Hi I’m looking for a new mountain bike.
Enjoyable to ride uphill, give some confidence down the hill when it gets a bit rough and generally fun to ride in singletrack cross country. My current bike is a rather outdated 12yr old rigid mtb (long seatpost, low bars) nice and quick on the ups but feels like it’s about to tip me off on any bumpy downhills.
I am interested in the likes of the On-one Parkwood, or Bird Zero.
Can you suggest any other similar bikes worth trying out up to around £1000.?
Thanks

Nukeproof Scout Race?

Nice modern geometry with a long front center.

Dartmoor primal 29 is not a million miles from the parkwood.

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/dartmoor-gravity-hardtails-hornet-vs-primal-video-2014.html

Thanks for the suggestions.
Can you describe what a “long front centre” means? I haven’t really understood that one.

Long reach/top tube with a short stem and a short chainstay.

Makes for a fun bike that’s still pretty stable at high speed. It shortens the rear of the bike making it a bit easier to manual/throw around (at the expense of stability) and makes the front longer meaning that the front wheel feels further out in front of you….meaning more confidence on drops and rocky stuff and helping to keep the bike more stable on high speed stuff – despite the short chainstay.

The Bird Zero is a bit bleh, slightly dated geometry.

Thanks, understand that now.

The spec is better for the price on the Bird though. I’d just rather have the Scouts geometry and upgrade it down the line.

Ok so the Bird is shorter on the front, longer chain stays? Bird more middle of the road?

What about trek stache? Where does that lie in this scheme of things?

Ok so the Bird is shorter on the front, longer chain stays? Bird more middle of the road?

Not really, it’s disgustingly short. As short as an On One. The Nukeproof isn’t even that long compared to some of the newer bikes.

I think the Bird has the same length chainstays as well. Seriously – geo first, spec second. For 1300 quid you get a better damped fork on the Bird, on the lower specced scout you get a fork you could later upgrade with an avalanche damper or just replace with a 350 quid Pike RC from Germany. You can’t upgrade geometry.

The Scout is slacker as well. These days a full suspension trail bike usually has around a 67 degree head angle, when sagged they are about 66.5. When you sag a hardtail the bike gets steeper because you are only sagging the fork, so when sagged the Scout will be around 67 degrees whilst the bird will end up a whopping 68-69 degrees. That’s steep compared to your run of the mill full suss trail bike.

You could run an angleset on the Bird though.

I’d still run with the Nukeproof IMO. Also, the raw frame is a work of art.

If you could test ride both, that’d be great.

Trek Stache – at a guess.

Bigger wheels
Steeper
Longer Chainstays
Longer reach than Bird, shorter than the Scout

Better at going up hills, harder to lift the front up because of the longer chainstays, less able on the downs. It’s an XC bike.