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I'm hoping to pick up a good value hardtail in the next month or two for both commuting to work and also for trails with steep ascents and descents in the Lakes, Peak District, Scotland all over the place really. For commuting a lot will also be rough terrain and involve hills, pot holes and canal paths etc as I live in hilly area.
I was going to get a bike through my company cycle to work scheme but a lot of the good value for money bikes seem to only be available through halfords which my company isn't with their scheme so not available to me unless I buy new from Halfords or used on eBay etc.
Some of the bikes I have been considering are the following:
Decathalon Btwin Rockrider 8.1 £500 through cycle to work scheme
Voodoo Hoodoo (Halfords) £475 new or buy used?
Specialized Rockoppper 2011 £510-550 on sale (if avail thru ctw/lbs)
Genesis Core 26.2 £550 on sale (if available through ctw/lbs)
Scott Scale 80 2012 £550 on sale through lbs/ctw scheme if available
These are links to the bikes:
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2012-id_8168918.html
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_786847_langId_-1_categoryId_165499
http://www.dalescycles.com/2012-specialized-rockhopper-17-5-p1764
http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain/core/core-26-2
http://www.dalescycles.com/2012-scott-scale-80-p3216
Which of the above would you personally recommend the most, or what order of preference would you place them in?
Are there any other bikes you would recommend I also look at that I haven't mentioned above and why would you recommend it?
I never realised that hardtail bikes were called hardtail until recently I thought they were called hardtrail. I still have a lot to learn when I get my first bike in a long time and get back into it.
The bikes I have been researching above it seems to get a good value bike I need to make a compromise somewhere for example the Hoodoo I believe it has really good forks, is a great looking bike in a great colour, gets good reviews, but on the downside is a little heavy in weight, the gearing may not be as good as on for example the rockhopper to make easier work of ascents, and also I wouldn't be in the middle of its sizing range but for the 18" frame I would be right at the bottom e.g. I am around 5'8" in height, and inside leg 30". I believe it would be better to sit right in the middle of the size rating than at the bottom or top of it for a bike best sized to you? Or is my logic flawed?
Then by way of second example the Rockhopper has the better "Gearing?" to get up the hills with 11-34t cassette whereas Voodoo only has 11-32 I believe? Also the Rockhopper has better frame I believe and weights a lot less and I would sit in the middle of its size guide for the 17" frame. The big downside for the Rockhopper is that it doesn't have forks as good as Hoodoo as they are only coil forks.
In such scenarios where you are trying to find a bike that is good value for money, suited to you and ticks as many of your boxes as possible how do you decide on the trade offs? In the above example do you value the better forks more or the lighter bike and better gearing/cassette?
Thanks!
John
Giant revel ltd £579.
commencal hd4 n hd2 premier ,look up commencal anyway.
these were my choices,in below 600 bracket.
I had the Scott Scale 80 (2011) and it wa great for the money only downside is the forks they were naff and bottomed out regularly. The frame on the Scott is great and the spec is not too bad for the money you will need a new stem and wider bars as the set up is race with narrow bars etc. I have recently done the CTW scheme but I went for the maximum £1000. I have ordered one of [url= http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_gb/bike/2012/11/MTB+Hardtails/O.Nine+1000-D+ ]these[/url] from my LBS in Newcastle it was on sale from £1800 down to £1150 then got an extra 10% off as I bought the Scott from them. If you can up the budget and get last years model you will get much more for your money.
I had a rockhopper for my first hardtail cracking little bike
Tough one this.
I went and had a look at the Rockrider and it's much much better in the flesh than the web pic looks. It's also superbly specced.
I recommended it to my sister-in-law along with the Boardman Comp (bit dearer)
She went with the Boardman, just because it looked that little bit slicker. It's a nice bike (cost £610 with the £40 off they were doing last week).
Even though I was pleasantly surprised by the Rockrider, there's still something about it that says 'stopgap' bike. Something like that Genesis will probably feel more 'special', even though it's got a lower spec.
I've been using a Specialized Hardrock Sports Disc 2012 since January doing anything from 42 - 70 miles a week for commuting (10% off road, 40% road and 50% Canal paths).
Also ridden it at Grizdale, Winlatter(both red and blue trails) and local trails and never had any bother with it, i did bottom it out on the Northface though 😳
Just replaced the tires, the Chain now needs replacing but apart from that with a good clean and lubing at the end of every week never had any bother with it :-)Go for the Rockhopper if you can though better parts 🙂
I'd say the Voodoo wins over the Rockhopper in the components stakes.
They're both similar in spec with the exception of the forks and brakes, with the Voodoo you get an air fork and dual piston discs. The draco's on the Rockhopper are ok (I've got them on my crosstrails) but they only have one piston per caliper, they're better than mechanical discs but not as good as dual piston by a long way.