new bike

[no friends]

I am angling to purchase a new bike around the £400 mark, i have looked at such makes as specialized and orange, can anyone give me any guidance on this. all replies appriciated please - thank you

[Shazz]

Saracen tbh...

That is all

[her0n]

No Saracen arent as good as they used to be..

Look to get a Specialiazed Rockhopper, they are damn good for the money. Orange will be far too expensive, you won't get one of those for less than £600-700.

I have a Giant, they are worth looking at too :)

[JeRkY]

ive always been fond of marins, i had a team edition back in 97/98 with full xt/xtr setup , and tbh i still have it in the hope i get back to cycling. (gave up when i went to uni...the shame)

but the most fun bike ive owned was a kona fire mountain, which was my run about, it cost under £500 and just felt perfect to ride, the balance, the stiffness etc. it was a fully rigid bikes and a steel frame, but i put on my old pace forks and it was a dream.

If/when i do return to cyling i will be buying another kona for use as my second bike. certainly for the price i couldnt recomend it high enough.

for the sort of money your talking, it will be the lower end of the range, but id reccon they would beat most other manufacturers offerings for style comfort and performance.

[Mingtea]

Originally posted by Shazz
Saracen tbh...

That is all

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

To spend 400 quid on a saracen is to spend a further 10 weeks getting it repaired, they are UTTER **** heaps.

-DO NOT TOUCH THEM-

now for your 400 nicker you need to ask yourself what you're doing.

I'm certain we are going to stay away from full sus, DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF PAYING 400 QUID FOR A FULL SUS BIKE, for the simple reasons you'll find it heavy, cheap, unimpressive and unresponsive, full sus bikes start at 1grand, anything cheaper is suicide.

However for our 400 quid i reckon that Front sus only is a safe bet, the cheaper forks being developed today are not so shabby, when properly maintained. (and i mean it buster)

You won't get a nice orange for £400 quid, infact you wont get any for £400, maybe a used one (or if you know where you can get a nice orange for 400 quid, please tell me TELL ME NOW)

so for this year specialized can give you the Hardrock Disc (unfortunatley the lovely helen was wrong. the better Rockhoppers start at 550 quid)

What we've got here is a nice solid light alu frame, acera drivetrain, these units are not the most high spec, but they are sturdy IF YOU TAKE CARE OF THEM also you're looking at nice reliable 8 speed units. A fairly good RST 100mm travel fork (once again GOOD IF YOU TAKE CARE OF IT) - so all in all this looks like a pretty solid bike (however i've not looked at online reviews but specialized have always been good, i'll leave you to look at the reviews) yours for RRP £399.99

Right, well lets keep our eyes on the big tawainese builders, cause this is all your getting for your 400 nicker

Next on our list is Giant with the Terrago FS1, now this one seems to have a much better spec, we're looking at 9speed Deore (one up from acera) and since shimano introduced there **** new shifting system, Deore and Lx are the only real sport units left, however this model has a suntour fork which to be honest is not so hot... but reliable (and easily upgradable in time)
this is yours for £425.99 so 25quid for a full drivetrain upgrade... nice.

unfortunatley marin really don't offer anything special at this price range, with acera gears and in-sync forks (EUGH EUGH EUGH)

But one dark horse you might like to consider is halfords own carrera.

Why? because carrera frames are made by a company called meridia..... who make.... specliazed frames, so you're pretty much looking at the same quality for a cheaper price.

and yes, consider kona, they have some lovely cheap bikes, and the geometry is second to none (designed in canada on the REALLY rough stuff) it's just unfortunate the premimum for this will make you skimp on parts, but you could always save a little more ;)

Right all i've really given you here are a few options, i can't force you to buy anything it's up to you to buy the mtb mags, look at the store ads and try pick yourself up a bargain, there may still be 2003 kit going for cheap cheap cheap, the mags will also give you some good reivews of kit, mags to consider are, What mountain bike (this is an every 3 month jobber so only use it for reviews) Mountain biking UK and mountain bike rider.

So in closing, points to consider.

1/ TAKE CARE OF IT, seriously it'll be great for so much longer, BIKES DON'T SERVICE THEMSELVES.
2/ Stay away from catalouges, stay away from JJB sports (any sport shop for that matter) and stay away from appollo. ANYTHING SOLD/MADE BY THESE PEOPLE IS UTTER ****E, AND YOU WILL PAY OUT OF THE ARSE IN THE LONG RUN.
3/ no full sus for you, go hardtail, you'll get a better bike.

if you see anything going cheap, let me know and i'll tell you what it's like.

[JeRkY]

oh yes carrera too.

but when i was cycling they were the skoda of the image concious MTB world, yes its a VW, but it still has a skoda badge.

or yes its a specialized, but its still a halfords purchase.

that said, i have owned two previously)

[Mouse_On_Mars]

Originally posted by JeRkY
but the most fun bike ive owned was a kona fire mountain, which was my run about, it cost under £500 and just felt perfect to ride, the balance, the stiffness etc. it was a fully rigid bikes and a steel frame, but i put on my old pace forks and it was a dream.
I've still got my Fire Mountain, a lovely bike, although I never really rode it hard. A 1998 I think. It hasn't seen the light of day for about 4 years :(

What do you call taking good care of a bike, Mingtea? A yearly service? (On average, obviously if you ride the thing all day every day then it'll need more).

[tiSSue]

i used to LOVE my Kona, its now sat all unmaintained in the garage!! :( :( :( :(

'98 model it is, i found the computer now it just sits there :(

[her0n]

You know ming, the hardrock was the image i had in my head but i could only think of the name 'rockhopper' for some reason :) That and i had to write my post in <20 sec as it was time for bed, so no time to do proper googling or whatnot :p: Am SO glad you found the thread though :D

I'd definitely be looking at a hardtail Specialized Hardrock or a Giant :)

(damn you've all got me wanting a new bike now!)

[Mingtea]

Yeah i want a new bike aswell :( but I can't afford one.

something steel i think.

[no friends]

Originally posted by her0n
No Saracen arent as good as they used to be..

Look to get a Specialiazed Rockhopper, they are damn good for the money. Orange will be far too expensive, you won't get one of those for less than £600-700.

I have a Giant, they are worth looking at too :) I have been looking at these, i quite like them. so thanks for the feed back, i can go a fair bit over the price so thanks

[Cyberdude]

I have a full-sus canondale I was thinking of selling... cost nearly £2k a few years back.....

Yours for £400

how about that ?
Im selling because I need it for more road/track work and dont use full-sus as much as I used to.

I can get pics....

Cd

[no friends]

I was more looking at front suspension because i do more long distance than over rough terrain, but this cannondale sounds tempting, could you send me pics? nofriends99@hotmai...

[no friends]

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/itemviewer.asp?ID=488&type=bikes

right, im kinda looking at this, it says what size, i am about 5"10 and also is this the frame size or wheel? can anyone suggest what size?

[Mingtea]

hmmmm a 17 might be ok, depends how you ride, personaly i'm 6ft 4 and i ride an 18 mainly because I like to throw the bike around.

My advice is to go into a large cycle chain and try a 17 and see what you think, other than that the bike seems sound.

[no friends]

so youre saying the harsher you ride the kinda smaller bike you want, so i still have a fair bit-o-growin' to do 17 is good,

i throw my bike around a bit (whislt cycling) but yea i get you, cheers.

[Mingtea]

essentialy yeah, get a small bike, and get a quick release seatpost.

Put it high for XC, then when you rocket downhill or are doing some technical things put it down a bit.

that's what I do.

[Shazz]

Originally posted by her0n
No Saracen arent as good as they used to be..



I wouldn't know, ii've had the same Saracen (Saracen Vice) bike for the past 4 years :P

Never had a problem and had to replace anything/ never had anything break.

Not even a puncture :/

omfg hax?

and have they really got worse? :/

[her0n]

Shazz, lets just say if i had the money, i wouldn't spend £400 on a Saracen :p:

Cannondale are very good but highly specialised performance machines.. maybe not quite what you're looking for atm.
And i'd agree that 17" would be the best bet, in Giant's sizing range a Small = 17", Medium = 18" and a Large is 19" (afaik, although it may be M = 19" and L = 21" but i haven't checked). My Giant is a 14" (XS) because i'm a shorty at 5'1" / 2"ish :)

[Shazz]

Originally posted by her0n
Shazz, lets just say if i had the money, i wouldn't spend £400 on a Saracen :p:



Na, i'd spend it on buying out multiplay :P ... thats all its worth you know? :x


/me flees

[Mingtea]

saracen vice.... and you're chainset is still attached?

do you ride it? :P

yes I spaffed over my friends 4 grand of cannondale a while ago, lefty fork, hardtail, full on carbon/ti SRAM componetry, it felt perfect.

coor

[Shazz]

Originally posted by Mingtea
saracen vice.... and you're chainset is still attached?

do you ride it? :P


Yes it's still attached :p , and Yes i do ride it... ive wridden about 600k on it this month so far :x

[Boffykins]

New bike? Could apply to many people in Multiplay tbh...

[Mingtea]

You must have had the early version, working with them for 2 and a half years you start to loathe them ;)

[The Enforcer]

i have a saracen Raw Pro 2002 model but after about a year the frame broke at the crossbar/seatpost join, wasnt best pleased. although saracen did replace the frame and pay for all the costs took them nearly 2 months though. the rear shock wore out quickly too and the chainsets are pretty cheap and nasty

[Optimus]

Originally posted by Boffbowsh
New bike? Could apply to many people in Multiplay tbh... offering your services?

[Steadders]

tbqh, just listen to whatever Mingtea says.