Hi new here can you reccomend me a bike?

‘come round ‘ere, with your fancy stories and waving a big wad of cash do you, grrr………

Come on chaps and chapesses, lets give him some proper advice, the OP did ask for advice in the first place. So,, he wants to spend £2k, fair enough, it’s his money, lets help him spend it wisely!!!

I think if you’ve got it, £2k is actually a sensible (ish) amount to spend! with one caveat: only spend a max of say £1500 on the actual bike. With the remaining £500, get yourself properly kitted out for a UK winter (mud, rain, 3degC etc) as lots of beginners have just given up after not enjoying themselves trying to cycle through a british summer, let alone a UK winter! And, if you’ve got £200 left over, get yourself to some skills coaching, a blinking good day out, and will really make you want to push yourself and learn new stuff, not just pound the pedals round!

This is probably the best answer you’ve had so far. Heed this advice.

Basically your mate hasn’t given you the best guide on price, £2k will buy you a good bike, but one costing half that will still be good, and a quarter will still be fine. By all means spunk £2k on a bike but understand what you want (and full suspension isn’t a suitable answer). It strikes me that you don’t understand what type of riding you want to do, and what type of riding you are actually going to do. A good bike at £2k will be focused to some extent on a certain type of riding so whilst it may well be a great bike for me it could be a shit bike for you. No-one is saying don’t spend the money just be sure you spend it on the right thing and the best way of doing that may be to get something cheaper and work put what you like doing and then specialise later. Buy a decent £500 bike run it for 12 months and you’ll lose £200, buy a £2k bike and decide you don’t like it you’re looking at losing more like £800. Spending more does not reduce the likelihood of things going wrong or breaking it just makes it more expensive when it breaks.

thx1138, good luck getting this far. This forum really is full of ****.

sounds like “punts”

I’ve got £50k to spend on my first car – my mate says that’s a good amount to spend – any less and it’s not up for the job. I drove his X5 once and quite liked it.

I quite like the look of the Ariel Atom and the 911, although the Range Rover HSE looks good too – but I’ve joined SingleTrackCarWorld for your advice

Perhaps considering a Fiesta might be a more suitable choice?

(Similar situation, yes?)

*At the end of the day, I don’t actually care what you buy, but I’m amused your ‘mate’ thought £2k was a suitable amount for your first bike..

Now I’m a ‘show off’ and I ‘don’t know what sort of riding i’m actually going to do’? I’d disagree on both counts. Maybe £2k is more than a lot of people would spend on a bike, but it’s a reasonable amount to me, and probably to many others. My wife thought spending £1600 on a set of dining chairs was ‘reasonable’ recently! (I stopped her just in time and have persuaded her that buying quality vintage furniture is a far better option). I could buy a second hand bike but I would be wary of it’s provenance, plus there’d by no legal comeback if anything went wrong.

I already mentioned that I’ll want to travel with the bike to various places, and ride off road where it may be quite rocky and challenging. The trails we rode in Spain were like this, and quite daunting at times, but the bike felt very capable and performed brilliantly. I’m no ‘expert’ on all types of riding, but I’ve owned bikes most of my life (I’m 41) and I don’t feel that I’m an absolute ‘beginner’. Whilst I don’t feel I’ll ever match some of the riders you see in Youtube vids doing mad stuff, I felt I could hold my own in the group we were with, and some were verterans of off roading. I accept I’ll have to learn a lot, but I want to enjoy doing it, and the type of bike I used enabled me to do that, so that’s the kind of bike I want.

I will be buying a load of gear with the bike, like a helmet, jacket, shorts etc, and some tools that may be required as i only have a basic set. What is ‘skills coaching’? Will that help me? Willing to give it a go if it will help me enjoy my riding more!

I did ask for advice for a bike around the £2k mark, and some people have given examples which is very helpful. I’ll certainly bear some of the advice on here in mind when I make my choice.

Skills coaching = paying someone more experienced than you to watch you ride, and suggest improvements to your technique, in the hope to make you a better rider.

There are loads around the country, some more specialist than others (Jedi = jumping/advanced stuff, Ben Cathro = Downhill racing, etc)

Hilarious thread!

Can’t wait to see what bike you end up with. I hope you enjoy it whatever it is.

Maybe you do know but you don’t appear to be able to covey that particularly well which implies (possibly incorrectly) that you are less experienced and people have given advice accordingly. You gave a list of countries but the riding in them ranges from crap your pants scary through long distance XC to family pootles.

Are you looking to do long rides with lots of climbing? Are you more interested in the gravity side of things and less worried about the descending? Wheels on the ground or in the air? It’s all about making compromises and just asking what bike for £x is pretty pointless if you don’t explain something to allow us to understand what they are.

Anyhoo, buy the one you rode if you like it, it’s you it has to put a smile on. Or a Transition Bandit as they are the dogs doo-dahs.

Agreed that a hardtail is probably a more sensible choice for a first ‘proper’ mountain bike – mostly because it will make you a better rider in the long run.

Whatever you get just make sure you save enough of your budget for pedals, shoes, helmet, shorts, longs, jersey, jacket, gloves, lights, pump, tools, etc etc. You could be looking at well over £500 there…

Highly recommend Ed at Great Rock bike skills in Yorkshire so not too far from you.

Ok thanks Xiphin, I will look into that. By the way, this isn’t my first bike. I’ve owned quite a few, just not a full suspension mountain bike. I can see that people might be a bit nonplussed, as I’ve not really given much information, but I’ll try to give more as I learn more. I have learned that a bike with about 120mm travel should be perfect for my needs. And that I need something that will be comfortable all day, rather than super fast for races. If I make a mistake, it’s my mistake. I won’t ‘lose’ out on anything I buy, because I’ll be riding the bike and having fun. and that’s worth every penny I think.

How did you come to the conclusion 120mm was suitable for your needs? (Serious question…)

Best thread in ages….

OP, good luck in your new bike hunt. I don’t want to get drawn into this ‘£2k’ argument, but so you’ve got another bit of info, I bought a boardman FS pro a year ago and it has suited me perfectly on a variety of UK terrain. I’ve ridden it (often literally) into the ground and now feel suitably tooled up to go and buy something a bit beef-ier to suit the riding I like (DH style all-mountain with some big jumps and drops thown in). I’m not saying that’s the right way, it’s just the way I did it.

Whatever you get, enjoy it and post a picture 😀

p.s quotes like the below mean I’m not certain you’re a real person

stopped her just in time and have persuaded her that buying quality vintage furniture is a far better option

And for that riding I’d stand by my Bandit recommendation, there are some deals on 2012 stock if you look hard, Plush Hill had a medium in reduced when I was there last.

Skills course = being taught properly how to ride a bike.

Yeah, yeah, i know. I thought i knew how to ride a bike too, well, it turns out i didn’t! Spend even a couple of hrs with a decent MTB coach (i.e. UKBikeSkills / Great Rock and plenty more. google will point you in their direction) and you’ll be saying “Why didn’t anyone tell me / show me that 20 years ago……….” 😉

thx1138 120-140 is the sweet spot for an all round bike, i personally ride a 160mm travel canyon strive for everything and have no problems, a lot of this forum is very partial to just regurgitating the crap that magazines pump out.
the only reason i would ever buy a hardtail is if i didn’t have the funds to get a decent full suss.
there are far better places to ask advice about mountain bikes than here this is more a lifestyle forum for born again cyclists to discuss the next silly niche bike that has been deemed cool.

if i was buying from evans alone i’d go for one out of these few.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bmc/trailfox-tf01-2011-mountain-bike-ec024705

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/norco/sight-2-se-2012-mountain-bike-ec036901

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lapierre/zesty-214-2013-mountain-bike-ec043662

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lapierre/x-flow-412-2013-mountain-bike-ec043655

the BMC in particular is very, very good value.

Why do some people think ‘a hardtail will be a more sensible choice’? I’ve already stated that I want a full suspension bike. I’m not looking to become an expert rider (like some of the people on here must be obviously), just to enjoy riding a bike off road. It will only really be ridden at weekends, and I won’t be out on it all the time so I’d rather just have something that I feel comfortable riding.

Xiphon; looking at information on the internet suggests that a 120mm travel bike is a good all-rounder, so likely to be suited to my needs the best. I’d prefer to get a bike like this as I won’t know what the trails are like everywhere I go.

eightyeight; she wanted to buy some afwful Heals chromed leg chairs; I persuaded her that looking around at vintage/reconditioned furniture would be a better option. And far cheaper too!

If I were you I would seriously consider this bike:http://m.evanscycles.com/products/norco/sight-2-se-2012-mountain-bike-ec036901

140mm travel will cover pretty much every type of riding you want to try, even a bit of DH when your skill level improves.

I got to try one lately and it was great. Unless your XC/DH racing this is a great “one” bike for any situation. And no I don’t own one, couldn’t justify it having a 160mm bike already.

b45her; those look great, thanks! The BMC does look extremely good value, but of course I’ll have to have a little test to see what bike felt the best, regardless of what a bargain it might seem. Of course the more bikes i look at, the more confusing it gets! That’s why I just want to go to a shop, get something that feels good, and keep things simple, or I could be looking for ever!

looking at information on the internet suggests that a 120mm travel bike is a good all-rounder, so likely to be suited to my needs the best. I’d prefer to get a bike like this as I won’t know what the trails are like everywhere I go.

Given you won’t know what the trails will be like everywhere, may I be so bold to suggest you might be better of with more travel? You can always lock out for more XC stuff, while maintaining the ability to ride those Spanish hills your so keen on

^^^^ wise words in my opinion.

The reason that people reccommend hard tails is that the 1st 300mm of rear suspension is free and you learn you use it more effectively which means you can then manage on less travel on the frame. As a sweeping generalisation friends that have learnt on FS bikes tend to prefer longer travel bikes as they tend to have more rigid legs. Longer travel bikes are heavier and on the whole less efficient pedalling and IMO make for a less engaging ride on the majority of trails I ride.

see what i mean about regurgitating what mags say.

C’mon chaps, let’s keep it civil….

FFS some people talk a load of BS on here,

After getting back into MTb 15 years ago (rode a rigid in my teens) I went straight to full sus and have had them ever since and only built a hardtail up a couple years ago for winter duties.

All this “hardtails will improve your skills” is a load of tosh. Full sus will give you the confidence push harder and the skills will follow.

Some good advice above but I would go for 140 as it covers most type’s of riding in the uk and abroad.

My vote would be a specialized Stumpy as its a top handling bike and the big S customer service and warranty is second to non.

The Giant would come a close second.

well the guy specifically asked for advice on a £2000 ish full suspension bike and in typical STW fashion gets the usual buy a hardtail cos it gives you skillz bullplop.

why can’t people on here answer a simple question?

All this “hardtails will improve your skills” is a load of tosh.

a hardtail cos it gives you skillz bullplop

I guess it varies from person to person, but in general they do. Much like riding with flat pedals will improve your skills over clips. You chaps might not agree with this (and that’s ok) but that’s the way it is.

Anyway, to the OP. You seem to have a rough idea of the kind of bike you’re after. Take that knowledge to a friendly bike shop or two and see what tickles you.

Buy this
Ghost AMR Plus 7500
XT throughout,lightweight and versatile with 2position fox Talas fork and dropper post.

Msg me I might be able to do something with the price 😉

i must be awesome then because i regularly fly past these highly skilled hardtail riders as their wobbling down trails, do i get extra bonus hero points for doing it all while using my less skillful SPD peddles too?

Right b45her.. We get the message. You don’t like hardtails, this is what a forum is all about. You ask a question, you get answers and opinions, some you like and some you don’t.

The OP asked for advice and has had a number of different suggestions, some I agree with, some I don’t. In my experience hardtails allow you to understand better how a bike handles and feels off road… Thus teaching you bike handling skills, and how to deal with different situations that occur whilst mountain biking. A FS can sometimes dull down the sensation of going to fast over a certain terrain that a riders skill may not be able to cope with.. Or give a rider a false senses of security and awesomeness.

FS bikes are quicker on the rough stuff for sure but it isn’t all about how quickly you can “hang on” going downhill, it’s about being in control of the bike, knowing what the bike is doing and how it is likely to react in any given situation and knowing what to do if you run out of skill on a tricky section… And that is better learned on a hardtail in alot of people’s opinion (mine included). Then when the rider has a higher level of skill and bike handling ability they can rip the arse of a FS, smoke all of his/her riding buddies safe in the knowledge that they can handle a bike and ride it properly.

I ride a hardtail on SPD’s.. So therefore I am significantly more awesomer than most.. ; )

As for the OP.. I personally think you should take the time to shop around and visit a few shops, research the market, speak to people, listen to what the experienced riders are saying.. After all you did ask for advice on a forum.. But your not really listening to it.

Bikes are a very personal choice, what one persons like, the other dislikes. Buy what is right for you.. If that happens to be a £2k FS then great but don’t go buy one because your mate says that’s what you need or must spend. The shops are equally full of over hyped and under specced guff as they are in bargaintastic under the radar gems.

Whatever you buy enjoy it and welcome to the world of constant upgrading and wanting!

Happy pedalling.

What kind of off-road vehicle has only one of two axles suspended?
A lame one.
Therefore full suspension is the way to go.

As it’s been officially concluded, and everyone on STW also agrees, 29ers are the superior bike. This Cube ticks all the boxes and is still under £2k: http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/cube-ams0-pro-29-full-suspension-mountain-bike-id73727.html

If you don’t like the look, and looks are important too, just get this, the best non-29er full sus bike as voted for by most STW members:
http://www.breninbikes.co.uk/inc/sdetail/386/1052

b45her – Member
i must be awesome then because i regularly fly past these highly skilled hardtail riders as their wobbling down trails, do i get extra bonus hero points for doing it all while using my less skillful SPD peddles too?

You are indeed awesome b45her, but you lose a couple of stars for not knowing the difference between speed and skill.

Only on STW could the words “and if you don’t like the look of that bike, try this one” be followed by a pic of a five !!

Does the fact that I have a full rigid MTB in my collection make me even more skillful and rad then the HT boys? It’s even got flats for extra man points. I’d like to add that it’s got Thumbies which must make me even sickerer. I find that front suss flattens the trails and dulls the experiance 😉

Seriously though, I think the OP’s getting somewhere near the answer he asked for. If it were me buying I’d be looking towards 140mm for an all-rounder (like my 5- Burn him!!) but 120mm will do the job. I’d also be looking further afield then Evans but the bikes from there that I and others have posted up will do a good job.

I actually do have a fully ridged MTB btw 😀

To update; went to a bike shop on Saturday, tried out more bikes than I could count, and ended up still insure of what to buy! They all felt ok, none were particularly bad. I got bored and in the end went for a Rocky Mountain Element:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/rocky-mountain/element-50-2012-mountain-bike-ec033387

Some will be pleased to note that I haven’t spent £2k, and I think it’s an absolute bargain! I will be honest and say that the principle deciding factor was the colour scheme; a lot less garish than some of the other bikes. Shallow, I know, but it was one of the best in terms of ‘feel’. Very comfortable and easy handling. Plus acceleration seemed quicker than some other designs; I don’t know how much of this is down to design, but apparently this should translate to better climbing ability. My friend from Spain thinks I’ve made an excellent choice, and we’re already discussing my next trip over there!

I also ‘accidentally’ bought a Specialized Sirrus carbon road bike too, simply because it is so nice and light. I took one for a test spin ‘just to see how it felt’, and it was amazing; I fell in love with it there and then!

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/sirrus-limited-2013-hybrid-bike-ec042539

Having two bikes left me with a bit of a problem of how to get them home; thank heavens for London taxis! My wife laughed when I came in looking sheepish, and she’s now demanded we spend a weekend soon furniture shopping. I have no idea when I’ll actually be able to ride my new bikes though, as the weather’s terrible and i’ll be stuck down here in London for a few weeks doing various things, so I might book a long weekend somewhere a bit warmer.

Thanks for all the advice and help from folk here, it’s been really useful and I’m sure I’ve been able to make a more informed choice as a result!

Does no one else suspect a king of all trolls?!

I’m not saying You are but you certainly have a whiff of it!

If you are, kudos to you!

If you are not, enjoy riding! I’ve got a sirrus for commuting, beautiful bike to ride!

Also you really should name your bikes, will help build a relationship.

Mystified why you would think me a ‘troll’?

I loved the Sirrus (perhaps more than the Rocky Mountain even!). It just felt so effortless to ride, so smooth and well-balanced. A totally unnecessary purchase I’ll admit, but one I’m very pleased with!