Entry Level Full Suspension MTB

[RAClNG SNAKE]

Evans have reduced the Trek Fuel EX6 to £1150, are there any real drawbacks in the spec?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/fuel-ex6-...

[subsea99]

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sunn-charger-s1...

Good buy only in a small though sunn bikes quite big in Europe not really made it big in uk and good kit on it


I had the ex8 as a loan bike last year and was a cracking bike

[Silvs]

Canyon Nerve AL 6.0
Giant Stance
Kona Precept

All fairly well spec'd entry level stuff.

[sjg]

Looks OK to me. Pretty sure they're the model that was used for the Coed Y Brenin hire fleet - a couple of mates hired when we went and liked them a lot.

Spec isn't spectacular but decent reliable stuff - Sektors, Deore, Bontrager finishing kit. Avid brakes are fine these days too.

[deadtom]

looks like a pretty good bike for the money, though I must disagree that avid are good these days. THey are good while they work, but when they go wrong just bin them and get some shimano

[RAClNG SNAKE]

Kona Precept is another on my short list, I am 6ft so whatever I get has to have a large frame. I had a test ride of a Canyon this weekend, nicely balanced and a solid feel to the frame and forks.

[subsea99]

Great value for money and cracking bikes the Canyons you wont go far wrong with one of those :-)

[snowdude2910]

My brother has just got the sunn in a medium and it seems spot on although his medium is as tall as my large cube with the cranks even so maybe they come a little big I don't understand why no internal routing for the dropper post though looks messy. I don't know a lot about them but my mates have bought cheaper cannondales one of them seems to run on chains and the other has had both derailiurs replaced and he's now upgraded to xt from the original slx so when buying mine I set xt as a minimum as it's probably cheaper in the long run he could have just had bad luck though or a st shop set it up but I figure if in doubt spend more money :-)

[RAClNG SNAKE]

Hmm...cheap but a good base for upgrading a few components

http://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_...

[subsea99]

Cant fault lapierre had 2 zestys for years cracking bikes...those forks need changing though ...shockingly bad

[Woody]

The forks on the Lappy are rubbish.
If you're limiting the cost to around £1k the Boardman Team FS and Giant Stance would be on my list.

[AndyWoodall]

Meant to reply to this ages ago but forgot. Were you considering the Precept or the Precept DL?

I've ordered a DL but had a good look at the standard Precept. Its got some obvious spec compromises (so does the DL, hence why the only thing I've really left standard is the frame!) but apparently its good fun.

[RAClNG SNAKE]

subsea99 said:

Cant fault lapierre had 2 zestys for years cracking bikes...those forks need changing though ...shockingly bad

What would you recommend replacing the forks with?

I have looked at the Boardman range but wondered whether something targeting Halfords customers was really up to the job.

Edited by RAClNG SNAKE on Tuesday 14th April 19:20

[subsea99]

Both my zestys had 140mm forks the first was the 214 with rockshox recon 335's with 9mm dropouts and my last was fox float fit 15mm axle.

Your gonna need a 9mm front dropout otherwise you will have to change the front wheel,I would be looking on ebay for a good 2nd hand one I upgraded an rst fork on a ghost hard tail I had with rockshox reba rl.

Demands how much you want to spend ?

[subsea99]

Also as woody says I would look at the boardman fs or the giant my mate has the first and loves it and you don't get much better bang for you buck and if you get a British cycling membership you will get another 10% off even if used with another discounts

[subsea99]

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1731238/

Have a look on pinkbike,bike radar and ebay you will get a lot more for your money 2nd hand and will save you money upgrading.

Lots of folk wanting to offload their bikes ready to buy new ones for the season kicking off and a cheeky offer might get you a cracking deal.

I just sold my zesty 714 2010 model for £1200 as I had a new build ready to go and needed to free up the cash.

[ecsrobin]

Entry level FS is probably around the £1,700+ mark if you want to spend less go secondhand or hardtail.

[DeuxCentCinq]

ecsrobin said:

Entry level FS is probably around the £1,700+ mark if you want to spend less go secondhand or hardtail.

I've been very impressed with my mate's Boardman for £999.

[Herman Toothrot]

£1700 is way beyond entry level. You can get a lovely Commencal Meta AM starting at £1599 direct sales, £1700 puts you mid range. I'm umming and arring as to pulling the trigger on the base model or £1700 version. Unless you are racing it's more than enough bike for any amateur. Then I suppose this is pistonheads where you need an AMG Merc or M BMW to drive through town to the shops.

[ecsrobin]

Herman Toothrot said:

£1700 is way beyond entry level. You can get a lovely Commencal Meta AM starting at £1599 direct sales, £1700 puts you mid range. I'm umming and arring as to pulling the trigger on the base model or £1700 version. Unless you are racing it's more than enough bike for any amateur. Then I suppose this is pistonheads where you need an AMG Merc or M BMW to drive through town to the shops.

Just taken a look at that commencal that's a lot of kit for a great price. Ok I'll drop to £1,400+