Kona Caldera vs. Avanti Barracuda vs. Giant XTC 3

[Dave E]

Hey folks,

I'm trying to help a female friend of mine choose her first mtn bike. She
will predominantly be doing fire trails, some road and (ya never know...)
perhaps a bit of technical stuff if we ease her into it. I'm of the view
that a hardtail will be the best bet - the reasonable dualies are all a bit
out of the range and are heavier of course.

I'm hoping that a decent bike for her will encourage her to ride more and
the bikes listed are all within the budget.

I've been riding for years - current bike is 4 yrs old, so don't really know
much about modern stuff - other than I'm told hydraulic discs are pretty
good. These bikes are about the same price here (in Sydney - I can get a
deal on the Avanti). They are all XT rear/Deore front and certainly are all
probably better specced than she'll really need.

They are from 3 bike shops where I know all the guys so there is really no
difference on that score - they're all top locations.

However, if anyone can give a few bob's worth of opinion then that will be
of value to us.

Cheers,
Dave (Sydney)

 

[Dave E]

Hey folks,

I'm trying to help a female friend of mine choose her first mtn bike. She
will predominantly be doing fire trails, some road and (ya never know...)
perhaps a bit of technical stuff if we ease her into it. I'm of the view
that a hardtail will be the best bet - the reasonable dualies are all a bit
out of the range and are heavier of course.

I'm hoping that a decent bike for her will encourage her to ride more and
the bikes listed are all within the budget.

I've been riding for years - current bike is 4 yrs old, so don't really know
much about modern stuff - other than I'm told hydraulic discs are pretty
good. These bikes are about the same price here (in Sydney - I can get a
deal on the Avanti). They are all XT rear/Deore front and certainly are all
probably better specced than she'll really need.

They are from 3 bike shops where I know all the guys so there is really no
difference on that score - they're all top locations.

However, if anyone can give a few bob's worth of opinion then that will be
of value to us.

Cheers,
Dave (Sydney)

 

[Parbs]

"Dave E" asked about bikes...
> Hey folks,
>
They all seem well enough specced for their prices. The best bet would be at get her to ride them all. The Barracuda is Avanti's
top recreational bike where as the XTC 3 is Giant's bottom XC "race" bike so there's probably some noticeable differences in the
riding position.

Of course if she finds them all OK, pick the red one it will be faster.

Parbs

 

[Marx SS]

I previously had a Avanti Barracuda with hydraulic Julie Magura disks. It was 2002 mod. Personal 2cents on hydraulic disks compared to V-brakes is that they work magnificent first off & for a while longer untill you get some real muddy rides in.
From there the not-so-good stuff about hydraulic disks like cost of replacement pads (& the frequency) makes it more $$. Also recently I found that I have yet to have a disk braked MTB come up behind me without me hearing it's squealing brakes from 10mts away.

V-brakes are pretty low tech, but they're light & pretty straight forward.

All the bikes you mentioned seem like a good choice.
As it's for a woman, frame size/layout may play a big factor in which bike she goes for. Seems that womens bodies are proportioned differently to males, shorter legs/arms to torso length. Avanti frames kinda are generally longer than other brands of the same 'size'.
Ask her to get a leg over your short list & then work from her feedback I reckon.

 

[SomeGuy]

Hey folks,

I'm trying to help a female friend of mine choose her first mtn bike. She
will predominantly be doing fire trails, some road and (ya never know...)
perhaps a bit of technical stuff if we ease her into it. I'm of the view
that a hardtail will be the best bet - the reasonable dualies are all a bit
out of the range and are heavier of course.

I'm hoping that a decent bike for her will encourage her to ride more and
the bikes listed are all within the budget.

I've been riding for years - current bike is 4 yrs old, so don't really know
much about modern stuff - other than I'm told hydraulic discs are pretty
good. These bikes are about the same price here (in Sydney - I can get a
deal on the Avanti). They are all XT rear/Deore front and certainly are all
probably better specced than she'll really need.

They are from 3 bike shops where I know all the guys so there is really no
difference on that score - they're all top locations.

However, if anyone can give a few bob's worth of opinion then that will be
of value to us.

Cheers,
Dave (Sydney)

The stopping power of discs is good, but with all the downsides I wouldn't go with them if I had the choice. The downsides are complexity, weight and cost. The complexity of them leads to expensive maintence - even (especially?) when you do most of it yourself. Rotors can get bent (I was quoted $80 for a new one), and hoses can leak. This has cost me $110 so far and it's still not fixed: $20 for brake fluid, $50 for brake pads when I spilt some fluid on them, and then $40 to get the bike shop to bleed them for me. Except the bike shop didn't find the leak so now I need to take the bike back and get them to fix it *again.* There is also regular maintence such as aligning the piston with the rotor. I do this often enough though that I don't suffer from rubbing (unless I haven't replaced a bent rotor yet) or squealing.

I guess on the plus side I'm not wearing my rims out any more, but discs seem to be too much of an expensive hassle to be worth it.

I've opened up a hole can of worms regarding that. Oops. If the bike comes with discs, so be it. Most decent ones do these days :|. All three you have mentioned are good bikes, so I'd go with the test ride idea.

 

[petulance]

Dave E wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> I'm trying to help a female friend of mine choose her first mtn bike. She
> will predominantly be doing fire trails, some road and (ya never know...)
> perhaps a bit of technical stuff if we ease her into it. I'm of the view
> that a hardtail will be the best bet - the reasonable dualies are all a bit
> out of the range and are heavier of course.
>

<snip>

my 2 cents ...

I don't know anything about the Avanti, but I have a 2005 Kona Cinder
Cone (a model below the Caldera) and I have friends with the 2005 XTC2
and 2006 XTC3.

All the models you mentioned should have roughly the same specs, with
hydraulic brakes.

My Cinder Cone should be a bit heavier than the Caldera, but I noticed
that the XTC2 and XTC3 were much lighter than my Kona. The 2006 XTC3 has
the same frame as the XTC2, so it should be quite light.

Fit and ride factors aside, if I were to buy a bike today, I would
choose the XTC3 for its weight.

 

[aeek]

>Ask her to get a leg over your short list & then work from her feedback

After all, it will be her bike. Given it fits, what it looks like is a real factor.
It is so much easier to be enthusiastic about your bike if you love its looks.

 

[Random Data]

Marx SS wrote:

> From there the not-so-good stuff about hydraulic disks like cost of
> replacement pads (& the frequency) makes it more $$.

Depends on the brake. I've got an older XT 4 pot on the front of the
play bike, and deore elsewhere. The XT pads are around $45 and have
been replaced twice in 5 years and quite a few thousand km. The deore
pads were around $25 last time I bought them, and last quite a while as
well.

Compare that with $15 for a decent set of V-brake pads, which I find
last about 1/4-1/3 as long in nasty conditions, and I think the discs
are cheaper to run. Best example I can think of is the Lithgow 8hr this
year - After 4 or 5 laps my discs were still running fine, and had a
reasonable amount left. Compare that to the bloke running V-brakes who
in one lap had gone from nicely stopping to "levers to the bars and
still not slowing down". That's ignoring the fact that the discs were a
lot more consistent in how they braked as well.

> V-brakes are pretty low tech, but they're light & pretty straight
> forward.

True, but I find maintenance on discs less fiddly. Pad swaps are a
cinch (no alignment tweaking required), and I think I've bled brakes
twice in 5 years.

Dave - who is a convert

 

[Random Data]

Marx SS wrote:

> From there the not-so-good stuff about hydraulic disks like cost of
> replacement pads (& the frequency) makes it more $$.

Depends on the brake. I've got an older XT 4 pot on the front of the
play bike, and deore elsewhere. The XT pads are around $45 and have
been replaced twice in 5 years and quite a few thousand km. The deore
pads were around $25 last time I bought them, and last quite a while as
well.

Compare that with $15 for a decent set of V-brake pads, which I find
last about 1/4-1/3 as long in nasty conditions, and I think the discs
are cheaper to run. Best example I can think of is the Lithgow 8hr this
year - After 4 or 5 laps my discs were still running fine, and had a
reasonable amount left. Compare that to the bloke running V-brakes who
in one lap had gone from nicely stopping to "levers to the bars and
still not slowing down". That's ignoring the fact that the discs were a
lot more consistent in how they braked as well.

> V-brakes are pretty low tech, but they're light & pretty straight
> forward.

True, but I find maintenance on discs less fiddly. Pad swaps are a
cinch (no alignment tweaking required), and I think I've bled brakes
twice in 5 years.

Dave - who is a convert

 

[Dave E]

<snip>

Hmmm - a few things to consider.

We went to the LSB yesterday and looked at the Avanti Barracuda. Nice bike
and she was fitted to the small frame.

After sitting on it and pulling a few levers here and there, she asked one
question.

"Does it come in any other colour?"

What else would I expect?

Anyway, we'll have a look at the Kona Caldera and there is an option of an
'04 Trek WSD 6700 2nd hand for under a grand - V-brakes. Probably not a bad
option and it's had little riding too.

The only iffy bit in all this is the braking. My Vees have been OK over the
years and so it will be interesting to see how she goes with the discs.

Thanks for your help - I'll post the final purchase in the next week or so.

Cheers,
Dave E