What Mountain Bike?

[24lemons]

I've decided to get back in to cycling after many years and I'd like to treat myself to a new bike. I currently have a 2001 Trek 4900 Alpha and was looking for something a bit newer and possibly with a bigger frame as I think the Trek is a bit on the small side (I'm 6 foot plus a bit)

My Trek cost around £500 back in 2001 but I was looking at a budget of up to £400. I want to use it for gentle forest trails as well as some more lumpy bumpy stuff but nothing too hardcore.

There are loads of new manufacturers that weren't about in 2001 so I'm a little bit lost as to which bikes are worth looking at and which to avoid. I've seen some seemingly well specced models in Go Outdoors and Decathlon even!

Things I (think) I want;

Hydraulic disk brakes
Suitable for tall rider
Decent forks (Are Suntour good?)

Any help and advice is gratefully received!

[celestequattro]

Last month's MBR magazine had a Hardtail of the Year test with a £500 category - try starting there

[24lemons]

Thanks, will do!

[Usget]

Standard answer to this question is Voodoo Bizango or Carrera Kraken - check out Halfords and investigate the oft-documented methods of saving 20+% on their lineup.

[24lemons]

20% discounts eh?

[Usget]

24lemons said:

20% discounts eh?

Here you go... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Kermit power]

celestequattro said:

Last month's MBR magazine had a Hardtail of the Year test with a £500 category - try starting there

In case you can't get a copy, the results were....

Trek Marlin 7 (29er) £500 - 10/10

Specialized Pitch Sport (650b) - £500 - 9/10

13 Incline Alpha (from Halfords, 650b) - £500 - 8/10

Cube AIM SL (650b) - £449 - 8/10

Saracen Mantra (650b) - £500 - 7/10

Kona Lava Dome (29er) - £499 - 6/10

[24lemons]

Excuse my ignorance but what advantage is a 29er?

[anonymous-user]

The bigger wheels roll easier and make the bike more stable, but that means the bike is less easy to maneuver, although with the latest crop of 29ers with better optimised geometry to suit the larger wheels, this is much less noticeable than it used to be.

If you are medium or tall in height, it's worth riding one to see how you get on with it (it's difficult to make small sized frames work with 29 inch wheels)

[Kermit power]

24lemons said:

Excuse my ignorance but what advantage is a 29er?

For you, being tall and wanting to do fairly sedate stuff? Probably quite a bit, as the bigger wheels will roll much more smoothly over smallish features in the trails you're riding.

For me, at 5'9" and enjoying more technical, twisty stuff? Not something I'd consider, as when I tried one, I felt more perched on top of the bike than "in" it, if that makes sense, and it was much less chuckable.

[24lemons]

Kermit power said:

For you, being tall and wanting to do fairly sedate stuff? Probably quite a bit, as the bigger wheels will roll much more smoothly over smallish features in the trails you're riding.

For me, at 5'9" and enjoying more technical, twisty stuff? Not something I'd consider, as when I tried one, I felt more perched on top of the bike than "in" it, if that makes sense, and it was much less chuckable.

Thanks. To begin with I'm planning fairly gentle stuff, I need to increase my stamina. I hope to be able to do some more adventurous trails at some point though. My worry was that when I do move on to more twisty stuff, the 29er may feel a little ungainly.

[Andy888]

I got a Voodoo Bizango 29er on the advice of fellow PHer's and using the Halfords discount method.

I'm not massively fit, and won't be jumping off any big drops anytime soon so I figured a nicely specced 29" hardtail would suit me well. And I love it so far! It's a good bit lighter than my 26" full sus. Definitely an awful lot easier to climb with and so far I haven't noticed the lack of rear suspension. The hydraulic brakes are far better than the mechanical brakes on my 26" bike and overall I'm having a lot more fun on the new 29er.

Is it the big wheels or just that it's a better bike than my 26"? Combination of both I guess.

Have I noticed any difference on twisties? Potentially, but hard to say if it's the bigger wheels or just that I don't want to scrape the new bike! Strava doesn't seem to indicate any difference on twisties but a definite improvement on straights and fire roads.

[24lemons]

The next stage is to go and have a look at a few. I like the look of the Voodoo models but the biggest frame size is only half an inch bigger than my trek (20" vs 19.5") Being 6'3" I am a little worried that they may prove to be a little small.

[Pablo16v]

24lemons said:

Kermit power said:

For you, being tall and wanting to do fairly sedate stuff? Probably quite a bit, as the bigger wheels will roll much more smoothly over smallish features in the trails you're riding.

For me, at 5'9" and enjoying more technical, twisty stuff? Not something I'd consider, as when I tried one, I felt more perched on top of the bike than "in" it, if that makes sense, and it was much less chuckable.

Thanks. To begin with I'm planning fairly gentle stuff, I need to increase my stamina. I hope to be able to do some more adventurous trails at some point though. My worry was that when I do move on to more twisty stuff, the 29er may feel a little ungainly.

Depends very much on the bike but 29er frame design has improved a lot in recent years and with the move to 650b the difference in handling isn't quite so marked. Both my 29ers (Ragley Bigwig hardtail & 150mm full suss Nicolai Helius AC) are fun to ride and are perfectly at home on steep tight woodsy descents, but if you're jumping straight from 26" wheels it can take a few rides to adjust. I wouldn't worry about it too much though but try to demo as many bikes as you can.