Help on choosing bike
04-24-06, 01:25 PM
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Help on choosing bike
Hi
I was hoping I could get some help on deciding which bike to choose. I have never owned a mountain bike so I need a help deciding which bike to choose. I basically want a bike I can use to train on when it’s too wet or I’m fed up with my road bike (1-2 a week). The terrain around me is pretty flat (Northern Ontario) although one of my main reasons for getting a MTB is so I can go to the local ski hills and climb a bit. I weight about 150 pounds and 5,7 @ 21 years of age and don’t mind getting bounced around but the idea of a FS is nice, although I don’t like the idea of lost power due to the bogging of a suspension. I don’t plan on hitting any sort of “jumps” and pretty much plan to ride pretty hard when I do use it (fast paced). I’d wouldn’t mind having a bike that could be competitive in xc just in case I have the urge to race, but this not a deciding point.
So here are my options (keep in mind I’m looking used since it offers me a better bike then buying new).
Marin Quake 9.0 2000 (hardtail) 650 can
All the info I can find is that the frame kinda oriented towards trails & freeride(?)
-Hayes Mag 6" hydraulic brakes
-XT shifters and deraileurs
-Rock Shox Psylo SL front fork
-race face cranks
Kona Dawg 2003 800can
-I don’t know the specs on this bike but I know it has hydro brakes
-4” of travel (coil) on the rear and I think 4” on the front
-it's all stock
Norco Vps Launch 2002 550can
-rock shox Psylo fork and fox vanilla r rear suspention
-all deore except shifters (xt)
-hydro brakes
Bad gearing but I figured I could change the cranks and make it some what usable in cross country
Norco Bigfoot 2005 450can
- Dirt Jam comp forks
-hydro brakes
-deore all-round
-low gearing again but changeable
Oryx T-line 500 year? (2000ish) 400ish can
-Sid 100
-xtr all around
-xtr v’s
Owned by a bike mechanic, so it should be in ok shape
Custom Rocky Mountain Trailhead 2005 1000can looks like its never been used
-X-9 rear derailler Xt front derailler
-Avid Juicy 5s
-mantinou blacks
I’m somewhat skeptical about the older bikes cause I don’t know how long suspensions and hydro brakes last. If I get the vps I wouldn’t race but would like to set it up so I could still keep a good pace on the flats I figured hauling it up hills will only help with my fitness. I considered the Rocky Mountain trail head cause its pretty much new has nice parts (from my limited opinion), so I wouldn’t mind spending 100can on it. An other option I have is to buy a brand new kona kula or caldera which cost 1050can and 800can respectively. Keep in mind I’m trying to get the best bike for the money, since I’ll be doing my masters in a year. Also how bad would racing on something like the dawg be being that I was at minimum the same fitness level as the other competitors but they had full on xc bikes?
I was hoping I could get some help on deciding which bike to choose. I have never owned a mountain bike so I need a help deciding which bike to choose. I basically want a bike I can use to train on when it’s too wet or I’m fed up with my road bike (1-2 a week). The terrain around me is pretty flat (Northern Ontario) although one of my main reasons for getting a MTB is so I can go to the local ski hills and climb a bit. I weight about 150 pounds and 5,7 @ 21 years of age and don’t mind getting bounced around but the idea of a FS is nice, although I don’t like the idea of lost power due to the bogging of a suspension. I don’t plan on hitting any sort of “jumps” and pretty much plan to ride pretty hard when I do use it (fast paced). I’d wouldn’t mind having a bike that could be competitive in xc just in case I have the urge to race, but this not a deciding point.
So here are my options (keep in mind I’m looking used since it offers me a better bike then buying new).
Marin Quake 9.0 2000 (hardtail) 650 can
All the info I can find is that the frame kinda oriented towards trails & freeride(?)
-Hayes Mag 6" hydraulic brakes
-XT shifters and deraileurs
-Rock Shox Psylo SL front fork
-race face cranks
Kona Dawg 2003 800can
-I don’t know the specs on this bike but I know it has hydro brakes
-4” of travel (coil) on the rear and I think 4” on the front
-it's all stock
Norco Vps Launch 2002 550can
-rock shox Psylo fork and fox vanilla r rear suspention
-all deore except shifters (xt)
-hydro brakes
Bad gearing but I figured I could change the cranks and make it some what usable in cross country
Norco Bigfoot 2005 450can
- Dirt Jam comp forks
-hydro brakes
-deore all-round
-low gearing again but changeable
Oryx T-line 500 year? (2000ish) 400ish can
-Sid 100
-xtr all around
-xtr v’s
Owned by a bike mechanic, so it should be in ok shape
Custom Rocky Mountain Trailhead 2005 1000can looks like its never been used
-X-9 rear derailler Xt front derailler
-Avid Juicy 5s
-mantinou blacks
I’m somewhat skeptical about the older bikes cause I don’t know how long suspensions and hydro brakes last. If I get the vps I wouldn’t race but would like to set it up so I could still keep a good pace on the flats I figured hauling it up hills will only help with my fitness. I considered the Rocky Mountain trail head cause its pretty much new has nice parts (from my limited opinion), so I wouldn’t mind spending 100can on it. An other option I have is to buy a brand new kona kula or caldera which cost 1050can and 800can respectively. Keep in mind I’m trying to get the best bike for the money, since I’ll be doing my masters in a year. Also how bad would racing on something like the dawg be being that I was at minimum the same fitness level as the other competitors but they had full on xc bikes?
04-24-06, 02:19 PM
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get the trailhead..that is a nice frame and nice components...it is made in canada too so you should like that more than the others
04-24-06, 03:04 PM
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this bike might not be relevant to what your looking for, but certainly is worth a look, the specialized bighit 3 or specialized demo 8 are good mountain bikes that can be used for downhill riding aswell, althought they cost around the £1300 they are worth the money, If you are a serious mountain rider id give it a good look,
04-24-06, 04:42 PM
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Breitling
The trailhead is my first choice since it does have a nice setup, another positive would be that it's pretty much a new setup therefore I wouldn't have to worry about replacing parts for a while as apposed to the other bikes which have a great chance of needing new components. The only thing holding me back is that I can get the the marin quake for a few hundred dollars less and it will do the same job, but being that the marin quake is so old, I don't want to risk buying a bike I may need to drop a ton of money into.
stoneylad
The bikes you noted are killer for their intended use but more downhill oriented then I want. Plus at 1300 pounds, it would put them at over 2000can, way over my buget. If I lived in the rockies I'd grab one for sure though.
Thanks for the imput.
I'm thinking as of now it's between the Marin quake, RM trail head, Norco bigfoot and the orxy
The marin is the the best priced bike but I'm scared that parts may fail, needing me to spend money that I could have used to buy the trailhead. The trail head since I'm getting a really nice bike for the price and I won't have to worry about investing more money into it. The Norco bigfoot since it's pretty new has ok parts, only con against it is that it's suppose to be heavy (don't know how heavy?), and needs a new chainring setup to make it xc worthy. Lastly I could get the oryx it's old but owned by a mechanic and other then the fork is a simple bike that should not cause much maintenace/replacement issues, but from the picks it looks like it had been well used.
Thanks to those who have responded thus far
Anymore input would be great
The trailhead is my first choice since it does have a nice setup, another positive would be that it's pretty much a new setup therefore I wouldn't have to worry about replacing parts for a while as apposed to the other bikes which have a great chance of needing new components. The only thing holding me back is that I can get the the marin quake for a few hundred dollars less and it will do the same job, but being that the marin quake is so old, I don't want to risk buying a bike I may need to drop a ton of money into.
stoneylad
The bikes you noted are killer for their intended use but more downhill oriented then I want. Plus at 1300 pounds, it would put them at over 2000can, way over my buget. If I lived in the rockies I'd grab one for sure though.
Thanks for the imput.
I'm thinking as of now it's between the Marin quake, RM trail head, Norco bigfoot and the orxy
The marin is the the best priced bike but I'm scared that parts may fail, needing me to spend money that I could have used to buy the trailhead. The trail head since I'm getting a really nice bike for the price and I won't have to worry about investing more money into it. The Norco bigfoot since it's pretty new has ok parts, only con against it is that it's suppose to be heavy (don't know how heavy?), and needs a new chainring setup to make it xc worthy. Lastly I could get the oryx it's old but owned by a mechanic and other then the fork is a simple bike that should not cause much maintenace/replacement issues, but from the picks it looks like it had been well used.
Thanks to those who have responded thus far
Anymore input would be great
