opinions please on bike and price

[andymc]

Hi all,
im looking at taking cycling up again, I have the chance of a trek 6500 (2010) for £300, this is the ad:

I am selling this 2010 Trek 6500 bike i bought it last year i have not used it since i bought it i guess its one bike too many.The bike is in good condition there are a few marks to the paintwork from use but its tidy looking.
The forks seem nice and plush after bought it i degreased it and cleaned it up and re lubed it since then its sat on a bike rack collecting dust.
Avid Juicy 3 brakes
Rock Shox Recon Fork
Deore Shifters
SLX Cranks
Deore front derailleur
XT rear derailleur



would appreciate anyone's input on the bike, it will be used for mainly hard trails and a commute

thanks

andy

[richardxjr]

Sounds good. I paid £275 for a very similarly equipped 2008 Giant XTC 2.5, albeit with upgraded wheels.

[andymc]

would you be tempted more towards a hybrid?

[syko89]

That seems a good price!
I got a 2009 trek 6500 last year as a starter bike to see if i will get into MTB'ing.
Lovely bike for the price (I paid £380). The frame is solid, wheels have held up pretty well. Forks are budget but i have managed with them so far and not had any problems.
Deore brakes i have been very impressed with too!
One thing that isn't so great is mud clearance between the back tyre and frame, i wouldn't go any wider than 2.25" tyres on the back.

I have bought some slicks (Schwalbe Kojaks) for my commute to work, and i will be buying another set of wheels for my MTB tyres.

As a starter bike i would say it is perfect, i have bought a shorter stem and getting some wider bars to suit me better but other than that i have just ridden it until bits have broken and replaced

[Justin Cyder]

I'm running a Boardman comp neither steam nor sail hybrid thing and a Rockhopper sl MTB.

Think carefully what you want to do with your bike as they are chalk & cheese riding experiences. A hardtail MTB will feel like a magic carpet compared to a skinny tyred non suspension hybrid. It'll be a fair bit slower through the gearing & the fat knobbly tyres too & probably a bit heavier depending on what you're comparing with.

Really the more versatile bike will be the MTB. You can commute on one & hit the woods, but a hybrid really is designed for speedy-ish roadwork & will struggle once you get off tarmac.

[rhinochopig]

It's clearly stolen. No cyclist would ever write "i guess its one bike too many"

[anonymous-user]

"The forks seem nice and plush"

...and Jimmy Saville seemed like a nice bloke, comments like that scream stolen bike to me.

[richardxjr]

How long's the commute by the way?

[andymc]

15 miles, three times a week, one way

[richardxjr]

You want need 2 bikes then imo.

[andymc]

can you elaborate, I have ballpark £500 for a bike? I have been on pinkbike.com but i come from an age where the GT Zaskar was king

[syko89]

I think you would be fine with the hardtail for both commute and trails.

I commute 9 miles to work and the same back again, takes roughly 30 mins with the road tyres (took 5 mins more with knobblies).

I'm hoping to do the full route from my house soon (16 miles each way), although another bike would be ideal i can't afford one right now so hardtail will do.

[andymc]

syko89 said:

I think you would be fine with the hardtail for both commute and trails.

I commute 9 miles to work and the same back again, takes roughly 30 mins with the road tyres (took 5 mins more with knobblies).

I'm hoping to do the full route from my house soon (16 miles each way), although another bike would be ideal i can't afford one right now so hardtail will do.

so what bike do you use?

[richardxjr]

I wouldn't like to commute 15 road miles 3 times a week on a hardtail personally. I'd spend £250 each on a secondand hardtail and road bike. In fact that's what I did. 6hrs on each per week at the mo, they suit me fine, even off to the alps soon

One or two upgrades along the way, but they don't really count

[syko89]

andymc said:

so what bike do you use?

The trek 6500 pictured above. For £500 you could get the trek for trails and get a cheap singlespeed.

Or get another set of wheels and road slicks to make it that bit easier and swap over at the weekend?

[andymc]

richardxjr said:

I wouldn't like to commute 15 road miles 3 times a week on a hardtail personally. I'd spend £250 each on a secondand hardtail and road bike. In fact that's what I did. 6hrs on each per week at the mo, they suit me fine, even off to the alps soon

One or two upgrades along the way, but they don't really count

would some form of rear suspension help the commute or would it hinder?
andy

[richardxjr]

Hinder. Massively. And rubbish on any cheaper bike.



Here's the bike I bought for the other half of your budget.

Forget the '& Trail' bit; it's a flat bar road bike - Defy frame, 700c wheels and road gearing.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Giant-Rapid-4-Town-And-T...


Of course, clothes, shorts, shoes, helmet, pedals and some upgrades = your budget again++

[andymc]

hells bells, i dont have this trouble with cars

[syko89]

Suspension will soak up the bumps but slow you down a fair bit, the forks on a hardtail should have a lockout to prevent this.

[andymc]

im looking on pinkbike.com but the variety is hard work