in message <
[email protected]>, Doki
('
[email protected]') wrote:
> First things first, this is x-posted to urc and amb.
>
> Right, I've got around £500 to spend on an MTB, to replace my fairly
> knackered Giant hardtail. It's liable to be bought secondhand,
> probably after much trawlage of the admag until I find one that's been
> owned by a numpty who bought a good bike then decided they didn't much
> want to ride about on a bike after two goes at it.
>
> I mostly ride XC type stuff, and my skill level is currently pretty
> shite. So, do I go for £500 worth of hardtail, which should be pretty
> high spec, or £500 worth of full sus?
You won't get a new full suss bike at this price which is worth having.
On the other hand there are second hand bargains out there, if you're
reasonably careful (see advert below). At this money you'll get a very
good hardtail, though. The benefits of full suspension are
(i) It really flatters your ability on tricky technical sections - no
matter how good or bad you are, you will be able to clean sections on a
full suspension bike that you could not on a hard tail;
(ii) It's much more comfortable - you get less battered and can go on
riding for longer/further;
(iii) As a consequence of the first two, you will go faster (I found
myself 10% faster when I switched to full suss).
> The £500 is fairly flexible BTW
> (could stretch to £700 or so). Does full sus break in hilariously
> expensive ways?
Two extra ways over and above hardtails. The first and most obvious is
the rear suspension unit itself; these are usually serviceable, cost
about £30 to get serviced, cost around £300 to replace. I haven't yet
had one fail (I have three in my current collection of bikes - all Fox
Floats). The other is bushes. All the good full suss bikes use bushes
(or occasionally bearings) at the suspension pivots. These are
replaceable and the cost is generally fairly inexpensive (but obviously
varies from model to model).
> Are there any particular suspension designs to look
> out for / avoid? Ideally I'd like hydraulic disk brakes rather than
> vees. And I'll want something fairly solid, as I'm brilliant at
> breaking things. And the moon on a stick too.
>
> What do I want to go looking for?
OK, I don't want to oversell this, but I'm thinking about selling my
Mantra, and a fair price for it would be in your bracket. The Mantra is
a 'classic design', which means it has some very good points but it's a
compromise that most designers haven't chosen to take. Essentially its
very high, far forward rear suspension pivot means it goes up hills
extraordinarily well, but also means that it has fairly extreme brake
induced dive - the whole bike tilts forward under braking which is a
bit unnerving until you get used to it, particularly downhill. It is
_not_ a good downhill bike.
Mine is size 'large', good for people from about 5'10" to probably about
6'4" The frame, rear shock (Fox Float), transmission and controls are
all good (Deore XT deraileurs, 9 speed SRAM cassette, currently 8 speed
SRAM 4 gripshifts so you can't select the smallest sprocket but I have
a set of spare 9 speed XT trigger shifters in the bits box). The forks
(Rock Shox Psylo) are newly serviced and work. It's currently got old
and rather worn Smoke/Dart clone tyres on it, set up for mud, but I've
a pair of almost new Hutchinson Scorpions which could go on it. It has
V brakes and while the rear one (Shimano parallelogram type) is pretty
good the front (Avid) really could do with being replaced (it works OK,
but...).
It is a very good cross country bike. It weighs 27lbs in its current
configuration, which is not up with the very best but isn't bad. It
rides very well, is extremely comfortable, is great on technical
singletrack and especially on climbs; and the frame design looks
amazingly trick, if that matters to you. It also has a completely
amazing amount of rear suspension travel - I think nine inches, but in
any case far more than the four that is usual on cross country designs.
On the other hand it has quirks which do take getting used to.
Why am I selling it? Well, I bought it with the intention of
experimenting with a Rohloff (it has a fixed chainline which most full
suss bikes don't, and consequently converting it to a gearbox bike
would be relatively easy), but I can't afford the Rohloff. It isn't as
good a bike as my Jekyll, which I am most definitely not selling
(although if I do sell the Mantra the money is likely to go to a new
carbon/titanium Lefty for the Jekyll).
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; All in all you're just another hick in the mall
-- Drink C'lloid
. ISTR that email doesn't even work any more.
