Want to buy a new bike

[Dum-Dum]

Na i need to spend the 1k, its through our works cycle2work scheme, so i took the maximum valid to get the best bike. Since its also tax free i get the most benefit.

My work does a similar scheme but you have to shop with 1 retailer and although we get a discount (on top of getting the tax off and paying it off monthly interest free) their prices are OTT to start with. What retailers can you use?


I've always found chain reaction cycles online good. For a grand you could get a full suspension bike with lockout on both front and rear shocks like this Kona Tanuki Delux, its last years model but its half price, down from nearly £2000 to be within your budget with money left for a helmet.
>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Model...elID=95404 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Fooby you need to find a good, local independant bike shop (we have one here that take C2W if you want the drive up). Halfords are picking up their ideas with the bikes they sell but you dont get a huge amount for your money. You need to decide what you want it for ideally. You dont want to be putting road wheels on a MTB (mostly because they wont fit ) so perhaps a XC MTB with 2.1 tyres? Anything too wide and you will be putting in more effort on the road. Also, stick with hard tail. For 1k, you wont get a good full sus and it will literally kill you unless your going downhill lol.
Avoid specialized. They are good but very very expensive for what you get. Giant are very good and you get a lot for your money.
Front forks, you dont want more than 130mm of travel. Any more and it will kill you for XC and road. Avoid cable disc brakes big time. Go for either hydro discs (avoid shimano. Try and go for Avid or hope) or good quality V brakes.

As with Niall specalised are VERY good but your paying for the brand name not the bike really. Same with the shocks, not only because sometimes on the road youll want them unlocked but frames designed for the longer shocks tend to be for Downhill/Freeride and start giving very slack steering angles which isnt great round town or on the road especially for a beginner. I used to ride my 4X bike to work, DMR trailstar LT with a 150mm fork and no lock out and it was exhausting, especially as you cant make tight turns round cars id end up standing on the pedals to get the bike on 1 wheel to make tighter turns, I used to be fit then too.

Defo avoid cable discs, they are a worst of both worlds. I wouldn't use avid discs, iirc it was one of them spoony had explode on him under heavy braking causing him to have a very nasty crash. Hayes hydraulic discs are good. IMO for your budget you shouldn't even need to be considering v-brakes, the only reason anyone has them on a high end bike is cos they race and they want the lighter weight. On the road or trail especially when its wet your rims get caked in shit so much faster than a V-brake and they never warm up whereas a disc is that much higher out of the way of some spray and most mud and will actually warm up if you use it a fair bit giving you a slight increase in performance on a cold day.

I've got a single shimano XTR v brake on my race bike and I love it, great feel to it, really powerful, weighs f*ck all, really easy to change pads without having to re adjust your brakes but if I'm racing the chances are I'm only gonna brake once and thats after the finish line. Day to day I'd have hydraulic discs as they are more powerful and easier to modulate and more predictable.