hi, ive just had a rethink from having a camber comp to a hardtail.

any recommendations please?

im 6ft 4inches, need xl frame.

when fit enough i hope to cycle 8 mile to work all road and payment.my spare time will be parks and occasional cannock chase. i live in sutton coldfield.

You could get a super sexy pipedream 931 or Stanton slackline ti and budget 2nd hand for the rest of the components?

Stanton are only making 30 frames… but £1250!

If it were me, i’d spend a grand on a road bike and build a hardtail for a grand.

You could get a 456 carbon for about £1200, less if you build it yourself and it’ll be more than adequate for everything you’ll do at Cannock and Sutton Park. My full suss hasn’t been near Cannock since I built a c456, in fact it’s not been out of the house!

I’d have thought you’ll benefit far more from the road bike if you want to commute everyday than you would from a higher specced mountain bike to use occasionally.

thanks guys

to be honest, i would love a fs bike but think that the bounce in rear would drive me mad if on the road even if was locked out. but if you think different please advise me!

i love the look of them but hardtail seems to be my sensible choice. giant & cube & whyte look fantastic for £1600ish. which one?

matther01 – I don’t think the slackline ti quite fits the bill for what the OP wants does it! Fits the bill for me though, I have one on order but have a bit more in mind for it than commuting, parks and Cannock chase!
Personally I’d go for a Cotic Solaris (or a Soul) but I’d definately get some test rides booked in on some of the mainstream brands – that way you’ll get a feel for what you like, what fits you etc

If you need to buy on finance then obviously mainstream is the way to go.

If not, how about building up a 29er like kinesis FF29 or Cotic Solaris (or the Trek Stache looks good)?

I built my Cotic Soul with all new parts (apart from wheels) with LEV dropper for £1800

Stevede-beat me to it!

Would love a slackline ti…but credit card and wife say no ;(

Ha ha, credit card said yes and the wife doesn’t know……yet! Once I’ve had a shed clearout I should’ve paid for most of it!

yes guys thanks.

i do need finance. got 450 deposit from old bike. i also love the guarantee that the likes of specialised give on frame and parts.

i like the look of cube & giant paintwork but would like to know who is the best build quality?

I’d second the above advice to get two bikes – a cheap roadie and something like a C456

+1 for two bikes for you, if there is one sure fire way to ruin a bike it’s using it for commuting.

Unless you are very diligent with cleaning and maintenance or only commute in good weather then you will go through more drivetrains, cables and tyres than your wallet can handle.

Even with a short commute like that weather and use will take it’s toll and you’ll soon get bored of cleaning all the road grime off…

Buy a decent hardtail for £1200 – £1500 and then use the rest on a decent but budget roadbike/hybrid for the commute.

If you absolutely must only have the one bike then at least get a 2nd set of wheels with roadie tyres, no point wearing the knobbles off your decent tyres.

Personally if I needed finance I’d cut my budget from £2000 to £1000 and look at something like a canyon or boardman which you could potentially use as a donor bike in the future.

I would go for a Cube Reaction GTC SL for £1800
Carbon frame, fox forks, good geometry, XT.
Then spend £200 on getting a shorter step and possibly upgrading brakes to SLX or XT

Or for £1129 a Cube Ltd SL 29 – similar to above but aluminium.

Could do you a whyte 729 and a hybrid commuter for £2k! http://www.velo-m.co.uk
Give us a ring!!

no, i want one bike and finance. cube or giant or specialised ?

sat on a XL carve expert today but obviously prefer the pro!

do you think cube are better equiped? or giant?

TBH a CX bike would probably suit you best. Good on road and can handle the off-road stuff you are talking about. How about a Boardman from Halfords?

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/cx/cx_team.html

Riding a £2k ish bike on a commute would make the Baby Jesus cry. £200 would put you on a new Carrera subway. I’d enjoy riding that more to work safe in the knowledge I wasn’t wasting £50 tyres, and $$$ drivetrain, etc.

Rather than finance could you consider the bike to work scheme? There are quite a few LBS that do this now and you can get a Cotic on bike to work I believe.

I built my blue pig for 900 quid, second hand voodoo wanga from eBay for 500, blue pig frame for 200, reverb for 200. You can get a quality build fir less than 1000 if you are prepared to do it your self, then you can get a road bike and buy the missus a pressie 🙂 major browny points.

I bought a Merida 0 nine pro 1000d which is great and have a stumpjumper fsr as a second bike. although the fsr hasn’t been used for quite some time a the Merida is better than expected and at £1050 was a bargain start cycles in Newcastle who also do finance

Thoughts on specialised carve pro 2013 ?

Lovely bike first impressions anyway.

That is a lot of money to bimble about on as other have said! I have to agree with reducing the budget and going for something far higher quality secondhand/ on sale. Building a hardtail in the low 20 lbs for £700-1000 is no trouble at all. Why anyone would buy a 2 grand factory bike with comparatively poor components (to a SH self build of new/ nearly new parts) is beyond me!

Spesh Carve Pro?

A hell of a lot of money for OK frame, good forks, poor drivetrain, poor wheels, poor brakes… you get the idea 😀 If you really must buy new then someone like Rose, On-One, Canyon, etc offer the best value

Danw

Grand canyon AL 9.9

Nice!

How do you get to try?

You don’t. You buy the bike, if you don’t like it,send it back within a month, in the condition it was sent to you (ie not after a month of killing it commuting on it), and you get a refund iirc. Or find someone who’s got one and borrow it.

The German brands/websites are ace if you know what you want, or are willing to take a punt, less so if not.

Spend a little less and save enough for a second set of wheels and discs with commuting tyres on.
And make sure you buy a fork with lockout.

mugboo

what you recommend mate? ive been on canyons website, dont know what there quality is like.

i had to send a specialised bike back once because of a paint defect.

i also want to avoid this::

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/canyon-bikes-nightmare

at least with specialised i take the thing back which is only 3 miles from where i live.

Never had a problem with my Canyon. If you don’t like it when it arrives then put it back in the box and send it back.

I would have no concerns buying Canyon. If something doesn’t work then there is a route to fixing it whether it came from down the road or from across the world. I have had far more shonky LBS experiences than mail order problems 😉

thanks danW

someone has just told me cube are good for big blokes so i may be going out for a drive to try today. cheers

Radon Black Sin 6.0 £1,250(ish)

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/a78507/black-sin-6-0.html