What full suspension bike for £1000

[JimNotJon]

Hello there.
Looking for a new bike and taking full advantage of the bike scheme my company is running(similar to the government one). I have selected to have a £1000 to give me more choice in full suspension bikes. I do alot of hard riding and downhill trails and my poor carrera hardtail is about warn out after 9 years use and abuse. However any carrera bike is out of question as Halfords isn't part of our current scheme, so looking along the lines of specialized, giant, scott etc

Does anyone have any suggestions?

JIM

[Master Mischief]

Depending on exactly what you mean by hard downhill and whether you wish to be able to ride back up I think a Giant Trance X 5 is worth a look.

Easily available for under 1K and a really good frame that you can upgrade the bits on for many years to come.

All of the Maestro suspension Giants get good reviews and my Trance X is really good. The last review I read saw the Giant get marked down to 8/10 because the Fox Forks had a knock inside the damper and they said that the design was so technically good that it lacked character. They kind of said that it was too safe. I would call it neutral and therefore a fantastic all rounder suited to lots of different riding styles.

They also really liked the Giant own brand rear shock.

I am a firm believer that the huge R&D budgets of the big players rule supreme but many people on this forum prefer the boutique end of the market.

I hope you enjoy whatever you buy.

[jeoff82]

I have had my Giant Trance X5 for a couple of months now and I love it. Use it for fast trails in the woods mainly and it copes well enough for me. The suspension can be set up to be very hard or soft depending on what you want. Its as good climbing as it is decending.
Heres mine..

[Wildfire]

I went for a 2009 Felt Compulsion 4, reduced from £1400 to £1k.

Very impressed as for my first full bouncer. Climbs really well, with the Equi-Link suspension. Fox shock, lack adjustable Pedal Pro but give overall a good ride.

The downsides:

Not too impressed withe the Bomber 44 LO Fork.
Brakes could be better, but I'm still bedding them in, so I'll reserve judgement.

I haven't had a chance to give it a full work over yet though.

[anonymous-user]

the giant anthemn x3 gets good reviews for a £1K full sus bike. the specialised fsr isnt a bad bike either. both are xc orientated though and about 4" travel (which i find enough for most things if you adjust it properly...)

full sus bikes at that price will be quite heavy though and suffer from poor components, particulary heavy and vague forks, own brand shocks of dubious quality, heavy wheels dresed up to look roughty-toughty and a mish-mash of gearing, brakes and cranks.

if you are looking at bikes priced at £999.99 remember that they will have been built to that price so as to give the manufacturer a model in the competitive sub £1K full sus market so compromises will have been made, look carefully.

personally i would be looking for a good quality hardtail with some nice parts around the £800 though. you can spend £1K on a hardtail but its not really necessary. if a carrera h/t has been fine for 9 years doing what you do, you may find that you have developed a reasonable riding style and full sus isnt really needed?

[chrisga]

Sorry might be a bit late, but a friend is in the same predicament so I have just been searching for him. Thought i would post what I found and my opinions (feel free to shoot me down and disagree as I havent ridden any of these bikes). My friend is a really small guy who loves climbing so (most of) these are bikes that take that into account, hope it helps, copy of email below:

Giant Trance:

This has had some good write ups and the rear suspension system is supposed to be very good indeed. Has lockout on front not sure about back.

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/giant-trance-x-item...

Boardman Team:

Great spec, very nice forks and 120mm of travel.

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtbfs/fs_team.html

Specialized FSR XC:

Its red!!!! Definitely fast, slightly more than a grand @ £1150 but may be able to find last years model shopping around. Has lockout at both ends.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/fs...

Trek fuel EX5.5:

This is the previous design of fuel frame, but they have moved on in the last 2 years, the ex7 gets the new shape frame but is £1400 I think.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/fuel-ex-5...

Scott Spark 60:

This is a great XC bike at a good price. Perhaps not the greatest of finishing kit but the frame is very good and would be a great base to upgrade from should you so wish. This is aluminium but the carbon versions of these are stupid light so can't see the aluminium being too heavy either.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/spark-60...

Felt Compulsion 2:

This is a bit off target, but slightly different. A lot more travel then the others with 150mm each end and not bad finishing spec. This is an 08 bike so is a little old but because of that it was £1500 last year! Might be a bit burly for what you want and probably doesnt have lockout. Depends what you fancy doing on it really, but climbing probably isnt its strongest point!

ttp://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Felt_Compulsion_2...

Kona One20:

Kona frames are bomb proof and very very good, but at a certain price point the components generally suffer compared to other brands. This seems to be the case here.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Kona_One20_2009/...

Cube XMS 2009:

Not heard much about cube bikes but they get some good reviews. Frame and some bits of this look nice but deore all over may let it down.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...

Commencal Meta 5.5.3

If you can get one of these at the advertised price of £1099 then that is an amazing bike for the money. These get rave reviews and some claim them to be the ultimate uk trail centre bike. Good frame and spec on this one! Slightly heavy but 140mm travel all round.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/custom-mountain-bike...

[anonymous-user]

i would seek a better definition of "hard riding and downhill trails"

for general UK trails, nothing more than 4" is requred.

[JimNotJon]

Thanks Chris, very helpful, I like that Felt quite a bit. I have until middle of september to decide anyway so no rush.

[militantmandy]

Why not buy a 2K+ full susser second hand? Plenty of bikes about. http://www.extremesportstrader.co.uk/ is good. Many of these bikes are owned by genuine enthusiasts and whislt they may have been ridden plenty, they're often well specced and maintained.

[JimNotJon]

militantmandy said:

Why not buy a 2K+ full susser second hand? Plenty of bikes about. http://www.extremesportstrader.co.uk/ is good. Many of these bikes are owned by genuine enthusiasts and whislt they may have been ridden plenty, they're often well specced and maintained.

Doing cycle scheme so has to be through a shop unfortunatly

[militantmandy]

Fair play!

[ClassicMercs]

Don't forget that the £1k is the limit for financing within the scheme.

There is nothing wrong - depending on how your scheme runs - with putting extra money in yourself. Just you don't save the VAT/PAYE/NIC on the extra.

Being a Yorkshireman I would argue you don't need to spend £2k etc on a bike - my 125cc Honda was less and that has suspension and an engine !!!

But if you see something that you can get for £1200 after discounts then you may as well add another £200 into the pot - outside the financing aspect of the scheme.

[JimNotJon]

Thats what I was planning on doing. Im quite lucky in a sense as the bike shop my work has partnered up with, I know the manager and he said he can put the bike down to £1000 on reciept and pay the rest as you said.