road and trail bike recommendation?

soth · 28 Sep 2006 at 13:44

I'm looking to buy a bike for use in the city and weekend/evenings on towpaths, cycle routes, the odd forest trail. £300 is about the upper limit to my budget as this will be my first foray into any serious cycling.

At the moment I'm looking at the Specialized Hardrock Sport '07, seen a lot of recommendations for this one, do any owners have anything to say about it?

I'm also looking at Edinburgh Cycle's own brand bikes, they have one called the Revolution Cuillin Disc '06 which is similar in price to the Hardrock along with similar specs on most of the components, but has disc brakes.

Does anyone have an opions on the Specilized vs the Revolution? Or any other entirely different suggestions?

Any info on what I should be looking out for when buying a new bike would be great too!

cheers,
Ciaron

Raymond Lin · 28 Sep 2006 at 14:06

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17631356

This thread's OP has the same criteria and opted for the Giant XTC SE.

sneakyd · 28 Sep 2006 at 16:21

Get into the specialist bike shops in Glasgow. I'm sure there's one in Finnieston. The yellow pages will point you in the right direction.

I have just bought a GT Avalanche 3.0 Disc 2006 for £240 from Fife Cycle Centre in Leuchars. Really liking it.

soth · 28 Sep 2006 at 21:51

Raymond Lin said:
opted for the Giant XTC SE.

The cheapest I can find the Giant XTC SE is £400, which is £100 more than I can really justify at this stage, plus I'm not convinced the bike is worth it for the extra £100 over the Specialized

noob · 28 Sep 2006 at 22:12

Willing to spend £80 more? because this is a much better spec than the specialized:-

MERLIN MALT 1 - DEORE
*Merlin Malt 1 7005 Aluminium frame
*Suntour forks with lock-out
*Deore groupset
*Avid V-brakes
*27 speed rapid fire plus gearing
*Splined chainset & bb
*Deore hubs handbuilt with Mavic x317 rims
*FSA bars, stem and seatpost
*Picture for illustation purposes only, final spec as above

Price: £379.95

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/acatalog/Sale_Bikes.html

If you're not going to spend a bit more I would stick with the Hardrock. Mind you this Trek isn't bad:-

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=5195

sneakyd · 29 Sep 2006 at 12:25

Here's a good deal

http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/pr...hargrovesSID=57e0f52a506f200bb983a269efe67a74

Quite a few other good deals here as well.

The above gets a great review from whatmtb.com

soth · 10 Oct 2006 at 12:49

I've decided to extend my price range up to £400, and I've narrowed my choice down to the Giant XTC SE 2007 (£400) or the Specialized Hard Rock Sport disk at £370

Do any of you guys have a preference between these two? or even have any other suggestions at this price range?

Cheers,
Ciaron

Raymond Lin · 10 Oct 2006 at 13:31

soth said:
I've decided to extend my price range up to £400, and I've narrowed my choice down to the Giant XTC SE 2007 (£400) or the Specialized Hard Rock Sport disk at £370

Do any of you guys have a preference between these two? or even have any other suggestions at this price range?

Cheers,
Ciaron

The Giant is better, the XTC is the bottom of it model and usually retail at £500 whereas the Hardrock is the Top spec for its model which retails for £370 anyway. £400 will get you more bike in the Giant than Specialized.