Buying my son a circa £400 Hardtail, anything better than...

[Jayfish]

http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/bikes-c5/mountain...

Must be in small, hydraulic disks, 100mm travel fork; preferably 9 speed cassette and sub 14kg.

Sorry for another what bike but I'm not as au-fait with mountain as I am with road.

[John87]

I think this ticks all the boxes.
The colour scheme is a bit more exciting too

[Jayfish]

@Dizee we looked at the Giants, nothing in stock in the price/spec/size atm

@John87 Looks good, can't see what the extra £30 gets me at first glance though, will consider.

thx

[John87]

The extra £30 will probably be in the groupset. SRAM X5 is roughly equivalent to Shimano Deore which is a coupe of levels above Shimano Acera. Also the tyres seem to be very cheap on the Scott whereas the Rockrider has Kenda Nevegals which are pretty decent. Saves some money on a likely early upgrade.

[Gizmoish]

John87 said:

I think this ticks all the boxes.
The colour scheme is a bit more exciting too

Rode one of those around the shop the other day. Nice feeling bike actually, as much as you can tell doing stoppies in the hiking shoes aisle and avoiding small children.

[Birdster]

Can I ask a MTB question whilst we have some people in the know? As I'm.looking to spend the same amount, but for an adult.

Is the Rockrider 8.1 worth the money over the 8.0? Best thing I could see was the remote lockout of the front fork?

Thanks. I even considered the 5.3, but that seems to get overlooked by the 8.1 everytime I do a Google search.

[Jayfish]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[DoubleU]

Birdster said:

Can I ask a MTB question whilst we have some people in the know? As I'm.looking to spend the same amount, but for an adult.

Is the Rockrider 8.1 worth the money over the 8.0? Best thing I could see was the remote lockout of the front fork?

Thanks. I even considered the 5.3, but that seems to get overlooked by the 8.1 everytime I do a Google search.

Yes its worth the extra. You get a better fork, better brakes, better chainset and BB. Also with the 8.1 you get Shimano SPD's as standard as well.

I have a 8.1, had it for a couple of months now. Its a great bike for the money, you wont find much else better. I give it an absolute battering at the trial centres. Personal preference, I've fitted better tyres, Nukeproof pedals (flats) and will be fitting a shorter stem and wider bars. The saddle isn't great but I've got used to it.

Now however I want a second bike for the DH stuff

[Gizmoish]

DoubleU said:

Birdster said:

Can I ask a MTB question whilst we have some people in the know? As I'm.looking to spend the same amount, but for an adult.

Is the Rockrider 8.1 worth the money over the 8.0? Best thing I could see was the remote lockout of the front fork?

Thanks. I even considered the 5.3, but that seems to get overlooked by the 8.1 everytime I do a Google search.

Yes its worth the extra. You get a better fork, better brakes, better chainset and BB. Also with the 8.1 you get Shimano SPD's as standard as well.

I have a 8.1, had it for a couple of months now. Its a great bike for the money, you wont find much else better. I give it an absolute battering at the trial centres. Personal preference, I've fitted better tyres, Nukeproof pedals (flats) and will be fitting a shorter stem and wider bars. The saddle isn't great but I've got used to it.

Now however I want a second bike for the DH stuff

Agreed - not just a lockout fork but it's an air fork on the 8.1, plus all the other stuff. Really good spec, and since the Voodoo Hoodoo stopped having an air fork I'm not sure there's anything under the £700 Boardman to touch it.

[pastrana72]

I needed to buy my son his first proper mountain bike lash year and I had the same problem finding a decent one in small enough frame with decent specs.

Looked at the giant as they did a XS frame that fitted him. In the end bought him a Marin for 400 gbp down from 650, even at that price point it came with 8 speed and mechanical disc's. the frame and forks are decent enough and he has been flying around the trails with me very happy.

The brakes are fine but can upgrade easily to hydraulic when I need to and when his drive train is worn I can upgrade that to a higher spec too.

As long as the frame is decent you can upgrade as your lad wears things out. That's what I do anyway.

Good luck in your search.

[Birdster]

Gizmoish said:

DoubleU said:

Birdster said:

Can I ask a MTB question whilst we have some people in the know? As I'm.looking to spend the same amount, but for an adult.

Is the Rockrider 8.1 worth the money over the 8.0? Best thing I could see was the remote lockout of the front fork?

Thanks. I even considered the 5.3, but that seems to get overlooked by the 8.1 everytime I do a Google search.

Yes its worth the extra. You get a better fork, better brakes, better chainset and BB. Also with the 8.1 you get Shimano SPD's as standard as well.

I have a 8.1, had it for a couple of months now. Its a great bike for the money, you wont find much else better. I give it an absolute battering at the trial centres. Personal preference, I've fitted better tyres, Nukeproof pedals (flats) and will be fitting a shorter stem and wider bars. The saddle isn't great but I've got used to it.

Now however I want a second bike for the DH stuff

Agreed - not just a lockout fork but it's an air fork on the 8.1, plus all the other stuff. Really good spec, and since the Voodoo Hoodoo stopped having an air fork I'm not sure there's anything under the £700 Boardman to touch it.

Thanks both. Looks like a purchase will be made shortly. I'm sure it'll be more fun on that. My arms were taking a battering the other day on my non suspension bike.

What's BB? Bottom bracket?

[ecsrobin]

Birdster said:

What's BB? Bottom bracket?

Correct

[Birdster]

Cheers. I had to have a think about it for a second.

[8potdave]

I bought this: http://paulscycles.co.uk/m1b65s2p3694/CANNONDALE-T...

Can't fault it really other than the crank has gone a little creaky after some extreme weather conditions Built really well and everything works perfectly. Done around 400 miles on it now without any issues.