All Mountain Frame.

[Tom_]

Hey all, Im after somthing for commuting, and trashing round the woods. Old best just passed his test, and his grandad owns a cottage up in scotland, so there are gunna be a few good old trips up there with beer, bikes and un healthy food no doubt. (hes into single track riding really) Im after somthing that will take a sorta 130-160mm fork, pref hard-tail since I cannot afford a full squish.

I want somthing with aggressive decending geo. And Im willing to sacrafice abit of climbing ability for this, however no "jst gt a kona stinky bruv!!!111!" I want somthing that WILL climb aswell. I AM on a budget, been browsing Egay all evening seeing what I can pick up, but there doesnt seem to be too much stuff, they all seem to hold there value amazingly.

Was looking at the On One summer 256 or somthing like that, there a slack version of the inbred I think, cheap as chips, think I get them on trade aswell through work, pretty heavy though... and I dunno if the geo is right. Also I dont know what size I want to be getting, on a road bike I fit a sorta 19" frame usually, but I figure with this I want a fair bit more standover, so maybe like a 16" frame?

Im a complete n00b at this, I dont need anything great just somthing for weekend/holiday blasts in/up/down the woods.

Edit: heres the on one, theres another version of it with a 2 degree steeper H.A both take same length forks n what not, just H.A variation. LINK

Edited July 26, 2008 by Tom_

[Christophe']

merlin have commencal meta 55's for sale

900 quid bargain.

best freeride bike out at the mo

[Fixed Pants™]

merlin have commencal meta 55's for sale

900 quid bargain.

best freeride bike out at the mo

Bit of a shit spec though?

i.e. juiicy 3s, lols.

[RobinJI]

If you can grab a frame second hand, or get your work to blag one off the warranty department I'd recommend a Mongoose Teocali, I know its a shite name, but mine's only just finally slightly twisted after taking over 2 years of having the bollocks ragged off it (I pretty much use it as a short travel DH bike). In the shorter travel setting (120mm-ish) the freedrive makes it climb easily as well as any of the big name competitors, if not better, and in the longer setting (145mm) it shreds the downs.

Its not the lightest or the fanciest, but it rides amazingly, costs bugger all and has taken a surprising amount of abuse.

Obviously theres all the usual options too, I'm a fan of the older spesh enduros, and they seem to go for bugger all at the moment.

Also as mentioned, theres the commencal.

As for the on-one, I really like them, they seem to be tough, and really fun to ride, but I've heard a few things about them never being all that straight from the factory, must have a wonky jig or something!

[Matthew_Gibson]

Have a look on ebay, for frames and forks, can pice the rest of the parts pretty cheap. that way you can get a spec you want.

My dad got me Marin mpountvision, and forks. all for £100 i think. rides really nice, goes un and down hills, also I've been jumping down sets of stairs too. its fun!!

[HarshRider]

i just got a dmr trailstar, i know its more of a jump frame, but its a 17 inch frame has a full shimano deore group set (some deore lx) and it really takes to freeride and a bit of cross country well.

its a bit different from thew pic now

and got it for only £110. best to keep an eye out on ebay

[Matthew_Gibson]

your in for a ruff ride!!

[Mike Beck]

you should be able to pick up a felt virtue 3 for less than 1000 on ebay, mine cost 1400 and is the balls, full lock-out, 140 travel up front, 1 an half inches on the back, xt, lx cranks (great for the name!!), only bad thing is that you may need new tyres, they come with skinny little 2.1's!!!!

mines amazing to ride, my uncle has a trek fuel 55 and would swap his for mine any day just because of the ride.

basically its lush!!

on ebay, theres a virtue 2 for 990, xtr, xt, remote lock-out, basically better!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...bayphotohosting

Edited July 27, 2008 by Mikey C™

[BenLeacock™]

Scott ransom 40 or any model = WINNER !

BIG WINNER

Everything is there, perfect bike, best shock design EVER.

[Revolver]

You got a budget you want to stick within?

[Tom_]

to be honest the cheaper the better, I know its hard to get alot of bike for a low price, but simply cheaper is better.

Id like full sus, but currently that seems questionable due to budget. I would say Im after frame only realllyyy, I can get most of the bits on trade at work

[Revolver]

where do u work?

[Tom_]

where do u work?

A bike shop.

[Revolver]

Oh.

Could get a P.all mountain

or an Orange 5, or an orange patriot, or a trek fuel - but seeing as you're not after a full sus, I'll have a look at others.

?

Maybe you don't order in those brands.

But i dunno what shop you work in, so I couldn't find out.

Here's a thought: See if you can try out some of the bikes in the shop, try one you like the look/spec of.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Revolver

[dan_addison]

Bit of a shit spec though?

i.e. juiicy 3s, lols.

Juciy 3's that are just the same as juciy 5's? typical evans reply

Im guessing what your after a burly frame. Depending on what your able to get at the shop you work in then a cove stife would be great. A lad i go riding with had one kitted out and it rode like a dream. I think he had some 100mm dirtjumper 3's but a cove will easyily take your 130-160mm requirement. He also had 9 gears on it id of thaught that wasnt enough really for all-mountain riding but he did mange to ride all the local trials and all the trial centres with us just with abit of a struggle. If it was me though id go for atleast 18 gear, some manufactures do chain guides that are compatibale with double ring's so if your wanting to thrash down a DH track you dont have to worry about smashing your chainrings to pecies

Cove website

If your wanting a cheaper option then id go for a DMR exalt. There a bargain at only £300 quid and will take alot more abuse the the trialstar thats already been suggested. That brings me on to my next point, The trailstar that would be the one id go for. With some rockshox pikes if you can squezze the peenys for them. There alot lighter then the cove and the exalt and it'll climb a hell of alot easyier. You may say that you not bothered about a bike that climbs well now but belive me you will!

Hope that helps!

[Fixed Pants™]

Juciy 3's that are just the same as juciy 5's? typical evans reply

Calipers slightly worse And i don't work in Evans.

But yes, there isn't a hell of a lot of difference. Just they're 'cheap' brakes.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Fat Pants™

[TomR]

I've just got a Giant VT2 which im pretty impressed with, mid travel fairly burly all mountain jobby, basically the predecessor to the Reign.

[N.Wood]

Calipers slightly worse And i don't work in Evans.

But yes, there isn't a hell of a lot of difference. Just they're 'cheap' brakes.

Way better than all the shitty Hayes and Shimano ones of equivalent price, and most Juicy 7's I've tried have been more powerful than my bb7.

[Tomm]

Yeah, but Juicy 7s are twice the price of Juicy 3s. The 7s and 5s are great (and pretty similar, as far as I can tell, the only real difference is bite point adjustment on the 7s), but for once I'm gonna agree with FatPants - Juicy 3s are a bit toss. As FP says, the calipers are different and they use different pads. Shimano Deores are much better if you need cheap (mountain bike) brakes.

However, the Merlin deal is a corker when you consider that the frame-only price for a meta 5.5 is £850. Pay £50 more and get a full bike? The spec is basic but what do you expect?

[Revolver]

- Juicy 3s are a bit toss.

Werd.

I bought some. I didn't know they were only OEM though, lol. But mine were great!

... for a couple of months, and then they wouldn't lock at all. Or work, much. at all.

Whereas my shimano deore one still works, it will let me do trials on it on my heavy rockhound, and it still could do with a bleed.

Lol.

Edited July 29, 2008 by Revolver

[rhythm_101]

try the new DMR trailstar frame, it got a pretty good review in DIRT a few months ago, corrected for 100-130mm fork (PIKE is the best) and also has the new interchangable dropout system (QR,10mm bolt through, MAXLE etc) and it's pretty cheap aswell, obviously building you bike from scratch is going to cost you a lot more than buying a complete one...

i was looking fo a similar type of bike, and i couldn't find a descent fully built one (the Charge blender was too small and 4crossy for my liking).

[Tom_]

Revolver- I didnt mean to be short, but its not a mainstream kinda shop, its poor, mainly sells dawes bikes.

And yea I pointed the 50quid extra for whole bike thing to FP the other day.

I wish I was rich, id have a giant reign then.

[TomR]

My 4X setups a DMR Trailstar MkII with pike 454's and Juicy 7's, absolutely mint and my favourite bike by a long way. With with twin rails/dmr motos that'd be pretty good if you dont mind a hardtail. I used to ride 12 miles a night on it (road miles) and it was fine, although you did notice that it was a bit short at times.

Edited July 29, 2008 by TomR

[Gavyn.]

carrera banshee x

yeah yeah you've got to get past the it's a halfords bike it'll be shit attitude. but once you do you'll soon realise that it's actually very nice to ride.

i've just gotten the new one after owning the old one because i love them so much. i've ridden kona coilers, com metas alot of different all mountain bikes and i like the banshee best because the turn in is perfect it feels balanced and smooth it can be a hard hitting freeride bike or a precise xc bike. yes it's never going to be as good as a £3000 bike but it does the job and as far as i'm concerned there is nothing better for less than a grand

the downsides are really only that it's a touch heavy for serious climbing and it's got halfords written on it. well worth a test ride and i'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised by the quality even if you feel it's not the bike for you.

Edited July 29, 2008 by G4vyn

[RobinJI]

carrera banshee x .....

.....it does the job and as far as i'm concerned there is nothing better for less than a grand ....

Banshee XXX? £999.99 haha

a banshee X frame only (without shock) is something stupid like £150 by the way, then you've just gotta get a shock. Worth asking your local store about, and if they say they're not avalible frame only get them to ring head office