Decent full suspension XC bike for under £500?
Discussion
Can anybody please recommend a decent Full suspension XC bike for a girl for £400-500?
She wants to ride trails - nothing too serious but would prefer full suspension for comfort on longer rides (and I suspect it will also help her negotiate more technical trails and longer rides with increased confidence). Her current £299 Halfords full suser just feels heavy & springy to me
Want something reasonably light & sprightly if poss!
Mongoose Otero?
Rockrider 6.4? (ideal but out of production!)
Or any 2nd hand recommendations for £400-500?
Tend to buy hard-tails myself (though may yet be converted!) so grateful for any advice
She wants to ride trails - nothing too serious but would prefer full suspension for comfort on longer rides (and I suspect it will also help her negotiate more technical trails and longer rides with increased confidence). Her current £299 Halfords full suser just feels heavy & springy to me
Want something reasonably light & sprightly if poss!
Mongoose Otero?
Rockrider 6.4? (ideal but out of production!)
Or any 2nd hand recommendations for £400-500?
Tend to buy hard-tails myself (though may yet be converted!) so grateful for any advice
Edited by Roman on Tuesday 17th April 19:11
R1 GTR said:
Neil_Bolton said:
G.T Avalanche 1.0 Disc from last year if you can get one, with a Rock Shox post...
Or what i'm now drawn towards, Specailised Hardrock sport?
Or is that just stupid?
No no, if its a similar price point then you'll be absolutely fine - put it this way, Specialized is one bike I really want to try...and I've never heard a bad thing about their cheaper range...
beyond rational said:
The frame and forks will have mounts, its is more the flanges on the hubs need to have a 6 bolt pattern on the non-drive side. Matters if you buy the cheap one and think you may want discs in the future - the hydro disc model price is good depending on what the discs actually are.
Brakes on hydro model are:
evanscycles.com said:
Brakes: Hayes Sole hydraulic disc with 6 inch v-cut rotors
kermitman said:
beyond rational said:
Does the V brake model come with disc hubs?
i bought a sport without discs the other week and was asking the shop owner if they could be upgraded, he said something about the hubs would need changing, but wouldnt it be cheaper to get new wheels?
id read so much about mech discs being naff so went for the v's instead and for now they do me fine.
the bikes great for the money though. well pleased with it
New wheels at the cheaper end does make more sense than swapping the hubs as you are left with whole wheels you can sell to offset the cost. Absolutely nothing wrong with Vs, I was just exploring the option that if the £299 model came with disc hubs, the £129 difference on the rrp posted between that and the disc model would be better spent on upgrading the £299 bike with aftermarket discs.
I've got a specialized XC FSR Pro which I think is a great bike for cross country trail riding.
Whilst the RRP of the Pro model may be north of a grand, the entry level Comp is about £800 ish for an 07, and maybe a little cheaper than that for a "new" 06 bike.
This is still above your budget, and to be honest a good hard tail would be the only bike to consider new for £500. That said, a scan through ebay could allow you to source an XC FSR Comp in good usable condition if you are lucky - Mine was an ebay find and cost me 40% less than RRP despite having barely been used.
Happy hunting.
BTW - A Specialized Hardrock that has been suggested above is a great bike too (got one of them at home not being used
), and would be a far better bike than any Halfords budget bouncer.
Get her a new bike quick before she turns into Fatima Whitbread from hawling 50lb of Halfords pig iron across the trails!!!!
Whilst the RRP of the Pro model may be north of a grand, the entry level Comp is about £800 ish for an 07, and maybe a little cheaper than that for a "new" 06 bike.
This is still above your budget, and to be honest a good hard tail would be the only bike to consider new for £500. That said, a scan through ebay could allow you to source an XC FSR Comp in good usable condition if you are lucky - Mine was an ebay find and cost me 40% less than RRP despite having barely been used.
Happy hunting.
BTW - A Specialized Hardrock that has been suggested above is a great bike too (got one of them at home not being used
), and would be a far better bike than any Halfords budget bouncer. Get her a new bike quick before she turns into Fatima Whitbread from hawling 50lb of Halfords pig iron across the trails!!!!
Get her a new bike quick before she turns into Fatima Whitbread from hawling 50lb of Halfords pig iron across the trails!!!! [/quote]
Guess a decent 2nd hand Spec FSR or Giant NRS could be OK then.
Going to have a look at a Decathlon Rockrider 6.3 which has the same frame as their £999 9.2 full suspension bike.
It comes with 27 speed Sram transmission, decent wheels + Tektro mech discs (should do - shes no Steve Peat!).
It is only £299 which would leave money to upgrade the rear to an air shock and replace the Suntour Fork at the front with axel elites or MX comps/pros...
[/quote] Guess a decent 2nd hand Spec FSR or Giant NRS could be OK then.
Going to have a look at a Decathlon Rockrider 6.3 which has the same frame as their £999 9.2 full suspension bike.
It comes with 27 speed Sram transmission, decent wheels + Tektro mech discs (should do - shes no Steve Peat!).
It is only £299 which would leave money to upgrade the rear to an air shock and replace the Suntour Fork at the front with axel elites or MX comps/pros...
Buy a HT. IIRC the Specialized comes in Women specific sizes too.
To put it logically - think about how many components go into a FS and then how they are connected and act upon each other. Do you really think that for £500 you are going to get something decent?
You don't say that she wants to change bikes only that you think her current ride feels spongey. Does she want to change?
A HT would develop her skills more. You'll get better components / suspension forks. The bike will be lighter.
If you are thinking to buy a better spec'd but s/h FS then be aware that you may need to change pivot bearings, service the shock and forks which may well bump the cost up to the point where you could have bought a decent new FS. I recently sent my Fox forks and shock of to Mojo for routine annual servicing and ended up with a £350 bill to replace the expired parts (the tech couldn't believe that they were working at all!).
For someone coming into the sport / hobby and still learning I recomend a HT every time.
To put it logically - think about how many components go into a FS and then how they are connected and act upon each other. Do you really think that for £500 you are going to get something decent?
You don't say that she wants to change bikes only that you think her current ride feels spongey. Does she want to change?
A HT would develop her skills more. You'll get better components / suspension forks. The bike will be lighter.
If you are thinking to buy a better spec'd but s/h FS then be aware that you may need to change pivot bearings, service the shock and forks which may well bump the cost up to the point where you could have bought a decent new FS. I recently sent my Fox forks and shock of to Mojo for routine annual servicing and ended up with a £350 bill to replace the expired parts (the tech couldn't believe that they were working at all!).
For someone coming into the sport / hobby and still learning I recomend a HT every time.
Of the cheap (ie £800 or 900) full sussers I'd go for one of the giant NRS ones. They climb superbly.
I'd run a mile from any full sussers less than that new and TBH anything billed as more of a general purpose trail for less than about £1300. Up to about that price you're better of getting a hardtail I reckon.
The majority of XC type riding simply doesn't require suspension at both ends and where you do get an advantage it only really works if you've got a decent platform and haven't incurred a huge weight penalty. Even taken to extremes - apart from big drops I can't think of anything you can do with a full susser, that you can't physically rider down with a hardtail and it'll make you a better rider.
I'd run a mile from any full sussers less than that new and TBH anything billed as more of a general purpose trail for less than about £1300. Up to about that price you're better of getting a hardtail I reckon.
The majority of XC type riding simply doesn't require suspension at both ends and where you do get an advantage it only really works if you've got a decent platform and haven't incurred a huge weight penalty. Even taken to extremes - apart from big drops I can't think of anything you can do with a full susser, that you can't physically rider down with a hardtail and it'll make you a better rider.
The FSR XC is nowhere near as good a bike as its equivalent priced hardtail (Rockhopper.) and exists mainly for those stubborn people who ignore the advice of the bike shop employee and insist that they 'need' a suspension frame.
Unless You can afford an Epic/Stumpy level bike, avoid full suspsension.
Particularly for novice riders, it is an unwise move. Extra weight, extra complication, and compromising the rest fo your build.
For a novice it will make you a bad rider aswell.
If you can't afford a decent one, don't bother.
I ride a hardtail for XC, and theres is nothing it won't do. The times when my speed is limited are more than made up for by the other benefits and the fun. I keep full suspension for my big heavy squishy downhill bike.
Unless You can afford an Epic/Stumpy level bike, avoid full suspsension.
Particularly for novice riders, it is an unwise move. Extra weight, extra complication, and compromising the rest fo your build.
For a novice it will make you a bad rider aswell.
If you can't afford a decent one, don't bother.
I ride a hardtail for XC, and theres is nothing it won't do. The times when my speed is limited are more than made up for by the other benefits and the fun. I keep full suspension for my big heavy squishy downhill bike.
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