Mountain bike buying advice.

[Maffu]

Won't be able to try a Merlin. Ordering over the 'net, and their shop is miles away.

Should be popping into town to a few Evans Cycles shops to try the '04 Specialized.

I know I shouldn't, but I prefer the Spec because of the looks. Looks yum.

:z

[shiato storm]

the specy frames have changed in recent years, from a clean cut front end to a rather chunkier appearence.
for example my 2002 stumpjumper has a straight down tube but this year's bends as it comes up to the stem. this slight alteration, shrouded in 'the strongest frame we've ever made' gaff, has not improved the ride or handling by any stretch of the imagination. infact it feels heavier and 'dull'. I like mine cause it's v.v.v.responsive yet utterly solid.

at evans try kona and treks. Kona are fantastic - I had one [before it got nicked] and it was great. i'd suggest the cinder cone or cauldera (mate has a cauldera and its great). Konas are light and very surdy machines, with all the decent kit you'd expect but at significant;y lower price. CHECK THE EVANS SALES - there's lots on sale at the mo' - even cannondales [if you're feeling flush!]

[Apex]

this has set me off on getting my bike sorted now......

[Maffu]

Visiting friends in sarf london this weekend, so will pop into the Holburn branch en route. I love the 2005 Kona Hoss, but that's not within my current budget. I say current,. it's changed about 50 times.

Friends zona got delivered, and the frame is too big. He's selling the frame. No Merlin for me. :\

The search continues...

[Apex]

my buget is 599

[Maffu]

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=4233

You're welcome.

[Apex]

Cheers shame theres no 16" frame

Looking threw a few at the mo. I like the look of the Kona and CB stuff.

The fact that i got a kona dealer near by does help me some what

btw i not got a clue what half the stuff means

[shiato storm]

what like? parts and specifications? ok here's a brief run through going in the order i check out a bike

gears: very basically shimano make the gears and things to do with them (there is sram stuff but shimy is most common on stock bikes). it goes XTR [best], XT, LX, Deore. there's also Alivio and Altus but they're not going to be on a £600 bike, at least they shouldn't be. so deore or LX is good, XT is great for the money.
if you go for the other make its a simple numbers game - 9.0, 8.0, 7.0 and 5.0 (if i remember rightly)
for the cogs etc. shimano will be on the back but not always on the front. specialized, canondale and trek use their own makes (specialized, coda and bontranger respectively), also around are truvative which are pretty good. all are about equal to deore or LX when compared to shimano.

this also applies to wheel hubs, shimano make then but so do bike companies. My specialized uses their own - which is fine - but it's axel diameter is different to anything else out on the market which means in case of accident whole wheel need rebuild or replacing, I don't think you'd be able to re-use the hub unless you asked especially nicely either (I could be wrong but its something to do with the number of holes in the wheel rim...)


forks; a good set of forks dramatically alter the way your bike rides, from ultra fantastic to ultra pants. personal prefrence mostly determines what make you shoot for, then money. Marzocchi do very good lower end forks around £150. then its a toss up for most makes up to around £400 where differences occur in the job you want them to do; do you want lots of travel for a jumping fork? get a marzocchi bomber as they're the best in terms of strength but they're not as smooth. Manitou and rock shox hold the xc/free-ride market as well as a few top end products (not less than £500!). Dont touch the low end rock shox stuff - its very poor compared to what else is around for perhaps even less, juddery sliding, little/no dampening i.e. steer clear of pilot, jett, judy tt...no, at the price they ask go with marzocchis.
and then there's fox who do two types, a sprung fork and an air fork (lots of forks now use compressed air since its easier to adjust than a steel spring and its way lighter). Fox floats (air forks) are arguably the best out on the market at the moment but at a hefty price tag you'd hope so too!

in terms of wheels Mavic are a safe bet - french company i believe - you may get another out there but at £600 mavics are more than likely. a set of 117s or something..? I'm not entirely clued up on how they're numbered but basically there are two types of rims available: light and strong XC (cross country) and a much tougher downhill/free-ride type. each type comes in disk or rim brake incarnations...

tyres - difficult one to say whats best as it depends on the weather or what you ride on. if its dry you'll want a less aggressive tread, muddy = deep treads not too close together, loose terrain = midsized grip but wide, unsure = good all round tread...its all up to how/where you ride. typically widths go from 1.75inches to 2.2, or 2.3.
makes to go for are Michelin, Panaracer, Schwanbe, Maxxis. a few good others like Specialized enduros crop up now and again to surprise the out and out tyre makers.

seat - get one you're comfortable on. i can recommend specialized's body geometry telluride ones...nice and cushy but minimalist too.
bars - if you can, get riser bars as they improve steering and the ability to pull the front of the bike up over obstacles.
pedals - if your bike of choice comes with 'clipless' pedals and you have no idea what they are, get them changed. if not be prepared to fall off a lot and fork out more for some shoes to go with them. your local bike shop should be able to swap them for a decent pair of platforms at no extra charge. DMR v8's are brilliant and I can highly recommend them.

and then, since the daylight is disappearing so fast again this time of year [sad huh? hardly had a summer at all], get some good lights. Cateye's are probably your best bet. go for LED ones rather than bulbs as they last longer.

anything else?

[shiato storm]

edit: forgot to menton brakes.
two main types, V-brakes (mechanical cable operated) and disk brakes (which may be mechanical or hyraulic - with oil).
v's will always be lighter, and stop you by rubbing on the rims. disk brakes, surprisingly, stop you with disks!.
shimano do good v's and disks, but their v's tend to squeal loads. magura do hydraulic rim brakes which are very powerful. avid do best v's in my opinion, they also do decent mechanical brakes. Hope rule the hyraulic disk market i guess, but there's also Hayes, magura and shimano fighting it out. avid also have one but its very pricey.

mechanical disk brakes are never going to be as powerful as hyraulics, and given the weight increase over v's they are (in my opinion) not at all worth it. so its hydraulic or v-brakes...

disk brakes also require a special hb on each wheel for the disk to attach - hence extra weight, amd cost too.

[Apex]

Cheers, thats cleared some of confusion i had

The bikes i been looking at Hydrolic Disk ones am just worried about looking after them ?

Would you say the bike Maffu pointed out would be a good buy ?

or what what about the CB's

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=4607

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=4606

[shiato storm]

right, well, the second (cape wrath) has a judy tt which would shake you to death.
the first (olympus) appears good but not all details are there...

just checking through the others at evans...I can recommend a Rockhopper, good solid bikes - my bro's is over 10yrs old and going strong.
have you tried Cycle surgery (http://www.cyclesurgery.com/), also in london. there's also Bonthrone (http://www.bonthronebikes.com/) who often have lots marked down quite well.

[shiato storm]

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/ProductD...5-cb0039518922
found that at cycle surgery.
or at evans:
http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=4083

good bike, not too pricey leaves space for masses of upgrades in the future if you wish...the Rockhopper 'Pro' version has a few upgrades here and there over the non-pro one and is available at evans £100 less than cycle surgery...
i wouldn't get a GT - not as good as they used to be. claud butler are ok, might geta good set up occasionally but being a small company fighting with the bigger ones I suspect some corners may be cut in terms of unbranded bits here and there. ok they might be ok but then they might just get you home before crumbling under you. not good.

[shiato storm]

alternatively check out a bike you like - test out loads, then go and order one over the net, that way you'll likely get it cheaper. but be aware of things like guarentees etc. hence why actually buying a bike at a shop is almost always far better, unless you know tons and have loads of kit to fix it if it goes wrong.

[Dorza]

The bikes i been looking at Hydrolic Disk ones am just worried about looking after them ?

There isnt that much you need to do to look after hydraulic disks when their working perfectly. Their easier to maintain than conventional breaks I've found. Thats all there is to do is to clean the actuall disk and pads every now and then (couple of months) with meths, or Isopropanol. Dont use petrol since this sinks into the pads and they'll get soft. you'll be amazed at the gunk that comes off the disks . Other than that there isnt much you can do really. If your breaks seem to get spongy you've most probably got an air bubble in the tubs in which case. Tape the break leaver to the handle bar grib, to keep it in its breaking position then leave it over night. Hopefully the bubble will rise to the top of the tube and escape.

After all this, when things go wrong they can be a right pain. leaking fluid is a potential nightmere since you will need to bleed the breaks if you loose too much fluid (bleeding is the name given to replacing the oil in the breaking system on hydraulic breaks). Although providing the integrity of all the fixings and washers are ok you shouldnt really get a leak. And if the fluid gets near paintwork it will disolve the paint. By the way they take whats called DOT3 or 4 break fluid. U cant just put any old oil in there.

Changeing the break pads could be a tricky process aswell since your working in between a gap which is about 3-4mm wide. Providing the rules of managing and handling the breaks in the manual are respected there shouldnt be that many problems especialy if their good quality breaks like Hope, Hayes magura or shimano, the real top dogs are the first two tho.

They work in pretty much the same way as car breaks do.

[shiato storm]

so in conclusion if you're not too sure about hydraulic discs which can be great and equally a pain in the arse, stick with v-brakes. I have some very nifty pads that take replacement inserts so I don't need to dismantle the entire set up and re-adjust again once new set are in. its a simple remove old - put in new - pedal away...
Avid do some = rim wrangler
so do 'coolstop' (or koolstop, i forget), so do clarkson and various others. i think replacable inserts are fine. unless you're set on disks.

[Apex]

Things use to be so much simpler