I was recommended i make this thread as a result of an earlier thread choosing which type of bike to buy. I have fixed on a hardtail. Start the the thread with the Boardman Team HT, good and bad about it? Alternative recommendiations?

bit bellow your price but the kona blink at merlin cycles looks good value and you get 10% off if you sign up to there newsletter.

Specialized Rockhopper.

How tall are you ?

Genesis core
Boardman team
Voodoo wanga
Merlin malt
Specialised rockhopper
Various steel frames too

All good ht bikes for what you want (see other thread). If you can ride them do. As for components, rate fork and brakes over drivetrain in my opinion.

Carrera Fury eats up and spits out almost everything under a grand tbh. But is a wee bit of a bigger animal than most of the competition since they tend to be very XC. OTOH because the spec’s so good it’s still lighter than most of the 100mm competition. And right now it’s priced right (Halfords do stupid pricing games and increase it from time to time so it looks cheaper at £550. It’s always a good buy but at £550 I wouldn’t consider anything else myself.

Suntour fork on the Carrera vs Reba on the Wanga plus Joe Murrey designed frame – hmmm – think I know what I would go for…

You actually used one of those Epicons? It’s a match for the Reba, no bother. I really wanted to like the Wanga but tbh it’s nothing special. And still £100 more than the Fury. Does have some very nice bits in the spec though but the Fury’s the better allrounder.

As far as the Fury frame goes I think they stole the geometry from someone with some talent 😉 It’s a surprisingly good bit of kit.

+1 for genesis core,i have core20 and its a very capable bike…

carrera fury +1squillion. its handled everything i’ve thrown at it in the last year and i’ve put it through some pretty painful impacts 😀 friends voodoo which was 200squid more has had more problems in the past 3 months than i’ve had with the fury since i’ve owned it… hang on… i haven’t had any problems with the fury that i can remember

Does anyone have any experience of Trek and Scott Bikes? They appear to have a deal here with a hundred £s off HERE

+1 for the Kona Blink @merlincycles
And if there’s a further 10% off ^^^ £540??
that’s one helluva bargain.

problems where – with the frame or ancillaries?

the ancillaries look pretty similair between the bikes, with slightly better on the Wanga.

I built my Wanga so it has a better level of kit (reba teams, hope/717, xt/xtr) and it is very solid.

The fury looks heavier though, and it is an aluminium frame. Why so heavy at 13kg?

you also need to ride them, they all have different geometry.

despite what has been said I reckon the Wanga frame has good geometry and is a good base for future upgrade.

Have you looked at the Cube’s? My LBS has the range and they really rate them. Cube is the only non-custom mtb range they stock.

gonna post this link again…

As for the Kona, im not too fond of how they have decided to colour the frame, also, compared to options like the Voodoo or Carrera, it doesn’t exactly match up, (the Fury especially) both of which would be around £550.

chi11i

Have you looked at the Cube’s?

Yes, I was pretty intent on getting a cube round about September last year, but I missed out on the sales and an opportunity to get a great looking bike, I tried to look around then and found other (better specced) options.

btw, i’m about 6’2″

Doesn’t anyone realise? You aren’t allowed to have a Carrera on STW.

IMO don’t get too hung up on getting the absolute best spec for your money, or you’ll never get anything and start riding. You look like you’re bothered as much about look as about spec, which is just as valid so get a decent frame with the best forks and wheels your budget will allow – those are the thing’s you’ll really notice. The rest can be swapped as you progress and get into riding.

The 2010 Wanga for £650, no doubting the Carrera Fury has won awards for it’s value but in spite of that, I still that the Wanga is worthy of that sale price based on some good componentry for that price, many/most riders say steel frames take out some of the rear end harshness, and it;s an easy transition between gears and singlespeed should you want to. (and you will :wink:}

The one downside is the paintwork on that particular model does chip a bit too easy from many reports, but it’s still a nice looking bike, it’s red and anyone that knows anything about bikes knows that red goes faster than any other colour, that’s a fact. 8)

anybody looked at the yellowstone canyons

That Voodoo Wanga is a nice bike. My mate got a new one last year for £400 as his local Halfords were selling them off.

I would have got one too, but didn’t have the money at the time.

😥

The Canyon thread a couple of days ago made me have a thorough look at them.
Similar value to the Halfords Voodoo and Boardman range:
http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2051

(or the one above it).

Yes, I have had a look at the canyons, liking the look of the Yellowstone 4.0 W, Its got recons and juicy 3’s, not bad value in my opinion and on at £669 which is roughly the same as the Boardman Team. I shall look into them further 🙂

The ‘W’ stands for Women’s btw

Was going to suggest the Malt 1 from Merlin as I noticed the £650 price tag on it but then realised they only have 13 inch frame.

Perhaps you could ‘find’ another £69.95 ?

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Bikes/Mountain+Bikes/Merlin+Bikes/Merlin+Malt+2+Bike_MERLIN-MALT2-BIKE.htm

Those Canyons do look pretty good.

Oh, I thought it meant “white”, there dont seem to be a lot of reviews about these bikes, i’m guessing they are quite new(??)

You can only buy direct and so far they don’t seem to have supplied their whole range to mags for review. The ones that do get reviewed do very well though.
Basically at the cheaper end of the market, value really does count for a lot.
For example, the difference between Toras and Recons is huge imo.
One good thing about the Canyons (from my point of view anyway) is that they come with Shimano, unlike the Boardmans/Voodoos.

top priorities in order are: frame/fork/wheels/groupset.

the forks are a large expense so best to get the best value up front (the Wanga has rebas…) to reduce the need to upgrade.

you will wear the chainset out and it will need replacing anyway.

Personally I dont see SRAM as a negative but it is simply a matter of personal preference among many people. I find it difficult to relate to shimano as I have not seen any clear heirachy within the brand. All that comes us is “Decore” over and over again. 😛

Mint condition medium Genesis Altitude on sale in classifieds for £850 ONO 🙂

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/genesis-altitude-ht-mint-condition-17-medium

never heard of Decore but I think Deore is the basic level – although it is confusing with that particular label as I think I have seen Deore XT!

It used to be:

STX
LX
XT
XTR

but then STX and LX became SLX, so

SLX
XT
XTR

with maybe Deore before SLX?

XTR is generally overkill although a rear mech is nice as the jockey wheels are ceramic and more robust – but you can replace the others with ceramic when they wear out.

But you can often pick up bit of groupset cheap in the sales or on ebay, so they are not a deal breaker.

It is often worth upgrading the chain on a new bike, they generally put the cheapest they can get away with on.

It is also worth watch the chain ‘stretch’ (park do a tool for it) as if you let it stretch too much it will wear the cassette (also the chainrings) and then a new chain wont be possible as it will skip, so you will need a new cassette.

So some people buy 3 decent chains, say KMC, and rotate between them to get three full chains worth of wear out of a cassette and chainrings. You then change the cassette and 3 new chains in one go, and you might not need to chainge the chainrings as they don’t tend to jump like a cassette would.

problem with the Genesis is that it is 17″ frame, I need at least 20″

No worries – just a thought 🙂 Only I know its pedigree and it really is Mint 🙂

TurnerGuy, the Canyon has a combination of SLX and XT, Cranks are SLX and so is the front deraileur, the rear one is Decore XT, that sound good??

Not got much experience of SLX but people seem to like it 🙂

The only real issue, apart from a little bit of weight, is how you are going to use the bike.

If you are going to be hardcore riding all year round through mud etc then I found that kit below XT level would wear out, whereas when you get to XT level it tends to fair better. But I was quite abusive with the amount of mud I used to ride through (70+ miles a weekend on the north downs al year round whatever the weather).

So you should still put the frame and forks first, but try different bikes if you can as the geometry/fit will make a big difference.

For instance I had a 19inch Kona Muni Mula to start with, then changed it for an 18inch Kona Explosif for better fit and to get away from harsh aluminium, and then to the Wanga for a nicer fit with 100mm forks.

Some bikes are stretched out, some are compact. Some have a steeper head angle and therefore the steering is sharper and more to your taste, or you may want the slower reaction from a longer travel bike which goes downhill better. Stem length can also make a big difference.

And if it turns out you don’t like the ride of your new bike then, as long as it is pretty standard and doesn’t use fancy integrated headsets and stuff, you can swap the frame out for a 2nd hand frame from ebay – thats where my explosif and wanga frames came from.If you have a reasonably sought after frame in the first place (wanga?) then you should be able to sell it for a reasonable sum – when I sold the explosif I made a profit on it 🙂

Are you anywhere near junction 11 of the M25, you could have a whizz on my Wanga if you are.

SLX and XT are definitely as good as you are going to get at this price point.
Pretty much faultless. 2012 Deore looks pretty amazing too!
The hubs and chainset are places where companies tend to skimp. You might want to run them into the ground over the first couple of years then replace with something better.

I’d take SLX over even SRAM X9 any day of the week.