Mountain Bike advice

[Annoyed Grunt]

Cheers for the info General.

Budget not overly restricted as getting it through the cycle to work scheme.

Lefty forks?

[seanworth]

Cannondale used to be quite dominant 15 yrs or so ago, but have fallen behind the pack in recent years. Some believe its because they insisted on sticking with aluminium (road bikes) for too long, others believe they tried to venture out into other fields. I hear a lot of sceptcism, and their shocks are no exception, from other riders.

From riding locally here and in Thailand, I would say Trek is the top seller, then Specialized and Giant. A friend in Thailand who owns a bike touring company used to stock Cannondale as his basic mountain bike but changed a few years ago. I think he now uses Trek bikes.

[seanworth]

This is more of a per view by someone. Not sure if it gives you any insight but thought I'd post it.

Trek & Specialized are deep in a brand war (each with their own component line as well). Good things happen when there's competition, and both have come a long way in terms of frame design in the past 3-4 years. I think Specialized has always had the edge with technology, but you'll pay a small premium for it, compared to Trek. Trek isn't a slouch either, but their bikes definitely show the influence of being designed in the flat Midwest.

With these two brands, the quality is always high. Each has their own entry-level lines, but they're still all several hundred dollars above Giant/DB/Mongoose/GT

Cannondale, K2, & Haro entry-level rides are adequate, and fall somewhere between the Trek/Diamondback prices. However, with Cannondale's insistence on using their own fork designs (Headshok & Lefty), you're somewhat limited on upgrade fork choices. The frame quality is on par with GT & Giant.

Giant is the largest bike manufacturer in the world, and they've got a huge catalogue of bikes. Even so, they haven't stooped to making Wallyworld-level bikes, so even at their most base model, you're still coming out ahead. I haven't seen any deficiency in their frame quality, but at the lower price-points you're not getting much in the way of components.

And then there's the mid-level boutique brands; SantaCruz, Jamis, & Gary Fisher (owned by Trek). Fisher bikes are very good, as well as the Bontrager parts that they come with (also a Trek brand). I'm a SantaCruz brand-whore, so I'm kinda biased there. And I mentioned Jamis earlier. Jamis is the cheaper of the three, Fisher comes in second, and SantaCruz the most expensive. However, a mid-level SantaCruz is still priced & spec'ed about the same as a comparable Trek or Specialized offering.
I'll mention Turner, Norco, Rocky-Mountain, Intense, Marin, IronHorse & Kona. All of these bikes cost no less than $1400 for a new '07/'08 frame. Older frames for all of the above brands can be found for up to $500 less. All of them are excellent quality, and most license their suspension designs from either Specialized, SantaCruz, IronHorse, or Ellsworth.

And lastly, there's the true exotics. Yeti, Ellsworth, Foes, Moots, Felt, BMC, & a plethora of small-batch singlespeeds/29'er bikes. These are for when you're serious about the mountainbike world, and have the cash to spend. Quality and design is so close at this level, being happy with your chosen bike is more a preference in aesthetics than price/design/quality.

[Annoyed Grunt]

Nice one, cheers...

[IggyTheDawgster]

Going here sat/sun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zMSVr99pC4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Llandegla, North Wales)

Anybody been? Any good?

I've been to Gisburn forest a couple times, Brilliant.



My horse

[Bruce Rioja]

That's a bloody serious piece of kit isn't it?

There a place near work that specialises in mountain bikes - they sell some for about £4,000.

[IggyTheDawgster]

That's a bloody serious piece of kit isn't it?

There a place near work that specialises in mountain bikes - they sell some for about £4,000. :sock:

I saw one for 9,000 the other day in a shop.

Mine was 1,500.

(Well it was 70 quid, Some little cnut stole my Marin b-17, LOVED THAT BIKE, So that is my insurance replacement.)

[General Mannerheim]

Nice bike. You obviously need a reverb dropper seat post now! id reccomend a much shorter stem too, id also lose the top ring off your front mech, no mtb needs such high gears

Always shocks folk the price of bikes these days, mine was about £3k and i mustve spent that on it again over the last few years with various upgrades and whatnot. but there really is no ceiling, you can pay astronomical amounts now, on road bikes too.

Ive been to LLandegla many times, imo nowhere near as good as Gisburn. Llandegla is all a bit to groomed and motorwayish, its also incredibly busy!

If your heading to Wales id keep going a bit further and head for Coed-Y-Brenin or Penmachno. CYB is the nuts. there is also the Marin trail at Betws-y-Coed.

im not trying to piss on yer chips btw, Llandegla is still great, if youve never been its a must see, and a great place to test your skills.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I'd 2nd Coed-y-Brenin. Though a good 15 years plus since I rode there. Betws is good for a pootle round too

[Always hopeful]

I live about 10 miles from Llandegla, so it's my 'local'. I'm by no means a serious mountain biker, but I've covered most of the tracks mentioned above. I think Llandegla stands up to the others. It's not particularly long (unlike the Marin trail), but from memory, it's got loads more ascents/descents in quick succession, rather than long slogs (the initial mile or so notwithstanding).

[General Mannerheim]

I live about 10 miles from Llandegla, so it's my 'local'. I'm by no means a serious mountain biker, but I've covered most of the tracks mentioned above. I think Llandegla stands up to the others. It's not particularly long (unlike the Marin trail), but from memory, it's got loads more ascents/descents in quick succession, rather than long slogs (the initial mile or so notwithstanding).

Llandegla stands up to Coed-Y-Brenin? cant agree with that. its got a lot going for it, more fun than most of us could have hacking round our local trails, but its not in the same league as CYB.

[IggyTheDawgster]

Nice bike. You obviously need a reverb dropper seat post now! id reccomend a much shorter stem too, id also lose the top ring off your front mech, no mtb needs such high gears

Always shocks folk the price of bikes these days, mine was about £3k and i mustve spent that on it again over the last few years with various upgrades and whatnot. but there really is no ceiling, you can pay astronomical amounts now, on road bikes too.

Ive been to LLandegla many times, imo nowhere near as good as Gisburn. Llandegla is all a bit to groomed and motorwayish, its also incredibly busy!

If your heading to Wales id keep going a bit further and head for Coed-Y-Brenin or Penmachno. CYB is the nuts. there is also the Marin trail at Betws-y-Coed.

im not trying to piss on yer chips btw, Llandegla is still great, if youve never been its a must see, and a great place to test your skills.

Cheers for the advice General, I haven't really tinkered with this bike as it's been fine for me so far in the 2 years I've been riding it, Only thing I've changed are tyres (Upgraded from Maxxis Aspens to the Continental Barons in the pic) and some new grips and new rear mech, After it seized up.

The lock off switch has broken on my front forks though so they're in permanent hard mode, But if you hit hard enough they do work lol.

Gisburn is my favourite place so far, Hully Gully is immense fun and quite scary at speed.

You are the second person to recommend Coed-Y-Brenin to me in the last couple of days so I'll be sure to check it out.

[Always hopeful]

I live about 10 miles from Llandegla, so it's my 'local'. I'm by no means a serious mountain biker, but I've covered most of the tracks mentioned above. I think Llandegla stands up to the others. It's not particularly long (unlike the Marin trail), but from memory, it's got loads more ascents/descents in quick succession, rather than long slogs (the initial mile or so notwithstanding).

Llandegla stands up to Coed-Y-Brenin? cant agree with that. its got a lot going for it, more fun than most of us could have hacking round our local trails, but its not in the same league as CYB.

Furry nuff. Let's just agree that Llandegla's a good craic and won't disappoint.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Nice bike. You obviously need a reverb dropper seat post now! id reccomend a much shorter stem too, id also lose the top ring off your front mech, no mtb needs such high gears

Always shocks folk the price of bikes these days, mine was about £3k and i mustve spent that on it again over the last few years with various upgrades and whatnot. but there really is no ceiling, you can pay astronomical amounts now, on road bikes too.

Ive been to LLandegla many times, imo nowhere near as good as Gisburn. Llandegla is all a bit to groomed and motorwayish, its also incredibly busy!

If your heading to Wales id keep going a bit further and head for Coed-Y-Brenin or Penmachno. CYB is the nuts. there is also the Marin trail at Betws-y-Coed.

im not trying to piss on yer chips btw, Llandegla is still great, if youve never been its a must see, and a great place to test your skills.

Cheers for the advice General, I haven't really tinkered with this bike as it's been fine for me so far in the 2 years I've been riding it, Only thing I've changed are tyres (Upgraded from Maxxis Aspens to the Continental Barons in the pic) and some new grips and new rear mech, After it seized up.

The lock off switch has broken on my front forks though so they're in permanent hard mode, But if you hit hard enough they do work lol.

Gisburn is my favourite place so far, Hully Gully is immense fun and quite scary at speed.

You are the second person to recommend Coed-Y-Brenin to me in the last couple of days so I'll be sure to check it out.

We used to go to Gisburn for the point to point horse racing, as well as the Holcombe Hunt. Of course there were no mountain bikes then.

[thebish]

We used to go to Gisburn for the point to point horse racing, as well as the Holcombe Hunt. Of course there were no mountain bikes then.

you'd be surprised...

http://www.mtnbikehalloffame.com/page.cfm?pageid=13

[Montreal Wanderer]

We used to go to Gisburn for the point to point horse racing, as well as the Holcombe Hunt. Of course there were no mountain bikes then.

you'd be surprised...

http://www.mtnbikehalloffame.com/page.cfm?pageid=13

We did used to cycle off-road in the 1950s with what we called dirt track bikes. I guess they were also forerunners of the mountain bike.

[General Mannerheim]

ARRRGH, locked on forks! you wanna get that sorted! be ok if they were stuck 'off' - you will definitely enjoy your riding more with correctly set-up suspension.

yeah, Gisburn is great, havent been for a while with being stuck down london all week, infact ive not been since they opened the new hub cafe, the skills loop and other bits and peices... but before i would go a lot. Hully Gully is quality, but again i hear its been 'improved' i.e. taken some of the dangers away that always added to the fun. i would go and just session the Hope line for a few hours, i worked in blackburn for a while and would just piss off there in the afternoons!

i frickin love mountain bikes, just wanna go home and get out for a blast now! its the worst thing about being down here... err, except mrs, kids etc...

[IggyTheDawgster]

ARRRGH, locked on forks! you wanna get that sorted! be ok if they were stuck 'off' - you will definitely enjoy your riding more with correctly set-up suspension.

yeah, Gisburn is great, havent been for a while with being stuck down london all week, infact ive not been since they opened the new hub cafe, the skills loop and other bits and peices... but before i would go a lot. Hully Gully is quality, but again i hear its been 'improved' i.e. taken some of the dangers away that always added to the fun. i would go and just session the Hope line for a few hours, i worked in blackburn for a while and would just piss off there in the afternoons!

i frickin love mountain bikes, just wanna go home and get out for a blast now! its the worst thing about being down here... err, except mrs, kids etc...

Haha tell me about it, I've contacted Marzocchi and have been told I'd have to send them off and would get them back in 3-4 weeks!!

I don't have a back up bike and would probably go nuts without my bike for that long haha!

I love the hope line too, Always nearly poo myself on the last four jumps though, Can get sketchy if you've picked up enough speed through the middle section.

Clayton Vale is another I've been to a few times, Although not on par with Gisburn it can still be fun and it's fairly local, 25 mins away in the car.

I'm not the lightest person either so I usually do ride with my front and rear pretty stiff so I don't bottom out and bail, So it's not too much of an inconvenience at the moment, Do hope to get them sorted in the future, Bit skint at the mo! Might try the old pliers in there see if I can turn the switch manually, Don't want to break anything though.

My friend just got a Cube XMS 120mm XC bike which has a switch on the handlebars connected by cable to the lock off on the forks, It's really good, Might end up upgrading to that method in the end.

[General Mannerheim]

dont see the point in locking out forks, but then im not in it for the XC mileage. i dont care how long it takes me to pedal up the hill, its all about how fast i come back down. ive a lock off switch on my Lyriks, but i took it off because sometimes it would lock out on its own. also lost my pro-pedal swith off the rear shock, full on bouncy bouncy now. just get a dropper seat post, best money you can spend.

[jimbo]

What's Whinlatter like? I've never done any MTB before, sticking nicely to my road cycling but am tempted by trying it out for a bit of fun and to work on a few skills i can transfer back to the road. From Carlisle, Whinlatter is my local spot. Also, are the bikes you can rent for the day at these places any good?