New, ’05-’06’-’07 bikes, are they worth it?

As part of idle clicking (and thinking STW might get per-click revenue) I hit the JE James advert.
On the front page they have:
’07 Kona stab supreme 1900 quid off.
’06 Kona coiler delux 1100 quid off.
’05 Trek session 7 1400 quid off.

Now I am sure they have limited sizes (only xs or something) and I can see the benefit of getting last years model, XT instead of XTR etc but how is a potentially 4 year old bike going to stand up against a current bike at a similar price?

Not in the market, still hoping in fact, but to someone less informed they seem to offer pretty good value.

I have a 06 frame used to have 05 same frame and it rocks!

It all depends on the individual frame.

This may or may not be an issue depends on the parts. Some shocks are harder to get parts for than others, particularly if they are more than a year or two old. You may find out that if the shock breaks there are no spares available.

Ah, good point mrmo, would they still have a full warranty though? If stuff broke within a warranty you may have to put up with a newer replacement rather than a repair?

Just buy an On-One and stop thinking so much!

Bargainous! £1900 off??

All products sold as new come with a warranty. Same as if you bought an 09 model.

Companies like Kona will have spares going back a good bit, so you needn’t worry too much. And there’ll always be someone who can modify something to fit, if necessary.

I’ve always bought end-of-season bargains. So what if it doesn’t have the latest shiny bits? It’ll work more or less the same. I can then spend the £X hundred pounds on upgrades!

£1900 is £1900! I doubt you would really notice the difference between a 3 year old full sus and a 09′ model. Also as RudeBoy said, spares should not be a problem. The Kona Colours are though!

Happy trails.

You would get a warranty, or should do but check first, but if you bugger it up then obviously no warranty. It shouldn’t be a problem as the shock is probably a Fox and spares shouldn’t be too hard to get in the event it needs work. However i am sure that i read that Manitou used to only carry stock for items upto 3 years old.

As i sit here my full sus in in the shed after i trashed the rear shock in a crash…. new shock on order.

up to you really. question is, why are they still left? if you can answer that to your satisfaction then why not. i couldn’t with those particular models

1900 off a bike that you can’t ride in the UK, or afford to take abroad becasue of the weak £

I can’t believe this thread. Why do you think they’re still left? because nobody bought them! Does that mean they’re broken? Haven’t you ever seen pictures of unsold cars in big car parks? Do you think if you bought one of them and took it to a garage they would say “sorry sir, that cars more than two years old – i’m afraid we don’t stock parts for that model any more”?

come on guys get real, MOJO still has parts for my 2004 talas. Its called a warehouse.

Obviously nobody bought them, I speculated that it was because of odd sizes being left but wondered if maybe there were any other reasons, for instance, has there been so much progress that they are simply not worth their price anymore and a similar bike would be lighter, more durable and cheaper.
Someone pointed out it might be difficult or impossible to get some parts, seems fairly reasonable speculation with the advice leaning towards “get one and use the spare cash for upgrades if you want”.

Whats not to believe Bomber?

http://www.tftunedshox.com/manitou-parts/ towards the top nothing older than 2002. I am sure i read elsewhere that it was policy to stop production after 3 years.

The reality is that at some point spares cease to be made and you are relying on old stock, or in your above example custom machine shops. I haven’t seen any elastomers for the old proflex forks or kits for first gen Judy’s for years. A bit of digging and you may find someone with some stock kicking around. If you are looking at something more than a year or two old, i think it makes sense to make sure spares are available for when you need it serviced or you break it. Particularly if there is anything non standard, ie pull shocks or customs as per Scotts. The bikes mentioned should be ok. but for the sums of money involved it makes sense to check rather than assume.

You try getting decent 1″ forks these days. getting hard for road bikes and impossible for MTB’s.

question is, why are they still left?

Maybe because they were bloody expensive in the first place? Top-end bikes don’t sell in large volumes, so dealers have to be mindful of the fact that they could be stuck with an expensive bike that they can’t sell easily, when next years stuff comes in. Many shops have a ‘flagship’ bike in, to attract custom, but often end up selling them at a discount, sometimes even at a loss. It’s the £3k+ bikes that draw the customers in, to buy the £300 ones.

I’m all for bargains. I bought a lovely steel (Tange Prestige, I think) Saracen, one of the last decent bikes that company made, a few years ago. LX/XT kit, was about £900 or so originally, I paid £300 for it, after a bit of haggling! It was down to about £500, had pedals missing (they gave me a pair of SPDs for free), and I hummed and hawed with them, over a few small cosmetic scratches, and the ripped saddle. Sadly, it got stolen. Sniff.. 😥

If they were good then, they’re still good. Lower price is better.

Only reason not to is if you are some godlike speed demon in the upper echelons of the racing circuit. But then you wouldn’t be paying for your bikes yourself anyway.

Just splashed out on an ’07 Specialized Enduro S-works for 50% off RRP… I may have some issues with the ’07 E150 fork, but they’ll swap it’s internals straight out for ’08 ones if I have ANY issues (even if I just wander back in and say ‘I’m not happy with the way this fork is acting’). Can’t really go wrong I reckon, but time will tell… 🙂

I’m seen all three of those on the shelf in James’s and there’s nowt wrong with any of them. if you are buying old then it makes sense to source a few sets of shock bushes and back end bearings.

Decent forks last long enough and the good models are easily serviced for several years, look how long Boxxers ran virtually unchanged.

Teh only real issue these days is all the new formats for parts and hub standards, who knows what will and what won’t make the cut.

There’s any number of reasons why bikes don’t sell, it could even be something like “wrong” colour or it may have been up against other bikes in the same shop which were better VFM or pushed more by the sales staff or bigged up more by the mags.
The kit still works, you still get a full warranty on it, whats to lose?