Mountain Biking

Can any biking experts help?

I want to get a hard-tail mountain bike - what's the sensible bang-for-buck price point? A colleague suggested looking for the cheapest that comes with a decent brand air-fork. Does that seem sensible?

Also on sizing - I'm 6'2, 100Kgs. I followed the sizing charts some years ago and bought an XL which ended up feeling too stretched out - I think I'm used to riding more compact frames and would be tempted to go down a size to a Large. Is that a thing? Should I persevere with an XL?
 
I'd say choose a budget first and then go from there really. Also what type of riding is the bike to be used for?

My new bike is being built this week or next. I went for a Sonder Frontier myself. Reasonable price at £900 with a RockShox Recon fork and Sram groupset. Bought for bikepacking mostly and XC riding so I've purchased the rigid fork for an extra £50.

If I'd have been just riding trails on it though without bikepacking I'd have been tempted to go with the Transmitter for the extra travel but that bike didn't suit both needs.

There's also bikes which are good value below the cost of mine and many above the cost which can offer great value too.

All about usage and budget and working from there imo.
 
You can always upgrade forks/other bits later to something fitting to your needs/skill so don't let that be a must have factor in otherwise selecting a perfectly fine HT at a good price initially especially if one you like is in stock.

That's exactly why I chose the Marin Bobcat Trail 3, could not find any other bike that looked as cool with that colour scheme even though it only had a 2x8 Altus groupset and coil forks. The frame was modern geo of course and everything else was sound so I' bought it at £545 and later upgraded the groupset and will in future upgrade the forks to complete the transformation into a really decent hardtail that is quite custom now without breaking the bank all in.
 
Thanks @IndigoGorilla and @mrk - that makes sense.

I want something to get me out and about getting some exercise on some local hilly woodland trails. I'm not sure whether I'll get into it so much I'll be upgrading. Also, it seems like it's often better value to buy as a complete bike than upgrade bits at a time.

It looks like I can get something with an air fork for £500 which seems about right for a starting bike.
 
Totally depends onw hen you upgrade and from where. CHainreaction Cycles for example have year round offers and stuff on. My groupset for example was £360 normal price but I got it from Chain for £230 just before Xmas.
No matter what you get though complete set or not, if it's the first modern geo MTB you are getting in a while then you will definitely enjoy and want to be out in it more and more as they ride so good now. I was riding a 90s MTB before buying this and it's night and day what modern geometry does to the feel of how a bike rides. The upgrade just amplify the quality as your needs grow. I'm treating mine like a PC now, when I need more performance/thrills I'll upgrade and buy parts that are on offer from places like Chain. The process also gives you some good knowledge building in how your bike works and other aspects of maintenance which I've learned is very important. Even simple things like a clean chain can keep you from losing some power due to added friction losses etc.

You'll see when you get the bike you like, it will be awesome :cool:
 
garnett said:
Thanks @IndigoGorilla and @mrk - that makes sense.

I want something to get me out and about getting some exercise on some local hilly woodland trails. I'm not sure whether I'll get into it so much I'll be upgrading. Also, it seems like it's often better value to buy as a complete bike than upgrade bits at a time.

It looks like I can get something with an air fork for £500 which seems about right for a starting bike.
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Halfords Bazingo (if they have any in stock) or the Vitus Nucleus will both offer bargain cycling. Though 2nd hand is always worth a shout if you don't mind some spannering or potential issues. I sold my old zero for £600 which I doubt you'd match for less than 1200 new.

Planet x and Sonder are worth checking out too.
 
Jonnybmac said:
Anyone done much hike-a-biking?

I did Gatesgarth & Nan Bield Passes loop earlier this year and was looking for something similar in the lakes I could have a pop at when the weather gets better again.
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if you do gatesgarth again, we always turn left at the top and go over harter fell to nan beild, not that keen on the gatesgarth descent and it saves the climb up after. the descent down from harter fell is very technical in places, everytime we do it we manage to find a way to ride a bit more of it but even my very skilled mate hasn't managed to clean it yet. also that would maybe leave enough in the legs to add garburn on as well but make sure you descend the kentmere side of garburn.(plus that map you put up takes that loop down to ings, there is a path that cuts that bit out via high borrans.
helvellyn is good but dollywagon isn't, constant steps just bore me(and its a horrible way up as well), down sticks and turn of to finish on seldom seen is best. birkside descent is ok as well but you then have to loose to much height on tarmac as it comes out at the end of thirlmere.
up skiddaw and then down the scree onto ullockpike is one of my favourites
 
My Sonder is due for delivery tomorrow after a bit of a wait (5-6 weeks I think which isn't bad considering other places).

Off Saturday-Tuesday so will go give some local woods a go to test it out.
 
garnett said:
Can any biking experts help?

I want to get a hard-tail mountain bike - what's the sensible bang-for-buck price point? A colleague suggested looking for the cheapest that comes with a decent brand air-fork. Does that seem sensible?

Also on sizing - I'm 6'2, 100Kgs. I followed the sizing charts some years ago and bought an XL which ended up feeling too stretched out - I think I'm used to riding more compact frames and would be tempted to go down a size to a Large. Is that a thing? Should I persevere with an XL?
Click to expand...

im the same size as you - deffo XL

get a short stem, its better with long frame and shortest stem you can, much better handling
I wouldnt go smaller, as fun as it might be its impossible to pedal properly all cramped up
 
mrk said:
Totally depends onw hen you upgrade and from where. CHainreaction Cycles for example have year round offers and stuff on. My groupset for example was £360 normal price but I got it from Chain for £230 just before Xmas.
No matter what you get though complete set or not, if it's the first modern geo MTB you are getting in a while then you will definitely enjoy and want to be out in it more and more as they ride so good now. I was riding a 90s MTB before buying this and it's night and day what modern geometry does to the feel of how a bike rides. The upgrade just amplify the quality as your needs grow. I'm treating mine like a PC now, when I need more performance/thrills I'll upgrade and buy parts that are on offer from places like Chain. The process also gives you some good knowledge building in how your bike works and other aspects of maintenance which I've learned is very important. Even simple things like a clean chain can keep you from losing some power due to added friction losses etc.

You'll see when you get the bike you like, it will be awesome :cool:
Click to expand...
Thanks. That makes sense.

Begbie said:
Halfords Bazingo (if they have any in stock) or the Vitus Nucleus will both offer bargain cycling. Though 2nd hand is always worth a shout if you don't mind some spannering or potential issues. I sold my old zero for £600 which I doubt you'd match for less than 1200 new.

Planet x and Sonder are worth checking out too.
Click to expand...
Yeah, 2nd hand sounds like a good shout.

gettothechopper said:
im the same size as you - deffo XL

get a short stem, its better with long frame and shortest stem you can, much better handling
I wouldnt go smaller, as fun as it might be its impossible to pedal properly all cramped up
Click to expand...
Excellent - thanks a lot for this reply. This was something I was really pondering over.
 
garnett said:
Can any biking experts help?

I want to get a hard-tail mountain bike - what's the sensible bang-for-buck price point? A colleague suggested looking for the cheapest that comes with a decent brand air-fork. Does that seem sensible?

Also on sizing - I'm 6'2, 100Kgs. I followed the sizing charts some years ago and bought an XL which ended up feeling too stretched out - I think I'm used to riding more compact frames and would be tempted to go down a size to a Large. Is that a thing? Should I persevere with an XL?
Click to expand...

Compare the geometry and sizing charts/information for both bikes and see what the sizing comes up as on the new bike. Then take a look around as to what others recommend to sizing for that particular bike you have in mind.
Sizing is different amongst many manufacturers... I was an XL on my Jeffsy according the sizing chart.. bought a Large and it's most certainly not "cramped up" :)
 
bigfoot4616 said:
if you do gatesgarth again, we always turn left at the top and go over harter fell to nan beild, not that keen on the gatesgarth descent and it saves the climb up after. the descent down from harter fell is very technical in places, everytime we do it we manage to find a way to ride a bit more of it but even my very skilled mate hasn't managed to clean it yet. also that would maybe leave enough in the legs to add garburn on as well but make sure you descend the kentmere side of garburn.(plus that map you put up takes that loop down to ings, there is a path that cuts that bit out via high borrans.
helvellyn is good but dollywagon isn't, constant steps just bore me(and its a horrible way up as well), down sticks and turn of to finish on seldom seen is best. birkside descent is ok as well but you then have to loose to much height on tarmac as it comes out at the end of thirlmere.
up skiddaw and then down the scree onto ullockpike is one of my favourites
Click to expand...

Wow that's awsome and thanks for the tips :D

I did like gatesgarth actually, that and down to sadgill were probably my favorites of the 3 as you can really pick up speed so long as walkers move out the way, but it is a significant hike back up to the top of nan bied lol
You have given me an idea though of going up to harter fell and across to shipman knotts - I might have to see how sketchy the decent is back to kentmere is as I need to tick all those off wainwright bagging; or is using a bike cheating :confused:

Just looking here it seems there's bike trails in the mud at kentmere pike so someones had a go
https://www.masarnenramblers.com/kentmere-pike--shipman-knotts.html

Your route does look interesting though I could probably double back on myself, although when you say "my very skilled mate" it puts me off a bit since nan bied was too technical for me in places and had to stop 3 times near the top lol

Just looking on fatmaps this looks like an interesting route I could do instead of nan bied next time if I go up to high street and it's classed as a bridleway, and looks like a significant gradient to drop off the rdige before froswick and I could go up to garburn when I get to the bottom
https://fatmap.com/routeid/8692/high-street-south?fmid=em

Will have to give skiddaw a try as I feel I've hogged one area too much on a bike if I revisit again first next year :D​
 
I know I'm spoilt for riding here down in Wales (I'm 5mins from BPW, 15 from Cwmcarn, 30 from Afan and a mass amount of rider built and natural riding) but I can't help to think that I'd love to be able to ride the likes of Kendal, Windermere etc on my doorstep.
 
Jonnybmac said:

You have given me an idea though of going up to harter fell and across to shipman knotts - I might have to see how sketchy the decent is back to kentmere is as I need to tick all those off wainwright bagging; or is using a bike cheating :confused:
​
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i did once try going up to shipman knotts and onto harter fell from the track between kentmere and sadgill, it was so windy i could hardly stay upright on the bike so turned of and dropped back down to kentmere between shipman knotts and kentmere pike, descent was ok but nothing special and don't think the way i went up would be that good as a descent either.

if you struggled with the nan beild switchbacks maybe harter fell will be a bit to technical for you in quite a few places, it is for me in one bit and i class nan beild to kentmere easy compared to a lot of what we ride. suppose thats another good thing about living up here, the more you ride stuff like that the easy it gets

the bridleway down to troutbeck from high street for me wouldn't be a good descent, to open and grassy with just a couple of tricky bits(not sure one of them is rideable), we sometimes go up that way. we go along the top(froswick, III bell and yoke) from high street to garburn(both ways), you can either do all summits or miss them out on the right of them(heading to garburn). i prefer to do them and you get a bit of everything, some tech and some fast stuff.

had a good ride last week up red screes with a couple of mates.
IMG_20201228_121657484 by richard mawson, on Flickr
IMG_20201228_130421427 by richard mawson, on Flickr
IMG_20201228_130446630 by richard mawson, on Flickr
second pic is looking towards fairfield(another good ride) and helvellyn and last one is looking at high street, harter fell and also the 3 peaks i mention above( i think yoke must be hiding behind the trig point)

images are a bit crap, i've scracthed the phone camera lens
 
Begbie said:
https://geometrygeeks.bike/

Is very useful @garnett Some bikes XL is the same as other Mediums. Picking a bike on reach size is more useful than anything else.
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Very much this. I usually I go for a medium sized frame, but I would have to wait a further few months for those to come in but they did have the same bike, 2021 Cube Reaction TM, in a small frame there in the shop. I tried it out and was surprised at just how well it felt, they also got out a 2021 Cube Reaction Pro in large and the difference betwixt the two was negligible. The TM having a dropper post fitted as standard helped a bit as it added a couple of inches to the seat post length.

I've had the TM now for a couple of months and it's the comfiest bike I've ever owned. I just fit it perfectly, reach, stand over and whatever the distance from saddle to the pedals at their lowest is called all just feel as if it was actually made to fit.
 
New Bike Day!

My Sonder Frontier :)

Arrived on Wednesday and took it out for a quick spin in the local woods yesterday. Love it, forgotten how differently an MTB handles compared to a road bike. Going to change the fork over to the suspension one I have in the next couple of days. Ordered it with both as it will be used for bikepacking and trail riding.

vihlsS7.jpg


zNhqg5j.jpg
 
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