Best full suspension mountain bike for less that 1200?
Discussion
I've only got an old Specialised Rockhopper hard tail and now want to upgrade to a full suspension mountain bike. Looking to spend around 1200 quid.
I've rode a Specialized full suspension in Mallorca and liked it but then I rode a Cube full suspension in Switzerland downhill trails and it was simply amazing.
Therefore my mind is pointing to Cube bikes and see 2 for sale on Chain Reaction for 1099 each (in sale), the AMS PRO 110 and AMS 29.
We lived in Switzerland for over 5 years so we did lots of biking and now living back in Cardiff there are plenty of good trails around. So anyone have any tips or links to websites as to what I should be looking for in purchases?
Cheers
I've rode a Specialized full suspension in Mallorca and liked it but then I rode a Cube full suspension in Switzerland downhill trails and it was simply amazing.
Therefore my mind is pointing to Cube bikes and see 2 for sale on Chain Reaction for 1099 each (in sale), the AMS PRO 110 and AMS 29.
We lived in Switzerland for over 5 years so we did lots of biking and now living back in Cardiff there are plenty of good trails around. So anyone have any tips or links to websites as to what I should be looking for in purchases?
Cheers
That sort of money I'd be verging towards second-hand, a Zesty / Stumpjumper or even something bigger like a 6" AM bike - living in Cardiff (as I do) you've got arguably the best riding in the UK a short drive East, West or North from you, plus some great natural / homebrew stuff in North Cardiff where you can actually use a big trail bike to it's potential.
Fair enough, yes Cube are German.
I'd say 6" of travel is a lot for Afan etc, unless you intend to become a regular at Bike Park Wales I'd go for something with a little less travel that is more XC orientated, a lot of "all mountain" bikes seem to be to more bias towards the down bits and are a lot of work on the uppy bits!....
The AMS 1100 is a good all round bike with a really nice front fork. You could do a lot worse for that sort of price.
I'd say 6" of travel is a lot for Afan etc, unless you intend to become a regular at Bike Park Wales I'd go for something with a little less travel that is more XC orientated, a lot of "all mountain" bikes seem to be to more bias towards the down bits and are a lot of work on the uppy bits!....
The AMS 1100 is a good all round bike with a really nice front fork. You could do a lot worse for that sort of price.
pablo said:
Fair enough, yes Cube are German.
I'd say 6" of travel is a lot for Afan etc, unless you intend to become a regular at Bike Park Wales I'd go for something with a little less travel that is more XC orientated, a lot of "all mountain" bikes seem to be to more bias towards the down bits and are a lot of work on the uppy bits!....
The AMS 1100 is a good all round bike with a really nice front fork. You could do a lot worse for that sort of price.
Agree - you'll get bored in Afan with that much travel IMO - you can just ride over things without actually improving as a rider!I'd say 6" of travel is a lot for Afan etc, unless you intend to become a regular at Bike Park Wales I'd go for something with a little less travel that is more XC orientated, a lot of "all mountain" bikes seem to be to more bias towards the down bits and are a lot of work on the uppy bits!....
The AMS 1100 is a good all round bike with a really nice front fork. You could do a lot worse for that sort of price.
My personal opinion from somebody who has ridden and continues to ride the trail centres of South Wales, is that a full suss bike of around 120 mm of travel is about right. If you go for something around 110mm it will be a more xc orientated bike which you will find a little skittish on some of the trails. They will do it, no question, but they are designed to go fast across country, so the fork / head angle is a little steeper and the top tube a bit longer to get you peddling, if you go for a 120-130 travel bike, then they tend to be set up with a slightly slacker head angle so when going downhill, you'll feel more in control as the bike will cope with the bumps, compression and small drop that are there. Something like a trek fuel ex or a cannondale trigger. But they might be out of you price bracket. A friend of mine bought a boardman comp full sus, I think he paid about £1k for it. I was impressed with it a a first up full suss. Rode well and coped with Afan and cwm carn well. I will agree that once you get over 140 mm travel the bikes become far to cumbersome for the trail centres, except bike park wales which has trails to suit them, they are far more sapping to ride up hills.
I hope that helps.
I hope that helps.
My advice would be to consider one of these:
https://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html...
I couldn't be happier with my Canyon Nerve.
https://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html...
I couldn't be happier with my Canyon Nerve.
RGambo said:
My personal opinion from somebody who has ridden and continues to ride the trail centres of South Wales, is that a full suss bike of around 120 mm of travel is about right.
You don't really need suspension at all though, it really depends on how you ride. I'm yet to ride a trail centre (Specific DH / Freeride excluded) that hasn't been perfectly manageable on an old school steel XC bike with 100mm fork, have been to Afan, CYB & Swinley DH trails in the last year on an On One Inbred for example and at no point did I wish for rear suspension. Afan one of our group rode on a full rigid with cruiser bars without issue. Suspension, can't say i'm a convert for essentially XC which is all regular trail centres like Afan, Cwmcarn (DH excluded) or Coed-y-brenin are, the suspension will make the technical stuff easier but is easier what you really want or a bit of a challenge? Also suspension always has a weight & efficiency penalty, if you have skill but lack fitness a hard tail will be much better fun as won't shag you on the climbs, if you are a fit type with zero skill then get all the suspension you can to soak up your errors, but again I wouldn't go too far, it was only a bit over a decade ago that the biggest travel DH forks only had 151mm travel. The sort travel just to take the edge off / give comfort XC bikes maybe the most appropriate sort of suspension bikes if getting big air isn't your thing.
I'd certainly try to ride a variety of stuff with different travel on the sort of stuff you ride and then try a hardtail
.Swiss DH trails are certainly not Afan
Full suspension for places with uplifts or steep & epic roots & drops
My trio, two hard tails one for more messing about with jumps etc than the other then the full sus FR bike for DH courses. The 456Ti is the most recent addition, when buying that I toy'd with the idea of a non DH more XC suspension bike then dismissed it as a silly idea.
Thanks for the replies, I am going to take a lookie at Tredz shop in Cardiff on the weekend as they have some deals on Giant bikes, plus they stock Cube too (although Bike Radar doesn't seem to rate the Cubes I was looking too highly).
BikeParkWales and Afan look really good. Not quite up to mental downhill tracks just yet, so by the looks of it don't need crazy front travel.
I accidentally stumbled onto a downhill track when biking at Savognin in Switzerland and that was plenty terrifying enough for me. Great place to go if you guys are ever that way, they do good deals in the summer and the cable car to the top is brilliant, serious altitude.
BikeParkWales and Afan look really good. Not quite up to mental downhill tracks just yet, so by the looks of it don't need crazy front travel.
I accidentally stumbled onto a downhill track when biking at Savognin in Switzerland and that was plenty terrifying enough for me. Great place to go if you guys are ever that way, they do good deals in the summer and the cable car to the top is brilliant, serious altitude.
I purchased a giant anthem x 29er in the summer from pedalon although I was fortunate enough to live reasonably local to go down try all the bikes make a decision and then a week later pop back and purchase what I wanted.
I thought I had a good deal but it's come down in price to within your budget. Albeit pedals are extra. They had a good deal on shimano XT pedals when I got it.
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant_anthem_x_2...
I thought I had a good deal but it's come down in price to within your budget. Albeit pedals are extra. They had a good deal on shimano XT pedals when I got it.
http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant_anthem_x_2...
I have an Anthem X and it's great at what it does, ie short travel xc blaster. It's light and you'll get no bob from the Maestro suspension, so is a great climber. I Chose 26er for value, weight and to ensure fast steering and tight handling on singletrack. I'll also be more than happy riding the south downs way in a day on this.
You won't get a top notch groupset these days in budget, but it's all upgradeable, the fork and shock are good and the std wheelset is actually alright and easy to go tubeless if that's your thing.
Giant's Trance X is similarly equipped and priced but a bit more aggressive, bit more travel, bit heavier, good choice for rougher stuff.
You won't get a top notch groupset these days in budget, but it's all upgradeable, the fork and shock are good and the std wheelset is actually alright and easy to go tubeless if that's your thing.
Giant's Trance X is similarly equipped and priced but a bit more aggressive, bit more travel, bit heavier, good choice for rougher stuff.
Can you stretch another £99?
This seems a bloody bargain to me:
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s1p5186/CANNONDAL...
This seems a bloody bargain to me:
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s1p5186/CANNONDAL...
Thanks to everyones posts.
I had a visit to Tredz on the weekend and they showed me a Giant Anthem X3 but this had the 27.5 inch wheels which too be honest I'm not sold on those new wheel sizes. They also had the 29er's from Cube and Giant and again not sure, so am sticking with traditional 26incher.
I've narrowed it down to these choices:-
Giant Anthem X 2
Cannondale Jekyll 4
Trek Fuel EX 6
I had a visit to Tredz on the weekend and they showed me a Giant Anthem X3 but this had the 27.5 inch wheels which too be honest I'm not sold on those new wheel sizes. They also had the 29er's from Cube and Giant and again not sure, so am sticking with traditional 26incher.
I've narrowed it down to these choices:-
Giant Anthem X 2
Cannondale Jekyll 4
Trek Fuel EX 6
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