I may be going to upgrade my Rockhopper in the next couple of months. Ive started doing a fair bit off roading and I’m loving it.This all depends on a bonus that may or not arrive!

If Im lucky enough for it to materialise Ive been looking at a Canyon Nerve XC 6.0, Ghost ASX5100 or a Specialized Camber Comp.

It will be used mainly for techy trail riding. Nothing too hardcore. It will also be handy for it to be ok too knock up a few road miles on to get to these trails. I always cycle to trails. They are anything from 2 to 10 miles away depending where I go.

Any input and/or pics would be good. Anything else I should consider? Not a Boardman as a mate has one and I wont have the same.

Cheers in advance!

Not a Boardman as a mate has one and I wont have the same.

How come?

Howabout a Vitus Blitz from Chainreaction?

Or there are last years Giant Anthems at £899. Or check out Pauls Cycles for other sub £1k deals?

Or a Voodoo Canzo £999

Canyons are great bikes but the after sales service Is particularly poor. :/

Cheapest Anthem is way to go for 900 quid. If you want more travel, For a smidgen more go with the Trance 4, MBR bike of the year for 1100

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s1p3504

[/quote] Not a Boardman as a mate has one and I wont have the same.

How come?

I’d just prefer something different to be honest. Theres no other reason than that.

Ill have a look at the Anthems and Blitz. Cheers for the heads up.

How would these compare to the ones Ive mentioned? I must admit to being drawn to the Canyon. Again not too sure why.

Last year’s Anthem if you can find one would be great. I believe it’s the same frame on the X4 (cheaper) and the X1, giving opportunity to upgrade over time.

My x1 spends most of it’s time on the road and it’s fine

If you can stretch to last year’s Camber Elite over the Comp I can definitely recommend it..

I think Im even more confused now! Lots of bikes to drool over! 🙂

Thought about second hand? can get some real nice one’s for £1000 on Pinkbike/Ebay. You’ve gone for entry level on the HT why go for entry level on a full suspension.

s/h all the way – you get a much better bike for much less money. Downsides are lack of warranty (so get a reliable bike, or go ex-demo and get a warranty) and slight hassle in buying (negatvie if you buy ex-demo or display from a bike shop).

You’ve gone for entry level on the HT why go for entry level on a full suspension.

Whats the matter with that? It’s all Ill be able to afford TBH. I am a bit wary of forking out a grand on a second hand bike. I know I’d get more for my cash but I dont know enough to be sure Im not buying one with problems.

There’s nothing wrong with it, I should have worded it better as I know how it sounded, I was recently in the same boat, had £1000 to upgrade from a Carrera Fury and have now had so much more for my money buying a £800 Giant Reign x0.

Just meant you don’t have to go for entry level with that sort of cash that’s all, didn’t mean anything sinister.

You can always look for bikes close to home and ask to view/test ride, or even find someone knowledgeable about bikes to take along. Don’t rush into it just yet there’s some bargains to be had.

Thanks for the advice meddle. I didnt think you were being rude. Just wondered if there was something inherently wrong with entry level full sussers!

Ill scour the classifieds and ebay etc. If I spy something I can always post on here to get some advice.

I was secretly hoping someone would say, ‘Go for the Canyon!’, and make my life easier! 🙂

Saracen ariel from real cycles fox at both ends and a fantastic all round bike 1060£ delivered I think

I like that Saracen. If you dont take it on finance you get it for £1017 delivered!

+1 for the anthem and camber, though im not sure about getting a 2011 version, both were very popular bikes, if you can though i highly recommend!

If it were my money i’d get a sorted hardtail for that price, the grand canyon 6.0 nets you a reba fork and slx drivechain for £850 and some of the trek hardtails have a decent spec this year. Or if the rockhoppers frame is fairly new, give the components a big upgrade? 😀

ok, i’ll be the one to say it – go for the canyon! I upgraded my anthem to a canyon am 6.0 in October and its ace!

That waht I was waiting for. Cheers spudly! 🙂

But seriously, should I really consider hardtails? My Rockhopper is an 04 so I wont be upgrading that.

I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t but for that price you could get a very nice hardtail rather than an entry level full suss.

The best way to find out what would be best for you is to try and get some test rides of the bikes youre after.

That would be the ideal but there is no way Id be able to test drive them all. Canyon, no chance obviously and as I dont drive Id need to travel a fair bit to have a look at the rest, if it was even possible. In the past bike shops in Edinburgh and Glasgow have been less than obliging when it came to test rides.

At the expense of confusing you even more, bobbyg, why not make your money go further and get either, as some folks have already suggested, a 2011 reduced model (some reductions now are 40-50%), or get something really good a year or so old second hand but only lightly used?

I’ve had some incredible bargains over the last few years buying some really high spec SH bikes, and I haven’t really ever bought a dog yet (fingers crossed!) Infact I’ve only ever bought 1 bike new, and that was CTW scheme.

So look at all the options before you commit your cash………..

I defo will dekadanse. I even thought about getting a frame and fork and transferring parts from my Rockhopper. The groupset and brakes( deore lx,elixir 1s etc) are all just a couple of months old and then upgrading as and when needed. Too many options!

This upgrading caper is harder than I thought!

Second hand and build it in parts. You can tailor it to your taste and you’ll get a higher spec bike for your cash.

A few years ago I bought a Meta new. Since then it’s been sold due to frame paranoia and I’ve built up a Dialled PA (used frame and parts), Giant Trance (used frame and parts) sold the first PA and now have a rigid PA 69er (again, used frame and parts).

My road bike (Spesh Allez) is almost entirely second hand and 95% of the used parts for all 3 bikes came from this very forum. Check people’s history and ask the right questions and you’ll be fine on the whole. A new user with a bike they don’t know about is obviously a bad indicator, but a name you recognise with a history of buying and selling is often fine.

There’s no way I could afford my bikes had they been bought new, you’d be amazed how much feedback you get from posting a wanted ad too!

However, if you really must buy new: get a hardtail.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-92-2011-id_8153766.html
i know its not the big name brand but spec wise its pretty decent

However, if you really must buy new: get a hardtail.

This keeps coming up. Is this because the new full sussers in this price range arent too great? Or is rear suspension not as essential as I thought?

Bobby,goggle second hand bikes at Leisure Lakes cycles.They usually have a few gooduns.Not to sure about that Burly Saracen on the road though.I,ve enjoyed using my 2008 Carrare Banshee X.Only cost me £580.00.

Oh don,t by the Voodoo Canzo.Geometry is not the best,so I,m told.

I bought my first full suss for £799 around 12 years ago, a Scott G-Zero. I appreciated when I bought it that there would be a few spec downgrades but I wanted full suss more than anything else on the bike. I’ve never looked back, had one or two hard tails along the way but I generally find the constant jolting on a hardtail through the saddle on anything thats not vaguely smooth an irritation.

I don’t think there are really any bad bikes at £1k, full suss or not. Some will be better than others or more suitable for your purposes, but will you really notice an SLX mech on a hardtail versus the Deore one that might be on a full suss?

A friend has one of the Decathlon Rockriders that has a similar bearing arrangement to the new Yeti SB66. He really likes it and it was well spec’d for the price.

Canyons are great bikes but the after sales service Is particularly poor. :/

Not sure how you can prove that point tbh given plenty of people have said how good the after service is…

But on topic for £1k you far better buying a HT than FS bike given you going to sacrifice a lot in spec for a FS compared to HT and a 1k HT you could get a lot better spec bike for your money.

Check out Boardman bikes or canyon, or maybe even a 29er if you want something different.

I had this exact same problem.

Was looking to move from a 2010 Boardman Pro HT that I had been changing spec all summer (wheels/brakes/tyres etc) and then tested an Orange Five Pro as I heard they where a good bike.

Sure was and I really got the bug that I wanted a FS bike. I started looking at others and nearly bought a frew second hand bikes but when I actually looked at where I road and what ‘I’ do on my bike I realised that it was a hardtail I wanted.

But then I also realised that my bike wasnt the right size and some of the bike I would replace with looked like big swinging gates with wheels on.

I ended up selling my Boardman and bought a 2011 Giant XTC 29er.

With the cash I saved over the Orange Five, I bought a new pair of wheels and brakes and realised it was the sizing of the bike that I hated but now the 29er seems to fit me well and I will never go back to a 26′ bike as at 6’2 29ers fit me well and I enjoy riding them.

Thats my story and everyones different but look at what you ride and realise that fit of the bike is more important that spec or if its FS/HT.

I think the Boardman Pro FS (2012) looks a great spec and gets great revies but its a bit like your mate’s. 🙂

Thanks for you reply tetsu!

I know that having the same as my mate shouldnt bother me but I cant help it. It would really niggle at me though and would end up selling it!

I have had all these great and helpful replies but something in my gut is telling me to go for the Canyon Nerve still!

Ive just had a blast around the wods and TBH I absolutely love the Rockhopper. Between my mate getting a Boardman and have (hopefully) having some funds I really fancied something new.

My only problem with the Rockhopper is the forks. They are rubbish. Ive got Elixir 1s on it and they are fine as is the Deore LX gear.

Wheels are also OK but are just standard specialized and shimano with mavic rims.

I am almost tempted to just buy new forks and wheels! But the Canyon does look braw. As do Cotic Souls and Guiant Anthems and Prince Alberts and Cube AMS and……………

Might get a BMX! 😀

Hardtails are great, full sus is great. They’re different bikes with different characteristics. A good quality HT will perform better and be more fun to ride than an apologetic FS.

A hardtail will be fun on jumps and can be set up to feel quite BMXey (my PA with Revelations felt like this in a very, very good way). Low steel frame, short stem, wide bars and a good squidgy fork. Mmmmmmmmm.

Does “techy trail riding” mean mainly 2 wheels on the ground, or do you take your bike off of jumps and drops? A stronger bike than your current gives something to grow into, but it means carting that extra material around just in case. Too delicate a bike and you’ll wince after clumsy landings. FWIW Souls aren’t built to be abused, that’s why the BFe came out.

If you’re tall, but not too tall this Cube may be the thing you’re after. CRC Cube Bargain

i had this exact dilemma last year, and after a year of trying to make my mind up i went for the full sus option. (cube ams130)
i dont regret it, its much easier on the lower back, and just makes riding more fun.
at the end of the day, its your money, and its your opinion that really matters.

Thanks Herman. Im only 5’10”.

This is a trail local to me.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sccc5MfLrcc[/video]
Note I am a million miles away from being as good as those guys, but I would like to be able to get a bit air. A couple of foot is as much as I get now. Thats rare but Im hoping to get more! 🙂

Cool vid!

You’ll be wanting something toward the burlier end of the spectrum, I fear an XC feather to be a rather short-lived machine on those trails.

You’ll get so many diverse opinions here. It’s good to have a get-out clause, buy a bike that has some resale value and then the parts can be adapted as you need. A Boardman/Voodoo/Decathlon will not hold it’s value so well, consider this when you inevitably have a few bikes to select between.

From the video I think mud clearance, travel of 120+ and strength are priorities. 2×9 or 10 would probably be fine and I get the feeling it’s mainly 26″ wheeled flat pedal territory.

By the way Merlin cycles have great deals on full Deore 3×10 groupsets. £260 for brakes, complete drivetrain (BB, Chainset, chain, cassette), shifters, derailleurs and cables. You can add wheels for £75 leaving you £665 for the frame, forks and finishing kit. I bought this setup for the rigid 69er PA and stuck a bash where the big ring used to be. The new Deore brakes are 1 finger shaped (you can leave the shifter windows on) and very good!

You can totally build a hardtail under budget and swap the frame out for a FS when your funds and skillz expand.