Hi,

Looking for a hardtail for £1200. Am testing a Specialized Carve Pro 2013 and Cannondale Trail SL1 29er at the weekend. Looking to use the bike for the local trails- Shipwrights Way and Southdowns Way.

I’m 6’3 and pack 17 stones.

Any feedback??

Cotic BFe – Build it within your budget

Cube Reaction

I’m on a 19″ and I’m 6ft so i’m guessing the 21″ would be spot on.

factor in changing the saddle and maybe a slightly shorter stem and jobs a good’un

Enjoying this one…:
http://www.whytebikes.com/2014/product.php?xProd=103&xSec=112

I had a budget of £2k and ended up buying a £600 Voodoo Bizango. Not disappointed so far and got a wad left for upgrades / winter clobber!

If you want a Whyte get this
http://online.atb-sales.co.uk/p-1608-custom-build-whyte-905-trail-large-2012.aspx

And how badly do you want the trails to come alive?

Whyte

Have a look at the Charge Cookers, I’m a similar size and love them.

Had a Cannondale Trail SL1 29er for about a month now (my first 29er) and have to say it’s a cracking (no pun etc) bike. For the kit that’s on it, as stock, it’s not as lardy as I/you thought it would be. Only thing I’ve changed is the saddle and grips – as you do – and am, now, looking to get more winterable tyres (Spesh Purgatory/Ground Control). Feels very “planted” and to that end is very much a “wheels on the ground” bike.

Bird Cycleworks looks interesting.

FWIW I have a ’13 Carve Expert and love it.

It’s become my ‘go to’ bike. It feels so right.

I built up a Sanderson Life for about that. I like steel and 26″.

+1 for self build, choose one of the many excellent steel frames Cotic BFE, Stanton Slackline, etc, etc look for a good 2nd hand example circa £200 look for a good set of 2nd hand forks circa £250 leaves £750 for rest of the build…shop around for XT groupset (maybe Germany) set of Hope Hoops, finish of with a Reverb from Europe …Booom! You’ll have all the bike you’ll ever need and will ride like a dream much much better value than off the peg.

Whyte 901 with the much raved about 27.5 wheels,
Seems a no brainer at £1199.
I had a whyte 19 and it was immense.

+2 for self build.

I’m just finishing off my BFe, some parts new, some second hand, the total for my build with xt / slx gears and brakes, reverb and lots of hope bits is £600 ish all I need to get is a new set of wheels but that can wait until my old set die. Plus I get the fun of building it myself.

The 901 is going well. Not sure the whole of 650b needs to be binned because of poor marketing blurb. I’m 6 foot and it seems to make sense, if I was 5 foot, I’d be after a 26.

You could build up something pretty nice for that money. Im 6’4″ and started out with an Orange clockwork frame (XL). For a £150 you cant go wrong.

http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Orange-Clockwork-Frame-6382-107-0.html

Look at the deals on Merlin for SLX or XT groupset. Hope Hoops wheelset, Rockshox rev fork and you’ll end up with a cracking bike.

more or less exactly what I did for circ. £1200 all in…

Untitled by eric.andrew.98, on Flickr

Worth considering:
Trek Superfly AL

Buy a full bike, you get better value.

How on earth is that Superfly ‘better value’ than the Orange in the post above?

Deore groupset, no reverb, substandard wheels and forks!! Crazy, self build searching out the bargains!!

Lots of feedback tomorrow. I like the idea of supporting my local bike shop.

So tomorrow i’m trying the Specialized Carve Pro 2013 and the Dale Trail Sl1 29er.
Might look at a Whyte but they are mostly specced with SRAM….

Some SPDs and we’ll see.

I’ll let you all know!!!

Was going to suggest the new Orange Crush but self build seems to have won the day. Also, it’s 650b now and some people might not like that…

Cotic Solaris?

Canyon Al SLX 7.9?

At 6’3 and for South Downs and Shipwrights way type trails 29er XC makes a lot of sense.

The Spesh Carve and Canondale are good as others have suggested it may be worth looking at Trek, Scott, Whyte or even building a Cotic Solaris. You will feel more stable and confident on bigger wheels.

^
Have to agree a 29er makes sense for those trails.
Self build is fun, worth looking at a Whyte as their builds are good value and their 629 and 729 frames have a good geometry so not too XC as they are a bit slack. I have an 829 in my stable and its fantastic!

Also worth looking at the on-one lurcher. Their complete bikes are reduced to £1,099(only two left) but a self build could easily be done with SLX and Stand/hope wheels with a good fork for around £1200..just. Again a good fun hardtail and carbon if thats your thing.

Got a Superfly 8 recently and what the Trek has that the Orange above doesn’t is compliance with future standards for a good few years, thru axle front and rear tapered headtube, nice routing for cables.

It rides great was relatively cheap and with some Thomson and a tyre change and 1×10 came in at the same retail price.

Modern bikes are great, to the point that my lovely IF isn’t being ridden at the moment…

Thought I might drop in with a sneak preview of the Bird Zero.3 spec since we got a mention already (pictures of the Zero can be found here):

Zero Frame – 650b, ISG05, 12mm rear axle, Tapered head tube, monster tyre clearance.
Cane Creek 40 Headset
XFusion Velvet Forks, tapered, 130mm, 15mm axle
Raceface Turbine Wheels
Maxxis Ardent 2.4 Exo/TR Dual compound set up tubeless
Deore Shadow+ GS
SLX 11-36 Cassette
Deore 38/24 cranks
XTR bottom bracket (73mm HTII)
Deore Shifters, iSpecB
‘Proper’ Deore Brakes (not the cheaper old models on some bikes).
SLX 180/160 rotors
RaceFace Ride post, 31.9
Raceface Turbine Basic Stem 50/60 or 70mm
Raceface Evolve Bars 725mm or 750mm
Charge Spoon Saddle
Raceface Half Nelson grips
Shimano AX65 142/12 axle
DKG Fliplock clamp

…. I think thats everything. Set up as above?

£1195.