£500 to spend on an MTB

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 ****e.
So, do I go for £500 worth of hardtail, which should be pretty high spec, or
£500 worth of full sus? The £500 is fairly flexible BTW (could stretch to
£700 or so). Does full sus break in hilariously expensive ways? 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?

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 17:51:09 +0100, Doki 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.

Doki, how do you decode your email address from the above?

I have a brand new Specialized I would like to sell, but to be very honest
it is worth more than that.
I'd like to contact you off-list.

ScumOfTheRoad wrote:
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 17:51:09 +0100, Doki 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.

Doki, how do you decode your email address from the above?

You don't . ISTR that email doesn't even work any more.

I have a brand new Specialized I would like to sell, but to be very
honest it is worth more than that.
I'd like to contact you off-list.

Bung me a mail on doki at clarachron dot co dawt uk, after getting rid of
the chron from that. Paranoid about spam? Moi?

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 18:31:00 +0100, Doki wrote:


Bung me a mail on doki at clarachron dot co dawt uk, after getting rid of
the chron from that. Paranoid about spam? Moi?

Sorry - that bounces. chlarachron ???

Doki wrote:

I mostly ride XC type stuff, and my skill level is currently pretty shi=
te.
So, do I go for =A3500 worth of hardtail, which should be pretty high s=
pec, or
=A3500 worth of full sus? The =A3500 is fairly flexible BTW (could stre=
tch to
=A3700 or so). Does full sus break in hilariously expensive ways?=20

If it breaks, it'll be expensive. So I guess that's a "yes", but OTOH=20
if you break a hardtail frame at the chainstays that won't be exactly=20
pennies, will it?

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=
=2E

Given that sort of spec and price I'd personally look at a Serious=20
Hardtail. Also has the advantage in XC that you can stick a normal rack =

on it to take the baggage.

Aside from being more of a Known Quantity you don't get stung by the=20
fact that this year's full sus really probably /is/ better at the design =

and engineering level than last, rather than just being a different colou=
r.

caveatI'm not exactly Big On MTBs/caveat

Pete.


--=20
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

ScumOfTheRoad wrote:
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 18:31:00 +0100, Doki wrote:


Bung me a mail on doki at clarachron dot co dawt uk, after getting
rid of the chron from that. Paranoid about spam? Moi?

Sorry - that bounces. chlarachron ???

Get rid of the chron bit! clara.co.uk is the domain.

Doki 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
****e. So, do I go for £500 worth of hardtail, which should be pretty
high spec, or £500 worth of full sus?

A decent Full Sus will cost around £1000 and up. Get a hardtail.

The £500 is fairly flexible BTW
(could stretch to £700 or so). Does full sus break in hilariously
expensive ways? Are there any particular suspension designs to look
out for / avoid?

Not really. Most of the designs have been tried and tested for years and
years. Buy from a good brand and you'll be fine.
But of course, as with any suspension system, if you want to keep it in good
condition it'll mean regular maintenance.

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.

I'd recommend a Specialized Rockhopper (there are various models).

What do I want to go looking for?

I'd recommend getting 2004 models, 2005 ones are just comnig out and 2004
models are being sold off cheap. Back of MTB mags have loads of adverts.

--

Burning_Ranger

To email:

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 17:51:09 +0100, Doki wrote:

I mostly ride XC type stuff, and my skill level is currently pretty ****e.
So, do I go for £500 worth of hardtail, which should be pretty high spec, or
£500 worth of full sus?

Hardtail. No question. Don't even consider FS unless you've got about
double that budget.

The £500 is fairly flexible BTW (could
stretch to £700 or so). Does full sus break in hilariously expensive
ways? Are there any particular suspension designs to look out for /
avoid? Ideally I'd like hydraulic disk brakes rather than vees.

At that price, (decent) hydraulics are out. You should be able to get some
cable discs though.

bomba wrote:
On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 17:51:09 +0100, Doki wrote:

I mostly ride XC type stuff, and my skill level is currently pretty
****e. So, do I go for £500 worth of hardtail, which should be
pretty high spec, or £500 worth of full sus?

Hardtail. No question. Don't even consider FS unless you've got about
double that budget.

I know £1k is the minimum for a FS bike *new*, but second hand prices seem
dramatically lower than new prices, often for bikes that have barely been
used, according to their adverts. I would stretch to £7-800 for the right
bike.

The £500 is fairly flexible BTW (could
stretch to £700 or so). Does full sus break in hilariously expensive
ways? Are there any particular suspension designs to look out for /
avoid? Ideally I'd like hydraulic disk brakes rather than vees.

At that price, (decent) hydraulics are out. You should be able to get
some cable discs though.

Aren't cable discs a waste of time though? Obviously, you avoid mud clogging
problems, but for the difference in price you might as well go for
hyrdaulic.

"Doki" wrote in message
...

Does full sus break in hilariously expensive ways? Are there
any particular suspension designs to look out for / avoid?

Generally speaking the fewer the number of pivots the less to wear out, so
all things being equal a single pivot should be more reliable. Marins
single pivot bearing comes eith a lifetime warranty which is honoured
(Marins true single pivot design is discontinued but the warranty still
applies to the main pivot bearing on later multi link designs).
I have seen Specialized's with cracked chainstays but again there is a good
chance of having these replaced under warranty.
Other than that the shock unit can be expensive to replace if it fails
beyond repair, but I think that's very rare (think £200 or more unless you
downgrade or spot one in a sale).
Some rear shocks are sheltered from rear wheel flung dung whereas others
are right in the firing line, whether this creates a real problem I don't
know but do know what my instincts tell me.

Whether to go hardtail or full suss? Depends on how long your rides are as
much as the intended terrain, assuming off road riding, IMO.
Hardbaked bridleways and field roads will benefit from full suss after a
couple of hours, less than that and the liveliness of a hardtail may be
preferable, conversely I've seen people riding hardtails on enduro events
over rough terrain quite happily, but I wouldn't by choice. It's down to how
masochistic you feel.
All I know is that I wouldn't go back to a hardtail.

Pete