I’m considering buying a new mountain bike, and am looking for some advice/opinions. As with skis, where I just use them, and tend not get too excited about the various technical aspects of them, I am lacking in knowledge regarding the best thing to get.
I am planning to do more reds, maybe venture into blacks at some of the mountain bike places. Also use it for single track trips, and hurtling down granite rubble strewn landrover tracks in the Cairngorms. Unlikely to be intentionally doing big drops, but happy to do little jumps (such as can be found on the reds at Wolftrax).
I want a bike, and the components on it, to last, rather than buying the lightest/latest thing going (for the budget). I am, ahem, not the lightest (a little under 100kg), and after a little research, I believe the term that may be appropriate is “Clydesdale” . That said, I want to have a bit of fun on it, and not be riding a tank, so looking for a balance. Given that my current £240 as new a few years ago bike has not completely rattled itself to pieces yet despite some serious attempts to do so, I am not sure I do need to go for something like that.
I’ve ridden mountain bikes, usually at the bottom end of the price scale, for 20 years or so, so was hoping to get something a little better this time. That said, i didn’t really want to spend more than say £650/700. I’ve found a few 2008/2009 models reduced that would fit into that budget (e.g. Kona Hoss / Kona Caldera), and from what I can gather are reasonable bikes, with the Hoss being described as for “Clydesdales” (see above).
However, as I am unlikely to be parting with cash for another bike for some time, I secretly really want a full sus bike. I understand that’s where the budget becomes an issue, as you need to spend a lot more to get the reasonable components, so was a bit frustrated, and resigned to getting a reasonable hard tail. Then I found this:
[
www.alpinebikes.com]
This got me wondering if it was worth spending a little more on it! With reference to my lack of knowledge of components and so on, would this be a reasonable buy?
I appreciate the more opinions I get, the more difficult it can be to make a decision, but thought i’d ask anyway. Other recommendations would be welcome too!
Many thanks,
Scott
[
www.scomuir.com]