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Honestly I thought the SLX shifters I used were broken, turns out they're supposed to feel like that. Weirdos.
don't just look at the rear mech, it is a common marketing activity to upgrade the rear mech, and usually to cut corners elsewhere.
If you have the choice of XT rear mech and Deore shifters and STX mech and shifters, your better getting STX for both parts. If the choice is Deore rear mech and XT shifters i would say go for it, but i doubt it ever happens.
Trek bikes are fine, worst case you get a decent warranty and back up, same with Specialized. But neither are very flashy or cutting edge.
To be honest there are very few bad bikes around at that price, it is more a case of unsuitable for what you might want to do. Do you want to play on jumps, or start XC Racing, or a bit of everything. Look at where your going to use the bike, big climbs and heavy bikes aren't much fun, but a strong bike can take a bit more abuse on the way back down.
Consider decent forks if only because you can get the spares when they need servicing. (seal kits)
Ignore tyres, and ignore what tyre threads, just look around at what locals use, and learn by experimenting. How you ride, what you ride and where you ride all affect the way tyres work.
Obligatory on-one suggestion if you could stretch to 850:
[url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOINSLX/on-one-inbred-slx ]SLX / inbred / elixir / recon[/url]
Seems quite a good deal? ("Customise" button soon raises the price!)
the on-one is not as good a frame or forks as the wanga...
not sure about not worrying abouot the rear mech - it hangs down and collects all the crap and knocks from the trail. Plus the quality of the jockey wheeels matters...
Not Meaning to disregard the Voodoo, the bikes that I am seriously consideing are the [url= http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2054 ]Canyon Grand Canyon 6.0[/url] (and [url= http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2052 ]Yellowstone 5.0[/url]) and the[url= http://www.thebikelist.co.uk/boardman/mtb-ht-team-2010 ] Boardman HT Team[/url] (which is on sale)
Both have pretty differing ends of the specification scale, both Canyons have rebas though one has Elixir 3 brakes and the other Juicy 3's. The Boardman also has Rebas and Elixir R's which i believe are better than both others. The Canyons are significantly different in the gearing and crank choices, they come with a mixture of Decore XT and SLX, whereas the Boardman is pretty much SRAM with Truvativ Cranks. Any advice or preferences? In my mind the Canyon's purely come into consideration because they look better, though i'd like to hear some opinions. 🙂
This dilemma would have been easy 15 years ago:
Kona Cindercone
In gold.
8)
The Canyon 6.0 does look like it has a good level of kit on it and looks like it has a decent geometry for XC.
I think the Truvatix cranks are pretty basic - I had Firex SL on my Dahon folder and they were ok but not very refined chainrings.
If you can stretch to that Canyon 6.0, I think it looks absolutely spot-on value. The shipping costs a fair bit though (at least £35 plus maybe another £15 if they insist on Bikeguard).
However, As your price is creeping up, it's worth taking a step back and thinking about how you're going to use this bike.
Most of these bikes are fairly XC based - 100mm travel on the Canyons for example.
The 2011 Boardmans come with the 120mm travel and slightly slacker head angles than the 2010 models.
Hard to give you a definite answer though.