Hardtail or Full Suspension for a newbie?
Discussion
Thanks all - I wasn't expecting much input to be honest as these sorts of queries must crop up with tedious regularity, so it's appreciated.
Having had a weekend of poring over magazines, websites, talking to mates and generally being a bit of an anorak (according to Mrs Looksfast) and of course absorbing the collective PH wisdom, I'm going to go for a hardtail. Annoyingly it's probably going to be a Whyte as well given that it is obviously very capable. I say annoyingly as that was the first suggestion...
I'm tempted by a couple of 901's on ebay at the moment and there are some 905's too, so I can spend any saving on some lessons!
Having had a weekend of poring over magazines, websites, talking to mates and generally being a bit of an anorak (according to Mrs Looksfast) and of course absorbing the collective PH wisdom, I'm going to go for a hardtail. Annoyingly it's probably going to be a Whyte as well given that it is obviously very capable. I say annoyingly as that was the first suggestion...
I'm tempted by a couple of 901's on ebay at the moment and there are some 905's too, so I can spend any saving on some lessons!
So, rather than start a new thread I thought I would seek more wisdom (or possibly affirmation of a decision already made). 
The men among you won't be surprised that I have suffered what my mate calls "mission creep" and to that end, I now have two bikes on the list and they are the Saracen Mantra Trail Carbon which is down to £1,299 and the Whyte 905 which with a mid season update has got a 1x and a dropper post (apologies if the terminology is a bit wayward) neither of which apply to the Saracen which is 2x but carbon framed. I can get the Whyte for £1,500 and both will come with £65 pedals.
Having had a thrash around Aston Hill this morning I've got the bit between my teeth and it's only the rugby that has stopped me driving to the shop today. That and the fact that I am torn between the two.
Help!
The men among you won't be surprised that I have suffered what my mate calls "mission creep" and to that end, I now have two bikes on the list and they are the Saracen Mantra Trail Carbon which is down to £1,299 and the Whyte 905 which with a mid season update has got a 1x and a dropper post (apologies if the terminology is a bit wayward) neither of which apply to the Saracen which is 2x but carbon framed. I can get the Whyte for £1,500 and both will come with £65 pedals.
Having had a thrash around Aston Hill this morning I've got the bit between my teeth and it's only the rugby that has stopped me driving to the shop today. That and the fact that I am torn between the two.
Help!
Dropper posts are imo, a "Must have" is you are going to ride all types of terrain. Sure you can do without, but your riding will suffer if you regularly ride between both downs and ups! (if you ride towpaths, or just downhill, you don't need one, but for everything else the freedom they give is extremely important) Somewhere like AH, with 45sec of down, followed by 5min of up is soo much better with a dropper btw (unless you're going to push all the way up the, er, push up which takes ages)
That having been said, with some google-foo you can find dropper posts for well under £200, even for the Reverb (which is still the best one imo) so it's not the be-all-or-end-all if the bike you buy doesn't have one as std.
I'd try to ride both bikes and see which feels nicer / fits you better.
For that sort of money, chances are the carbon framed bike has a lower component spec, but as things eventually wear out, you can obviously replace with better spec if you see fit. The single biggest limiting component is likely to be the quality of the Suspension Fork that is fitted, everything else will make less difference (except tyres, but as you ride at AH you'll want to be fitting extremely soft knobbly ones for the wet chalk / roots there.......)
That having been said, with some google-foo you can find dropper posts for well under £200, even for the Reverb (which is still the best one imo) so it's not the be-all-or-end-all if the bike you buy doesn't have one as std.
I'd try to ride both bikes and see which feels nicer / fits you better.
For that sort of money, chances are the carbon framed bike has a lower component spec, but as things eventually wear out, you can obviously replace with better spec if you see fit. The single biggest limiting component is likely to be the quality of the Suspension Fork that is fitted, everything else will make less difference (except tyres, but as you ride at AH you'll want to be fitting extremely soft knobbly ones for the wet chalk / roots there.......)
Having looked at the specs, for riding at AH, the Whyte will be a significantly better bike, being slacker with a lower BB, comes with dropper post, and having a MUCH better fork, where the (small)extra weight of the ally frame isn't such a penalty. Ultimately, you could build the Saracen into a nicer bike but it would cost you a LOT more to do it.
If you can stretch to the whyte, you'd be sorted!
If you can stretch to the whyte, you'd be sorted!
Max_Torque said:
Dropper posts are imo, a "Must have" is you are going to ride all types of terrain. Sure you can do without, but your riding will suffer if you regularly ride between both downs and ups! (if you ride towpaths, or just downhill, you don't need one, but for everything else the freedom they give is extremely important) Somewhere like AH, with 45sec of down, followed by 5min of up is soo much better with a dropper btw (unless you're going to push all the way up the, er, push up which takes ages)
That having been said, with some google-foo you can find dropper posts for well under £200, even for the Reverb (which is still the best one imo) so it's not the be-all-or-end-all if the bike you buy doesn't have one as std.
I'd try to ride both bikes and see which feels nicer / fits you better.
For that sort of money, chances are the carbon framed bike has a lower component spec, but as things eventually wear out, you can obviously replace with better spec if you see fit. The single biggest limiting component is likely to be the quality of the Suspension Fork that is fitted, everything else will make less difference (except tyres, but as you ride at AH you'll want to be fitting extremely soft knobbly ones for the wet chalk / roots there.......)
Pretty much totally agree with that! I've not tried a Reverb, though, but do really love my Thomson droppers.That having been said, with some google-foo you can find dropper posts for well under £200, even for the Reverb (which is still the best one imo) so it's not the be-all-or-end-all if the bike you buy doesn't have one as std.
I'd try to ride both bikes and see which feels nicer / fits you better.
For that sort of money, chances are the carbon framed bike has a lower component spec, but as things eventually wear out, you can obviously replace with better spec if you see fit. The single biggest limiting component is likely to be the quality of the Suspension Fork that is fitted, everything else will make less difference (except tyres, but as you ride at AH you'll want to be fitting extremely soft knobbly ones for the wet chalk / roots there.......)
looksfast said:
So, I managed to get my day sorted and now have a nice Whyte 905RS sitting in the kitchen - will get it muddy tomorrow and that's when the learning begins! Thanks for all the input.
That's a nice looking bike! 
I'm a bit bemused by the claim in the spec that it has internally routed front brakes! How do you internally route brakes through a suspension fork? 
looksfast said:
Now to decide what to do with the old Carrera... 
That's easy! Merge both bikes together to create yourself a nice Carrera RS!
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