What bike - circa £900 - the shame....
Discussion
Was hoping I was "in touch" enough to be able to chose my new steed without going to the PH massive. But after a few hours in the bike shops today, I call upon your superior collective knowledge.
Looked long and hard at:
Cannondale F2 with Lefty - 2007, on sale for £1275
Specialized Rock Hopper Pro Disc - 2008, £899
Orange Evo8 - 2008, £949
Orange Prestige S or Pro (havent looked closely at these, an afterthought after flicking through the brochure), £849 and £1149 respectively.
I want hardtail. I want DIRECT transfer of my pedal power to the ground. Shocks with an easy lockout facility. Will do the odd race, the odd Wales Trails trip, mostly local forest and Purbeck blasting.
The Cannondale is realistically out of my budget, the RockHopper is let down by its looks, the Orange Evo8 doesnt look great either but Ive alwasy fancied an Orange, and the Orange Prestige is simply old school horn steel tubing in black and orange and probably perfectly adequate, though potentially the Orange bikes are not as well specced as the Specialized.
Looking at the Orange Prestige Pro, I see XT, XTR, Juicy 5, Hope, Race Face and Rock Shox and get a stirring in my loins.
Are these still the no-nonsense robust supreme handlers they used to be?
Is the Specialized better than all of them but too plainly packaged?
Is the Cannondale just an overpriced tarts handbag?
Any advice or other suggestions would be appreciated.
NB: Not ridden properly 14yrs, used to race: Malverns, Cheddar, Salisbury Plain etc.
Last bike was Alpinestars Cro-Mega LX....in white (with the elevated chain stay).
Yes, those frames were made of cheese.
Also, please noone mention Trek. Ive never liked them and probably never will, regardless of value or capability. Bit like Kawasakis.....
I also dont care if the frames are made in the US or Taiwan really. Here would be better still.
Looked long and hard at:
Cannondale F2 with Lefty - 2007, on sale for £1275
Specialized Rock Hopper Pro Disc - 2008, £899
Orange Evo8 - 2008, £949
Orange Prestige S or Pro (havent looked closely at these, an afterthought after flicking through the brochure), £849 and £1149 respectively.
I want hardtail. I want DIRECT transfer of my pedal power to the ground. Shocks with an easy lockout facility. Will do the odd race, the odd Wales Trails trip, mostly local forest and Purbeck blasting.
The Cannondale is realistically out of my budget, the RockHopper is let down by its looks, the Orange Evo8 doesnt look great either but Ive alwasy fancied an Orange, and the Orange Prestige is simply old school horn steel tubing in black and orange and probably perfectly adequate, though potentially the Orange bikes are not as well specced as the Specialized.
Looking at the Orange Prestige Pro, I see XT, XTR, Juicy 5, Hope, Race Face and Rock Shox and get a stirring in my loins.
Are these still the no-nonsense robust supreme handlers they used to be?
Is the Specialized better than all of them but too plainly packaged?
Is the Cannondale just an overpriced tarts handbag?
Any advice or other suggestions would be appreciated.
NB: Not ridden properly 14yrs, used to race: Malverns, Cheddar, Salisbury Plain etc.
Last bike was Alpinestars Cro-Mega LX....in white (with the elevated chain stay).
Yes, those frames were made of cheese.
Also, please noone mention Trek. Ive never liked them and probably never will, regardless of value or capability. Bit like Kawasakis.....
I also dont care if the frames are made in the US or Taiwan really. Here would be better still.
Edited by 308mate on Thursday 29th May 00:32
Scott Scale?
http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86484
I love the way the front end of the frame is made, hydroformed, effectively making it one piece of aluminium rather than 3 tubes. Rear end is also very stiff so you'll be sure to get your direct power transfer.
There is a cheaper model at £750 with the same frame but the spec isn't amazing.
http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86484
I love the way the front end of the frame is made, hydroformed, effectively making it one piece of aluminium rather than 3 tubes. Rear end is also very stiff so you'll be sure to get your direct power transfer.
There is a cheaper model at £750 with the same frame but the spec isn't amazing.
Scott are always great value and they look pretty good, also the dealers from what I gather are very helpful. I was going to get one earlier this year but decided to get a Felt which is a fantastic bike and very well specced.
It sounds like you like an 'Old skool' feel to a bike like I do. I still ride my Orange Clockwork fully rigid with slicks into work and I am so much faster on this than the Felt on the road. You may find a newer bike feel like riding shopping bikes with their upswept bars and shorter top tubes, so perhaps do what I did and go for, what they say these days is a very 'racey' bike. This will then be more to your liking. Are you not able to get on the Cycle to work scheme?
As an aside I had an Alpinestars before the Orange, it was a 'Cro-Mega DX' with the normal frame and I was the first one of my mates to have a bike oversized tubes!
It sounds like you like an 'Old skool' feel to a bike like I do. I still ride my Orange Clockwork fully rigid with slicks into work and I am so much faster on this than the Felt on the road. You may find a newer bike feel like riding shopping bikes with their upswept bars and shorter top tubes, so perhaps do what I did and go for, what they say these days is a very 'racey' bike. This will then be more to your liking. Are you not able to get on the Cycle to work scheme?
As an aside I had an Alpinestars before the Orange, it was a 'Cro-Mega DX' with the normal frame and I was the first one of my mates to have a bike oversized tubes!
lingus75 said:
As an aside I had an Alpinestars before the Orange, it was a 'Cro-Mega DX' with the normal frame and I was the first one of my mates to have a bike oversized tubes!
Christ almighty, thats a blast from the past!Elevated chainstay? Mental Fluoro paintjob? DX thumbies?
All retro goodness
neil_bolton said:
lingus75 said:
As an aside I had an Alpinestars before the Orange, it was a 'Cro-Mega DX' with the normal frame and I was the first one of my mates to have a bike oversized tubes!
Christ almighty, thats a blast from the past!Elevated chainstay? Mental Fluoro paintjob? DX thumbies?
All retro goodness
The Elastomer headstem is non standard (and useless IIRC) and the yellow paint around the rear dropouts isnt either. But I think I know why this one has it.
The elevated chainstay joined the bottom of the seat stay too high. There was enough seat stay leading to the rear dropout so that with a half decent rider and some regular punishment, the piece of seat stay under where the chain stay joins it, would start to bend forward towards the bottom bracket. This skewed your rear wheel, sprockets and made the chain jump. I suspect this one has been heated up and bent back into place, hence the yellow paint to cover up the remedial work.
It was quite common on those. I went through 3 sets of forks on mine aswell. They bent at the top with startling ease.
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