a roadie mate has moved from sunny glos upto the york dales and wants to get a hardtail.
he has limited off road experience but 25 years of roadie miles under his tyres. his current preferences are Canyon 6.0; Whyte 809 or Genisis Core 30

any views or recommendations

I’d look at on one bikes, ragley, cotic, merlin cycles.

maybe something that will take 120mm forks

i assume the ground round there is granite grit and that mud clearance shouldn’t be a major consideration?

please flame me if i am wrong 😉

It can be very boggy on the Dales in my limited experience, but most modern bikes have adequate mud clearance don’t they?

I’d want something with a bit of length in the top tube as there seems to be a lot of climbing and cranking out the miles. Can’t really comment on the bikes you mentioned – apart from that Whyte’s typical hardtail geometry woudl probably work well up there.

Where abouts are they moving to?

The Yorkshire Dales itself is Limestone so tends to drain quite well. Alot of the riding is either moorland or grass.

However if your living near Leeds/Bradford its sandstone and very clay based so you get lots of mud, plus the riding tends to be more technical than the Dales itself.

If an ex roadie I wouldn’t go for loads of travel upfront.

It’s mainly limestone and millstone grit in the dales. Yes, there are muddy parts, but limestone drains reasonably well.

Ah! beaten by FunkyDunc 🙂

i believe he lives in settle and works in lancaster.
mtb friendly shop recommendations in the area could also help.
funcydunc – he is an uphill stomper rather than a sit and spin type rider, so i agree 100 – 120 max upfront unless everyone says its nothing but rock gardens out there.

isn’t strange how we assume what the terrain is like away from our own patch – simply by magazine articles and tv?

orange p7?

I reckon the Kinesis Maxlight range would have something that would appeal to a roadie coming to MTBing, but you may struggle to get a decent build for £1000. I’d be looking at Boardman too for pure value for money. The Pro model is £850 and comes in at around 24/25lb for a 100mm travel XC machine. I reckon most of the Dales needs no more than that…but someone will be along to correct me

(That said I’d be more than happy with my Ragley in the Dales, which gives a bit more “damage limitation”)

Lives in Settle? the lucky s0d!
Lots of good riding from his doorstep then. A lot of old drovers roads and open bridleways round those parts that suit a short travel hardtail very well & he’ll be very glad of his roadie legs when it comes to some of the climbs (especially the ones of of Settle).
As others have said it drain very well, but as a lot of these track cross fields they can get very boggy in places – once he’s picked up a bit of local knowledge he can pick and choose according to weather conditions.
No idea about local bike shops though.

This is Settle. Plenty of riding from his doorstep

Just over yonder hills is Gisburn Forest with all sorts of man made trails

Definitely check out the Cube hardtails, they are really well spec’ed at the grand-ish price point and and quite low/long/racey which sounds up his street.

id agree with a lot above….p7 pure is cool as is the orange g4 as a complete…hed possibly struggle building a cotic/custom build within a grand

Genesis Altitude worth a look if he’s thinking about a Core.

Nice quality steel frames with good geometry – might be a bit more comfy than an alu frame on those bumpy bridleways.

Cheap one here.

Or if he can stetch another £200 I can wholeheartedly recommend one of these. I’ve got one and it is sensational – much faster than you’d expect from a long-travel hardtail. It goes like an XC race bike when you stamp on the pedals.

Youll love it in the Dales, some of the best riding in the country there. I use a Cube LTD Pro and have no problems at all.

You can get loads of road miles in too, you are spoilt man!

the only thing I’d add to this is with him being a novice, something with a burlier wheelset might be a good idea. When I was starting out I certainly didn’t have much ability to avoid things and tended to just plow through things. The boardman, whilst excellent value, has (from memory) more whippetry-aimed wheels, which might not last too long with that style of riding

Did you come from roadie-ville 5lab? I would’ve thought roadies would be pretty good at spotting hazards and avoiding them rather than ploughing through. There’s many a pothole on them there roads these days

that canyon 6.0 looks like a whole lotta bike for the cash but is very racey which might suit him if he’s a roadie

That picture pretty much sums up the type of riding in the dales…doesn’t really do it for me.

Given where Settle is (relative no where) then Settle Cycles will be the LBS

If he can spend a litle more I cant recommend the Genesis Cor 50 enough, great all round trail bike, well specced, and light.

http://www.bogtrotters.org/show_album.php?album_id=1126

loads of pics of settle mtb ride here

Did you come from roadie-ville 5lab? I would’ve thought roadies would be pretty good at spotting hazards and avoiding them rather than ploughing through. There’s many a pothole on them there roads these days

nah, MTB was pretty much my first dicipline. I just know that these days (after a good few years experiance) I

Ride smoother
Crash less
Brake less stuff

than I used to.

Wheelbase in Stavely is good and have a big range.

With regards to the type of bike, for local riding, def a shorter travel XC whippet type. Like funkyDunc aludes to, it’s mostly rolling hills and wide bridleways. He’ll be better off with something to race around on IMO. But, if he has any intentions of riding regularly in the Lakes, then he might want something with a bit more travel.

Stavely is a fair bit further North. And in a different county. Just saying, like.

Stavely is a fair bit further North. And in a different county. Just saying, like.

It’s about 30 mins drive away, if you’re spending £1000, I don’t think 30 mins drive up the road is an issue?
Besides, he hasn’t got much choice but to travel fairly long distances to look at bikes, being where he is and all.

Have a look at All Terrain in Shipley, or Ellis Brigs just round the corner from there.

IMO WB is poor tbh

the only thing I’d add to this is with him being a novice, something with a burlier wheelset might be a good idea. When I was starting out I certainly didn’t have much ability to avoid things and tended to just plow through things. The boardman, whilst excellent value, has (from memory) more whippetry-aimed wheels, which might not last too long with that style of riding

Yep. And if he starts leaning towards more ‘hardcore’ riding it’s not best suited – there are quite a few heavier hardcore HTs for a similar price like On-One 456s and Genesis thingys which will take bigger hits without breaking – I’ll be upgrading the Boardman to something along those lines in the imminent future.

However the Boardman HT Pro is a great bike for what it’s made for – but the stock tyres are so skinny they’re only good if you buy it in the autumn and can’t be bothered putting proper mud tyres on for its first winter. It has the clearance for bigger, better (comfier and grippier and not that much slower) tyres, the fork being the limiting factor rather than the back-end.

Coming from a roadie background he’ll find even an XC HT pretty slack-angled and stable compared to what he’s used to.

Worth niping into the Bicycle shop Skipton. http://bicycleshop.co.uk

Great bunch of guys. Loads of local riding knowledge.

They stock specialized and ragley.

thanks for all your replies. i have forwarded this thread so he can see what a good bunch of folks lurk in these parts.

he test rode a cannondale and thought it was too stretched out (in the top tube), i didn’t think ‘dales were especially long?
i think someone has got him to ride a large bike instead of medium.
he didn’t like the ride of the trek or marin either?
he has got girlie leg to torso measurement ratio, so that might explain a lot

I’d have a Whyte 901 rather than an 809. The 805 is an awesome bike but the 809 is too expensive. 901 has longer forks with 20mm and amazing frame. Our best selling bike last year.

if he has got a girlie ratio there, what about a girls bike? Orange Diva range do plenty..

I’m selling this one:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-large-genesis-core-40-virtually-new

£900

It’s probably too big though.

Cracking riding round there. Cotic Soul would be a great adaptable basis for progression.

The LBS in Skipton is staffed by top folk
Here

im selling a well specced ragley blue pig if hes interested, size 18″, and only 700. emails in profile if he wants pics and spec.

Angry-pirate, I’m interested in the blue pig but can’t see your email in your profile.

Can you email me pics and spec please.

Carbon whippet or Scandal? Should appeal to a roadie. Two good UK based makes are up near him (Merlin, On One) so I would be at their showrooms trying them out.

This is not mine, but its a top spec and in budget… Cotic Soul!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cotic-soul-steel-hardtail-Top-spec-Hope-Mavic-/320657500417?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item4aa8ad2901

I would buy it if i had the money 🙁

Is mine any good ?

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/carbonfibre-18-mtb-excellent-condition