New bike for < £700?

[Tycho]

Hi all,
I'm trying to get back into mountain biking and have seen the following:

Orange G2 disc with front sus: £509

I have read very good reports about this bike and am wondering how the Scott Aspect 20 for £545 stacks up against it.

I'm going to be using it for gravel trail/ medium off roading at the moment but will probably want something a bit more capable in about 6 mths or so.

Might also need to fit a baby seat to it for family outings.....

Any advice gladly recieved.

[atom111]

Is the G2 really £509 as it retails at £599 so at £509 that's good value, Looking at them side by side it's the choice of Shimano or Sram on the drive train the rest is similar rank stuff, similar forks, similar frame alloy used it's almost a toss of the coin choice it's that close IMHO, I've not seen a review of either but.............

I'd buy the Orange two reasons 1) I've owned a few and liked each one both hard and soft tails really nice bikes 2) Their a British company and it's good to support British. (though my latest bike is French!!)

[Tycho]

atom111 said:

Is the G2 really £509 as it retails at £599 so at £509 that's good value, Looking at them side by side it's the choice of Shimano or Sram on the drive train the rest is similar rank stuff, similar forks, similar frame alloy used it's almost a toss of the coin choice it's that close IMHO, I've not seen a review of either but.............

I'd buy the Orange two reasons 1) I've owned a few and liked each one both hard and soft tails really nice bikes 2) Their a British company and it's good to support British. (though my latest bike is French!!)

Totally agree with 2) I think that the Orange has more aggressive tyres and I quite like the fact that it is less chunky than the Scott. The Orange is the current model, not the 2008 but I'd not notice really. Have got another shop to go and see tomorrow and see what they've got.

[atom111]

That's a pretty good deal on the 07 then, I'd be supprised if the 08 was much different bar the components but I could be wrong but it will still ride well regardless it's not like the 07 is bad!!

[mk1fan]

atom111 said:

I've owned a few and liked each one both hard and soft tails really nice bikes

Billy Liar. You've never had a Soft Tail. You've had Full Sussers but never a Soft Tail!

The orange will be better suited to riding conditions in the UK and is designed and spec'd accordingly. You deserve the Orange, oh yes.

[atom111]

I guess 5.5" of travel is Full Suss I stand corrected.

[neil_bolton]

atom111 said:

I guess 5.5" of travel is Full Suss I stand corrected.

Technically, a softtail is a frame whereupon the frame itself is the pivot, and has a shock to absorb the hits.

Think of it, if you will, as a halfway house between Hardtail and Full Sus.

Litespeed were the pioneers of this, as Ti seems to lend itself well to this application.

There are several Carbon style frames out there like this, the one I remember the most being the Trek OCLV STP Soft-tail, also Cannondale with their Scalpel range.

Edited by neil_bolton on Monday 8th October 15:56

Edited by neil_bolton on Monday 8th October 15:58

[Tycho]

Hmmmm, the Kona Cinder Cone 2008 is at another local shop for £600 and the shop gives you points for the amount of money you spend so you can get accessories.

The Cinder Cone is up as getting 36 points and you usually get 1 point for every £50 spent.

I verbally confirmed that the points I could get on it was correct, so I could get the following for £600:

Kona Cinder Cone 2008 £600
Shimano MT31 SPD shoes £44
Shimano MS40 pedals £39
Nike Elite Pro gloves £20
Nike Enduro Singletrack shorts £40
Giro Hex helmet £49
Trek Incite 9i wireless computer £29
Crudcatcher front & rear £22
Cateye LED lights £14
Trek Propak bag £12
Pair Racelight cages £13
Pair Trek bottles £19
Blackburn pump £10
Pedro dry lube £10
Chainstay guard £9
£930

Now I know it won't cost them even close to that but I would need to buy most of that stuff anyway so it complicates the matter further.... So I guess that if the Kona is only worth the same as the Orange then I still come out ahead.

[atom111]

Nothing wrong with a Kona very nice bike good spec.

[mk1fan]

Kona are great bikes. I had one of the first rigid steel CC's and it was brilliant. Wish I still had it but things move on.

I wouldn't bother with the computer, bottles or cages. Buy a Camelbak Mule or Blowfish instead.

If the choice was between the Orange and the Kona then I'd go for the Kona. But they are different bikes. One is Steel (Orange) and one is Ali (Kona) (if my memory serves me correctly) so they will ride very differently.

If you are looking at spending that money then check out the On-One range of built up bikes. You can get a 456 with a very good mix of componetry for UK trail riding. And again it's British. I'd have an On-One over an Orange any day. There was a 2007 geared Inbred on eBay this w/e that had a BIN price of £499. I was almost mine save the fact that I have no space to put my three bikes (and my new Hustler frame to be built up) let alone a fourth complete bike!

The Chris Boardman range in Halfords is also receiving very good reviews in the press - if not in the forums ,although this mainly seems to be badge / store snobbery than anything specific to the bikes. Pinnacle bikes (available from Evans) are again a British designed bike for British conditions. And finally, check out the Genesis range of bikes - Shimano componetry and a British designed frame.

[atom111]

mk1fan Orange G2 is Alloy not Steel

[Tycho]

mk1fan said:

Kona are great bikes. I had one of the first rigid steel CC's and it was brilliant. Wish I still had it but things move on.

I wouldn't bother with the computer, bottles or cages. Buy a Camelbak Mule or Blowfish instead.

If the choice was between the Orange and the Kona then I'd go for the Kona. But they are different bikes. One is Steel (Orange) and one is Ali (Kona) (if my memory serves me correctly) so they will ride very differently.

If you are looking at spending that money then check out the On-One range of built up bikes. You can get a 456 with a very good mix of componetry for UK trail riding. And again it's British. I'd have an On-One over an Orange any day. There was a 2007 geared Inbred on eBay this w/e that had a BIN price of £499. I was almost mine save the fact that I have no space to put my three bikes (and my new Hustler frame to be built up) let alone a fourth complete bike!

The Chris Boardman range in Halfords is also receiving very good reviews in the press - if not in the forums ,although this mainly seems to be badge / store snobbery than anything specific to the bikes. Pinnacle bikes (available from Evans) are again a British designed bike for British conditions. And finally, check out the Genesis range of bikes - Shimano componetry and a British designed frame.

Cheers for the advice, the bottles would be for leisure riding as I already have a camelback built into my rucksack.

Will have a look in Halfords but I'm not too sure they'll be able to beat the Kona deal as I can mix and match the accessories as well and they have quite a good list of bits available such as seatposts or better pedals/shoes etc.

[JPJ]

Have a look at Merlin Cycles in Lancashire - make great bikes based on some great value aluminium frames and componentry to suit your budget. The Orange is a great bike as well, but the Merlin's are a little more rare if that's your thing.

[Tycho]

Thanks for the advice guys, went ahead and got a Giant XTC 3.5 as it felt the best when testing. Swapped the pedals straight away for SPD's and can't wait to try it out properly.

[atom111]

Congratulations be sure to post some pic's

[mk1fan]

Tycho said:

as it felt the best when testing.

The most important factor when buying a bike.