Suggestions for a new Mountain Bike

[juanlbotha]

Hi,

I have GBP 1300 to spend on a new mountain bike. The purpose of the bike will be do drive around offroad tracks around the UK, but also normal cycling. Basically a bit of both, more leaning more towards track riding.

I am not sure if I should look at hard tail or full suspension bikes.

I've look at various options such as Giant Anthem, Trance or Merida 120.

Any suggestions or other bikes I should look at?

Comments welcome.
Juan

 

[poolepaul]

hi Juan,
I have just bought a trek 6900 for 1400, a great bike but just over your budget....
I think the next best thing would be a cube ltd sl , which was my 2nd choice.. This bike is 1130 and has some good spec components....
good luck with whatever you choose

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Hi,

I have GBP 1300 to spend on a new mountain bike. The purpose of the bike will be do drive around offroad tracks around the UK, but also normal cycling. Basically a bit of both, more leaning more towards track riding.

I am not sure if I should look at hard tail or full suspension bikes.

I've look at various options such as Giant Anthem, Trance or Merida 120.

Any suggestions or other bikes I should look at?

Comments welcome.
Juan

IF it is your only bike and IF normal cycling means road then you might want to consider the option of allocating say up to £300 of the budget for 2nd pair of wheels with compatible cassette (not necessarily as wide ratio-ed) and rotors shod with fairly light slick tyres - for road use. It should take no more than a minute or two to switch wheels.

Another option is to get a say £500 hybrid or road bike and a £800 mtb.

Riding a mtb with knobbly tyres on the road for any significant distance is not much fun.

 

[James D]

Hi Jaun,

I bought a 2011 Specialized Pitch Pro for £1300 a few months ago, brilliant bike, 150mm suspension front and back. Might be a bit of overkill for riding on tracks and roads though. Looks like you would be better off with a hardtail imo. Canyon do great bikes that are good value, couple of my mates have gone for them and really rate them:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2540

 

[Peteaud]

Ive a trek 6500, about £1k so will easily be in budget and allow for a few extra toys.

Trek 6 series are fantastic bikes imho.

 

[Keith Oates]

Ive a trek 6500, about £1k so will easily be in budget and allow for a few extra toys.

Trek 6 series are fantastic bikes imho.

i would agree with that, one of the UK guys that comes with our Sunday morning ride group has recently bought one and he's very happy with the choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lukesdad]

If you are not interested in technical stuff id go for a HT.

 

[Ticktockmy]

Hi,

I have GBP 1300 to spend on a new mountain bike. The purpose of the bike will be do drive around offroad tracks around the UK, but also normal cycling. Basically a bit of both, more leaning more towards track riding.

I am not sure if I should look at hard tail or full suspension bikes.

I've look at various options such as Giant Anthem, Trance or Merida 120.

Any suggestions or other bikes I should look at?

Comments welcome.
Juan

As i use my Mountain bikes both for touring and riding the tracks and byway here in my local area, I ended building one up to suit my requirements which allowed me to mix and match the best of all bits and pieces, guess the bike cost me in the region of your budget.

Charge Duster 2010 frame, (has bigger diamenter tubes than the Duster 2011 frame)
RockShox Recon Silver TK Solo Air 100mm Suspension Fork
Hope Tech X2 Disc Brake front and rear.
Truvativ Noir XC 3.3 Team Triple Chainset.( got it for £90 so could not miss such a good bargain)
Shimano XT M770 Derailleur and levers front and rear..
Race Face Evolve MTB Handlebar
Charge Spoon saddle
Mavic Crossride XC717 front wheeL
Halo SAS Pro 26 Inch Rear Mtb Wheel (heavy wheel but great for when I am touring off road fully laden)
Current tyres are Schwalbe Marathon XR's for touring otherwise when not set up for touring: I use Panaracer Fire XC Pro's

 

[Globalti]

You don't seriously expect the guy to build his own bike? He wants to get riding with the minimum of fuss.

Fella, just walk into any bike shop and spend around £800 on a decent hardtail, for that money you will get something excellent. Spend the rest of the lolly on clothes, shoes, helmet, frame pump, a track pump, spare inner tubes, puncture kit, a hydration pack and all the kit.

Then go and buy an Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 map of your area, check out all the dashed green lines, which are bridleways and get riding.

In six months you'll be hankering after another bike and by then you'll have a clearer idea of what you want.

 

[Cubist]

Get one of these. It's a £1200 bike by anybody's standards, and will be perfect for your needs. If you don't like it you can sell the parts separately on Ebay and get your money back overnight, or buy a used frame and transfer all the parts over.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=75087

 

[al-fresco]

You don't seriously expect the guy to build his own bike? He wants to get riding with the minimum of fuss.

Fella, just walk into any bike shop and spend around £800 on a decent hardtail, for that money you will get something excellent. Spend the rest of the lolly on clothes, shoes, helmet, frame pump, a track pump, spare inner tubes, puncture kit, a hydration pack and all the kit.

Then go and buy an Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 map of your area, check out all the dashed green lines, which are bridleways and get riding.

In six months you'll be hankering after another bike and by then you'll have a clearer idea of what you want.

Good advice I think. I recently bought a 2011 Triad 1.0 from the Edinburgh Bike Coop on clearance at £499 - the spec included hydraulic discs and air shocks, the chainset is nice and slick with a good range of gears. Once I knew I liked the bike I swapped the OE saddle for a Charge Spoon, added flat peddles, bought a hydration pack, some Teva Links shoes and stocked up on inner tubes (total price of the extras was £200) and I've got a bike that gets me around local bridleways, forestry tracks, pukka off-road trails and puts a huge grin on my face. I could have spent much more but I don't think I'd have had much more fun and if I do decided to sell it and upgrade I'll have a much better idea of what I'm looking at. I won't be selling my road bike though - mountain bikes are too slow to be much fun on roads.