Forum menu
Hi Guys,
Getting a first MTB for all types of riding I guess, coming from a Road/Time trialing background so aerobic fitness there, enjoy riding fast, but have limited MTB skills LOL.
Looking that these two:
Orange p7 - seen a good deal. Like the fact its steal (strong), but it this geared up towards down hill, aggressive riders, experienced i.e not me. Or would this be a good bike to learn on and could it handle maybe some XC races/fast riding.
Marin Nailtrail 7
seems a good blend between XC and trail in a 29in - would this be a happy medium?
Want price to be less that £1500 - thoughts really helpful?!? 🙂
Cheers guys
The P7 is a great bike.
I've had one on and off since the 90's. The new one still feels 'just right'. There's nothing crazy in the geometry, the fit is just so and it rides in the same lively friendly way it always has. And steel is real!
I paid just over a £1000 for a 2017. If you shop around you can find the odd bargain.
I'd recommend it to anyone.
Try them out see which riding position you like.
I find switching from road to mtb riding position feels weird, so something more XC related would probably be a good idea.
I'm sure the Orange is a great bike, but I have the 2015 Nail Trail 9.6 as my local XC/Trail hardtail, great bike, great reviews and good price. Where are you based Andy?
Hi, South West, Portishead nr Bristol.
Ah, that's a little distance away for you to throw a leg over I'm afraid as I'm in Northants. All I can say is that like you said, geometry wise it's somewhere between an XC and Trail bike so great for most scenarios, I really like it and for local riding choose it over my far more expensive carbon FS.
The P7 is a fantastic bike, recently bought the Pro model, have a couple of other MTB’s (all liked in there own ways) but if I could only have the one bike, it would be the P7 because it does everything.
Very comfortable for long distances riding, climbs like no other bike I’ve ridden (and it’s not exactly light weight!) the more effort you put in, the more playful it gets, you can finish your ride and be wanting to go for a second lap it’s that addictive to ride. Feels very stable on sketchy decents, everything suddenly becomes a spring board and you want to ping off things, certainly brings life back into riding again.
Get one, you won’t regret it.