Mountain/trail bike wanted. advice needed.

[Getragdogleg]

I am building a Chevy Astro into a camper that wifey and I intend to take around Europe in the autumn, we have decided that its a good idea to get a couple of bikes to go off on once the van is parked.
I also intend to start to ride to work now the weather is better, Wife has obtained a good bike from her parents and we picked it up yesterday so it just leaves me.

I have no intention of buying something that is cheap and nasty from a chain store, i want lightness and removable wheels for ease of transportation, a decent pair of disc brakes would be nice and suspension also a bonus.

I am quite fit, 6ft and skinny and want to go fast not just mooch along.

Anyone got any recommendations ? I am watching a scott on ebay and that is the sort of thng I am after.

[Sarkmeister]

Have you got a link to the Scott so we can see the kind of thing you are looking for?

Also, if you are just going to mooch along, why do you need suspension and disc brakes?

[Gooby]

Budget?

Edited by Gooby on Monday 19th April 14:46

[Getragdogleg]

Sarkmeister said:

Have you got a link to the Scott so we can see the kind of thing you are looking for?

Also, if you are just going to mooch along, why do you need suspension and disc brakes?

Getragdogleg said:

and want to go fast not just mooch along.

I DO want to go fast !

Budget, Not sure, not pocket money but not a grand !

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Edited by Getragdogleg on Monday 19th April 19:47

[RRS_Staffs]

Tough call

That Scott may be unmolested but Im guessing its a fair few years old

80mm is very modest travel for a fork
I think entry level these days is approx 100mm

If you are planning on caning it there is a huge difference between 80mm and 120mm or so
I can vouch for the above with recent experience

Also brakes and gears etc have moved on too
Hydraulic brakes from that kind of vintage (Im guessing the bike is 8 years old approx) arent a patch on current ones

My advice would be to look at the spec of a decent Boardman without being snobby about Halfrauds and take it from there when scanning ebay
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

Also Id have a huge index of suspicion when buying from online auctions
You may be better off checking out some cycling forums

A modest S/H On One will probably hit the spot, like this for example:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-mu...

[Roman]

Scott Scale is a good choice if you want a fast light XC focussed hardtail. As a general rule keep an eye out for Rockshox Reba or Fox RL/RLC forks when scouring hartails on ebay - they are generally fitted to higher quality light, fast XC focussed bikes.

Alternatively, if you order now you can get 20% off a Carrera Fury or GT Aggressor from Halfords - both good and similar quality to the Scott in the link for around £400 new & a Carrera Kraken ladies 18" for your Girlfriend for £280 which is great value. The Decathlon Rockrider 8.1 and Commencal Combi are also reasonably light XC orientated bikes.

P.S. That's not an Irmscher Manta you have is it?

Edited by Roman on Monday 19th April 20:20

[Getragdogleg]

Thanks for the advice, I used to have a big interest in mountain bikes about 20 years ago and was not spending money on cars and wife and houses. Muddy fox and early Marins were my thing. All I have left on the bike front now is my old oval frame Raleigh "Black" Burner !

The thing I have found is that the tech has moved on at an astounding rate and i have no idea now what i am looking at.

The Scott in the link is a start point for my investigations, it looks good to me, its got stuyff onit i would have never imagined possible when i was into bikes and it fits the bill budget wise, i almost certainly will not even bid, Its a referance point for this discussion so others can see what i am looking for.

Suspension wise i am not fussed about rear, I will ride it hard-ish but I am not going to get too far too fast if wifey is with me anyway, plus I am not as mad as i used to be so realy evil trails are not likely either.

Disc brakes, I obviously fancy these as a good method of reliably stopping, never had a bike with them never thought of them until the issue of "lets get bikes" came up over the weekend.

Halfords, hmmm, I have a couple of independants i will visit first, i am not a chain store sort of person really.

I dont mind second hand but tidy, I can rebuild and used to build my own bikes years ago when i knew my way around them !

Is anyone here selling anything nice ?

Roman said:

P.S. That's not an Irmscher Manta you have is it?

Well, sort of. It started as a GTE but i put a V8 in it and a whole load of other stuff like air-ride suspension, the kit was fitted by the guy I bought the car off who Is a good friend of mine.

I have 3 other old opels, A 1980 Ascona B, A 1972 Manta A with a 2.4 frontera engine in it hooked up to a dog leg BMW box and a 1986 GTE coupe which is next in line for full restoration.

[Roman]

Getragdogleg said:

Roman said:

P.S. That's not an Irmscher Manta you have is it?

Well, sort of. It started as a GTE but i put a V8 in it and a whole load of other stuff like air-ride suspension, the kit was fitted by the guy I bought the car off who Is a good friend of mine.

I have 3 other old opels, A 1980 Ascona B, A 1972 Manta A with a 2.4 frontera engine in it hooked up to a dog leg BMW box and a 1986 GTE coupe which is next in line for full restoration.

Nice collection!

When I was a kid I tried to persuade my father to buy an Irmscher Manta i200/i240 or a Monza GSE (his mate owned a GM dealership & campaigned a Manta 400) but he bought an Astra Sri instead..

[mackie1]

I'll be selling my Reba-equipped 2009 Trek 6300 soon. However it's a 21.5" frame which may be a tad large for you (I'm 6'3").

[Getragdogleg]

mackie1 said:

I'll be selling my Reba-equipped 2009 Trek 6300 soon. However it's a 21.5" frame which may be a tad large for you (I'm 6'3").

I am kind of gangly, I am 6ft bang on but have long legs, I have been looking at stuff around 19ins though which I feel is about right, 2 1/2 ins is a big jump.

I might go to the local bike shop and just jump on a load of different size framed bikes and have a look at what is what.