Which £1.5k MT bike?

[robsti]

Which is the best MTB for approx £1.5k have heard good things about the Boardman pro !

What do you suggest ?

[theboymoon]

Depends on what you want!

What kind of riding do you do?


You know, if you were say looking for a long travel ride anywhere type of bike you could *cough* buy this http://bit.ly/mG16qC *cough* which is a absolute bargain and half your budget.

[lestershaw]

i think you are better off buying second hand? if you are handy with bikes maybe buy a frame and build it with some components of your choice, but i dont think you can go far wrong with a yeti 575, a santa cruz nomad, or a cannondale rz, all great bikes. but if you could stretch your budget another £300, the best bike, imho, is on sale on ebay for £1800! ibis mojo rules!

[Rob_T]

giant anthem x4

[Sarkmeister]

Depends what kind of riding you do.

The suggestions above range from 120mm FS (RZ) to 160mm FS (Nomad) so quite a range. If you do mostly XC then a 120mm full suspension would be most suitable.

[Burty88]

2nd hand is a good idea, but if you want new, you can't beat Canyon for spec/£.

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?...

Or the AM 5.0 if you're a bit more aggressive.

[m_cozzy]

Spec wise I dont think you can beat these for £1500

giant x2 2010
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b...

gt force 1.0 (small only unfortuantly)
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b...

I bought my gt santcion 1.0 from them a few years back for £1500 also, nothing else could come close on the equipment fitted, very pleased with it.

Personally I wouldnt buy second hand, too many expensive bits that could be on their last legs, but thats just me.

Edited by m_cozzy on Tuesday 14th June 21:45

[L100NYY]

theboymoon said:

Depends on what you want!

What kind of riding do you do?


You know, if you were say looking for a long travel ride anywhere type of bike you could *cough* buy this http://bit.ly/mG16qC *cough* which is a absolute bargain and half your budget.

Why couldn't that be a small frame, I'd pick it up this week!

[Crippo]

I'm fed up with people thinking a good bike is one with a good spec. The Canyon is a terribly made piece of tutt for example using old technology adorned with a good spec and sold cheap...does not make a good bike. If you want to buy te ebest spec on the crappiest frame buy mail order from suggestions off tinterweb, if you know lots about bikes then second hand can be a good source of talent. If you want advice check out a couple of local bike shops.

[WildCards]

Crippo said:

The Canyon is a terribly made piece of tutt for example using old technology adorned with a good spec and sold cheap...does not make a good bike.

May I ask what you base this on?

[nammynake]

Crippo said:

The Canyon is a terribly made piece of tutt for example using old technology

Bugger. I've just 'wasted' £1600 on a Nerve XC 7. I have 30 days to return it if you can convince me why...

[Poloding Along]

L100NYY said:

Why couldn't that be a small frame, I'd pick it up this week!

Small frame you say... http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/853332/ ...cough

[Burty88]

Crippo said:

I'm fed up with people thinking a good bike is one with a good spec. The Canyon is a terribly made piece of tutt for example using old technology adorned with a good spec and sold cheap...does not make a good bike. If you want to buy te ebest spec on the crappiest frame buy mail order from suggestions off tinterweb, if you know lots about bikes then second hand can be a good source of talent. If you want advice check out a couple of local bike shops.

You're the first person I've heard say that. Many magazines, owners, reviewers etc praise Canyon (particularly the nerve). My guess is you have some affiliation with a LBS and are just a tad disgruntled at Canyon's direct sales model.

[lestershaw]

Sarkmeister said:

Depends what kind of riding you do.

The suggestions above range from 120mm FS (RZ) to 160mm FS (Nomad) so quite a range. If you do mostly XC then a 120mm full suspension would be most suitable.

i agree with Sarkemeister to a certain extent, but if you buy a 120 fork you are limited to that, whereas if you buy a longer travel fork which you can lock out at different lengths, that may suit you better, unless saving weight is more important than having longer travel option
Les

[waterwonder]

Burty88 said:

Crippo said:

I'm fed up with people thinking a good bike is one with a good spec. The Canyon is a terribly made piece of tutt for example using old technology adorned with a good spec and sold cheap...does not make a good bike. If you want to buy te ebest spec on the crappiest frame buy mail order from suggestions off tinterweb, if you know lots about bikes then second hand can be a good source of talent. If you want advice check out a couple of local bike shops.

You're the first person I've heard say that. Many magazines, owners, reviewers etc praise Canyon (particularly the nerve). My guess is you have some affiliation with a LBS and are just a tad disgruntled at Canyon's direct sales model.

TBH it's not the first time i've heard that. I'm in a similar position to the OP and mentioned the Canyon Bikes to some friends who know everything bike, they didn't go as far as Crippo but did say that the design was pretty old hat and that the spec sheet probably masked what would otherwise be a below par bike.

As i mentioned in the thread that i started, my worry is that Canyon is too new on the scene to tell. It's been hyped up by the press and early adopters seem happy with them, will everyone have the same opinion once the longevity has been tested? In addition the direct sales model is fine until you have a problem. They may now have a UK distributor but unless by coincidence you happen to live in close proximity it's going to be a whole load of postage faff to sort anything out. It's a whole lot easier just to drop it off at the nearest LBS which supplies your brand of bike.

[R2FU]

Well I have a Canyon Nerve currently in transit from Germany and I'll be happy to share my experiences over time. Of course it is a risk buying it without having test ridden one so we'll see. For me I've been pretty satisfied that the reviews of the Nerve by writers whose opinions I respect have been unanimously good and suggest it is the kind of bike I am looking for.

As for the frame being a low-tech piece of junk - what aspects of it exactly are you referring to? Its tapered steerer tube? Its light weight? Its hydroformed frame? Unless you can be more specific your comments have no credibility when reviews have specifically praised the Nerve's frame as NOT just a crap design dressed up with fancy components.

Anyway, I'll be happy to share as objective a view as I can of my experience of the bike when it arrives in case it is of interest to folks (albeit I'm just a normal enthusiast and not any kind of super-expert rider).

[MrTom]

waterwonder said:

Burty88 said:

Crippo said:

I'm fed up with people thinking a good bike is one with a good spec. The Canyon is a terribly made piece of tutt for example using old technology adorned with a good spec and sold cheap...does not make a good bike. If you want to buy te ebest spec on the crappiest frame buy mail order from suggestions off tinterweb, if you know lots about bikes then second hand can be a good source of talent. If you want advice check out a couple of local bike shops.

You're the first person I've heard say that. Many magazines, owners, reviewers etc praise Canyon (particularly the nerve). My guess is you have some affiliation with a LBS and are just a tad disgruntled at Canyon's direct sales model.

TBH it's not the first time i've heard that. I'm in a similar position to the OP and mentioned the Canyon Bikes to some friends who know everything bike, they didn't go as far as Crippo but did say that the design was pretty old hat and that the spec sheet probably masked what would otherwise be a below par bike.

It's the 'in' thing to do and height of bike snobbery is to rip into four bar designs (as it shows your mighty bike knowledge) as they cost nothing to implement and so are on alot of lower end bikes. See Kona

The funny thing is most bike snobs ride Specialized FSR bikes which are four bar designs with the pivot on the chainstay instead of seatstays.
Even more laughable are the Orange owners who literally are the most smug gits in the world, yet the single pivot design is less desireable and older than the four bar.
Orange bikes are the epitome of "using old technology adorned with a good spec".


I would judge every bike individually on it's ride characteristics, I actully like how a linkage driven single pivot rides.
You will ride longer and faster on a bike you have confidence in than the latest wonder design you don't feel comfortable on.