it, where and your own personal abilities. I wouldn't necessarily make any comparison to your road bike. I'd throw a leg over both if you have the option.

 

[Cubist]

Cheers for the response.

Quite like the idea of sticking to a slightly more aggressive head angle, as I do like a bit of speed on the road bike, so why not on a hill.
27.5" wheels is what Im thinking, which sort of pushes out the cannondale too.
Any thoughts on the Scott Aspect 710, I haven't found anyone who has had one in past for info on quality etc.
1 other question, Do I need the remote lockout and rebound adjuster which features on some but not others. Is this a gimmick or genuinely useful?

A steeper head angle means a sportier ride..... if you don't do much mountainbiking and want to start riding proper trails then I would strongly advise you to go slacker. An arse-up, head-down position is great on fire roads and tracks, but the moment you point it down a hill on anything nadgery you'll feel like you're about to pitch off the front into an abyss. A slack front end places you in the right position to control the bike through body movement.

As for remote lockout, it's a frippery. It can occasionally be useful to lock the fork, but in my experience remotes either don't work very well, or need constant fettling to make them do what they are supposed to do. If you don't have sufficient confidence and balance to reach down to the fork leg and turn an adjuster, maybe MTBing is not for you.

Rebound adjustment on the other hand makes the difference between a bike with a bouncy front end, and one with workable suspension that actually tracks the ground and justifies the additional weight of a suspension fork. Avoid any bike that doesn't have rebound adjustment.

 

[Cubist]

From your list, based on spec I would avoid the Cannondales...... no excuses for Octalink or alivio components, let alone suntour forks at this price point.. Top of the spec list is the Whyte if you can get one at that price. XT chainset and SLX brakes, plus a Fox fork and a decent weight..... no contest as long as it feels OK to ride.

 

[magicmerve]

I have a 2012 Whyte 801 and although I'm thinking of getting something new, I still speak highly of it. The rockshox xc28 forks do the job nicely, although I'm not putting it through hard hard trails.

Not sure what brakes the 810 come with, but my Tektra Draco brakes are not really up to the job. Just brought some Hope Tech 3 E4 and they are mega.

Compared to the other rubbish I've ridden over the years the Whyte is s pretty decent bike in my opinion.

 

[MissyR]

I had the cube anaolg and was a fantastic bike! Light and responsive with pretty descent components on it.

 

[Cyclist33]

I had the cube anaolg and was a fantastic bike! Light and responsive with pretty descent components on it.

How did the components look when climbing, though? ;-)

 

[MissyR]

How did the components look when climbing, though? ;-)

No idea I was blowing out my backside!