Anybody Tried Out A Btwin Rockrider 6.3?

[CurtisRider]

Yes i know...its a budget full susser at £350 but i went and took a peek at one today and it actually seemed really nice, especially for the money. I have a friend who works at Decathlon, so i can get it for £280 with his staff discount which makes it even more of a bargain and the idea of getting it even more tempting. The frame was far stiffer than mbr reviews made out, and although the forks were a little too soft, the rear shock was near enough spot on in terms of damping and spring weight. The bike felt just right position wise, I have never quite found anything that felt quite so right out of the box. Weight is high, but thats mainly out back, seemingly the back wheel and cranks that are responsible (I took the back wheel off to find out). I have upgrade air forks, air shock,cranks and brakes sitting ready for it if i do go ahead which should make for a fairly capable setup with a bit of a friendlier weight, the frame seems good enough to do a few choice upgrades around. Selling off the parts removed should see me back a few quid too which helps. Frame has a 5 year warranty, bearings at the pivot, and is still covered even if i change the components.

I really want a bike now i'm in Nottingham, theres virtually nothing on ebay/gumtree for that kind of price secondhand that is the correct size/equivalent or better spec/not ragged the crap out of Most bikes are <2004 era and go beyond my £300 budget. Realistically after having a blast on a bike recently, I think all im going to do now is XC, and with my PGCE now starting I cannot afford to be doing any silly stuff anyway, just trying to keep fit and get covered in mud. I NEED some sort of suspension out back due to my back being rather sensitive to impacts, I have never tried a decent sus seatpost but I fear they will be a bit of a let down compared to having rear sus? I know i can get a better hardtail for the equivalent money but again, i havent found much secondhand that appeals.

and evidence that it can look pretty good!

So any thoughts? Please consider my budget, my back, and the fact i have some stuff to put on it. I'm not expecting something amazing, just some cheap fun

[Ash-Kennard]

looks pretty crappy if you ask me. and the second picture reminds me of a polished turd. go second hand and get a much better bike for your money. try pink bike

[Doddsy2801]

Chain reaction cycles has a massive bike blow out on atm, dont waist your money on that.....

[CurtisRider]

CRCs cheapest FS bike is over double my budget, and far too nice for the occasional rider that I am, it would just be wasted. Looked on Pinkbike, but it appears to be full of chavs selling stolen stuff? Or people asking way over the odds for bikes that are making less on ebay. Not looking at travelling 100s of miles to pick a bike up either, I don't have the time and I would like to see a bike before I buy it so I can find any faults.

What exactly do you guys see wrong with the frame? 5 year warranty and proper bearings suggest they must have some faith in it?

[AndrewEH1]

Btwin road bikes certainly have a decent enough rep in the lower end of the market so I'm guessing these will have the same quality, and you can always pick up some cheap second hand components off ebay to tart it up a little.

I definitely wouldn't be doing Fort William on it but should be good enough for light XC trails, but with your back I'm sure you wouldn't be pushing it too hard anyway!

Polished turd perhaps, but for £280 how can you say no, and if it cracks after the first ride just send it back!

I say go for it!

[CurtisRider]

See that's my thinking Andrew, I know it's not going to set the world on fire and it's not going to perform like a nice new Lapierre or Orange but i do not expect it to and coming from my 2000 Marin Rocksprings (too small hence wanting rid) anything is going to feel better haha. I already have decent upgrades sitting ready for it as mentioned before so i wont be running lethal forks, or brakes. It's going to be quite some time before I am actually strong enough to do anything that would cause some serious harm to the bike. Once I finish my PGCE and get a teaching position, then I can go and buy something good if I find i'm going beyond its capabilities, and judging by ebay prices, even the worst frame seems to sell for a worryingly good amount right now.

If anybody does happen to see a decent FS bike for sale secondhand then please point me towards it (no more than £450, I can sell my upgrades intended for this bike to raise that extra money).

[mat hudson]

is a hardtail completely out of the question? to be honest i think you'll struggle to find a full sus worth investing in at that price. although....

stuntjumper for 400 http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/specialized-stumpjumper-expert-fsr-m4-fsr-full-suspension-mountain-bike-cannondale-trek/111180884

Edited September 17, 2012 by mat hudson

[CurtisRider]

Yeahdude I tried a hardtail recently and I wasn't digging it, otherwise it would be a no brainer. Cheers for the link to the stumpjumper, I actually enquired about it (even though it meant 6 hours of driving which i really dont want to do) as it looks spot on, but unfortunately the guy was a massive douche, wont answer questions about it and is ignoring my calls/texts about it.

[Tomm]

The frame's probably the one part of that bike that's actually alright - with a decent shock it's not a million miles off a Heckler or Orange five. Who knows what the geometry is like but hopefully Decathlon would get it at least ballpark-correct. The rest of it is just way too budget to actually work offroad though.

I know it's not a huge amount of money, but when it all falls apart in a year of riding, you'll wish you spent twice that on something decent second hand. On the other hand, if you never use it then the money saved is good. But that's why buying something second hand is good - at least if you don't use it much, the value stays more or less the same.

I'm selling my girlfriend's Giant trance for £400 - it's a really nice spec and definitely up to abuse. It's a tiny frame so unless you're 5 foot 4 or something it'll be too small. But I just mention it by way of comparison.

[Ash-Kennard]

this?

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/7826523/

or

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1181086/

[CurtisRider]

I ended up buying the bike, thank you everybody for your help and advice. Apart from the awful tyres ( I found 2 brand new rubber queen 2.2s for £15 posted) I am mega chuffed with it! It's a bit weighty currently (15kg) which makes it not quite as agile, as can be expected for the price but its super smooth and the geo is spot on for me It came with a few small upgrades over the standard spec such as better cable brakes and cranks with replaceable rings which although they wont set the world on fire, every little helps at that price range.

Swapping over to the parts I have should knock off a few kilos (Rebas with lockout, Radium R air shock, Truvative Stylo cranks, XT 9spd stuff, FSA cf post and Shimano SLX 180mm brakes) which in turn should make it a far more nimble ride and offer some longetivity off road over the current stuff. My only real concerns about it are the hubs, but they are easy enough to swap over for some good old deores as a budget solution(had my last deore hub for 10 years and have never had to service it or replace the freehub).

[Ash-Kennard]

good luck with it dude, keep us updated

[CurtisRider]

I will do, i'll write a mini review once I have done some decent miles on it and given it more of a proper test (it'll be basically stock for at least a month as i'm not going home anytime soon)

[CurtisRider]

Bike so far, doing it's first off road ride tomorrow hopefully Lost 1.2kg since swapping a few bits

Upgrades:

Reba Teams w/lockout

Exotic pedals (same as nanotechs)

Superstar lock on grips

Rubber Queen 2.2s

Shockworks rebound adjustable shock (dad found it in my box of crap, so chucked it in the parcel when he sent my forks)

Saint bash

Sram 8spd chain

In the post:

IS adaptor for front brake

Longer bolts for bash

36t ring

Shim so I can run my FSA CF post

I am currently pondering on an 80mm stem and some 2" rise bars, I will see how it goes tomorrow. Any recomendations?

Edited September 28, 2012 by Paul Oliver

[AndrewEH1]

Looks pretty good! Definitely worth the punt.

[CurtisRider]

Yeah, fingers crossed it doesnt snap at the first sight of a bump haha!

[Tom Booth]

My missus has the 2010 model of this Rockrider 8.1

Its awesome to ride. I really like it. The only thing we've swapped around is the bar and stem combo as it wasn't comfortable for her which is fair enough with it being a mens bike. It's done everything my onone 456 has and given us no grief. If I was in the market for a new bike I wouldn't hesitate in buying a rockrider.

Came specced up with sram x7 groupset, avid juicy5's, rocshox recons, 31.8 bar setup, deore crankset. My only gripe was it came with a non sealed bearing rear hub, but in time I think we'll pick a pro2 up for it. Came at a good price to for either £450 or £499, I can't remember, but included in that was a few free services at certain intervals which was cool.

[N.Wood]

I was always pretty impressed with the spec of the rockrider bikes. Some of them seem to be a bit of an odd mix of parts, but they definately seem well specced for the price.

[Tom Booth]

I think if your under 200 they get abit too budget, but if you can afford to go around 4-500 not much come close in terms of spec, only thing we could find at the time for comparison was a rockhopper but neither of us were that impressed to be honest.

[mat hudson]

from a browse of their website it really is very hard to find anything with comparable spec or the price!

if you look at the "rock rider 5.3" in comparison to something like the "trek 3500" which is at a similar price point(50 quid cheaper in fact), the trek doesnt even come close on spec. definitely a company worth taking a look at if you're looking for good components at a low price.

[CurtisRider]

Decathlon seem to have quite alot of buying power, their bikes are always really well priced and well specced for the money.

I took the bike for a spin offroad for the morning, and it was awesome fun! Really got the bug again which is great. The bike felt nice and stable in the air, and easy to pull up onto the back wheel when needed. Swapping the forks has made the bike so much more sprightly and slackened the HA slightly. The bike feels so much easier up the hills than it did before since losing some weight off it (that may also be down to me doing more exercise since getting the bike though). The 2.2 Rubber Queens seemed to grip nicely on the loose gravel and sticky dirt, even at 40psi. I only had a rear brake as my front adaptor hadn't arrived before I left. The mx5s, although far better than I thought, are still a touch weak for my weight and lack modulation so i'm looking forward to having 2x180mm SLXs on there to slow me down I didnt notice any flex issues, although maybe I am still not powerful enough yet to really move it, I certainly tried though. Overall I am chuffed and impressed so far, the frame seems good enough for me for a while yet, and i can't wait to do some decent mileage

EDIT: I forgot to mention the best bit, no pain from my back or my leg whilst cycling at all That's the best feeling of all, seeing as I have pain at just about any other time still

Edited September 29, 2012 by Paul Oliver

[Rusevelt]

Build looks tidy and functional for the casual trail riding purpose.

[CurtisRider]

Bike has lost 2.5kg now, feels a billion times better! I just need to get my rear shock set up a little better, feels a little wallowy compared to when i had my coil setup. Shame I dislocated/broke/fractured my finger yesterday whilst riding, hands gotten proper swollen too!

Spec now:

B'twin wheels

Basic headset

Rubber Queen 2.2s F+R

Deore 9spd cassette

Superstar lock on grips

Exotic flat Pedals

Saint 36T Bash

'06 Reba Teams 80-115mm with Lockout

Manitou Swinger X3 air shock

Sram 9spd chain

Syncros 80mm 12degree Stem

SLX 180mm brakes F+R

XT rear mech

Altus front mech

Deore shifters

FSA CF post

Selle seat

Truvativ Stylo cranks

Blackspire Stinger

B'twin 1.5" rise bars

Ebay cheapy wireless computer

Next things are some 2" rise bars, spray the stem black, and find a non broken shifter to replace my RH deore that has all its guts exposed...

[AndrewEH1]

Looking very nice!

What is the total cost so far?

[CurtisRider]

Cheers dude I have really enjoyed riding it, it rides really nicely

Cost wise, I had quite a few of those bits already kicking about, so I dont know what they are really worth?

Bike: £280

Stinger £10

Rubber Queens £15

Superstar grips £11

Shimano Bash £10

Exotic pedals £34

Syncros stem £10

Then I sold some of the original bits that were replaced:

Forks £40

Pedals £5

and the rest I have left should make £40 ish judging by ebay prices

Makes it £285+whatever the value of the parts I already had that are on there (at a guess £150 ish), so about £450? Most of its pretty much brand new, the shifters are the only parts which have done some serious mileage.