Best value mountain bike

On 20/05/2008 21:07, Blue Frog said,

Quoted message said:

I'm looking for a good quality and light mountain bike for around £500
maybe more. Could anyone recommend the best value?
I bought a Marin Palisades Trail in 2003-have they improved since then?
(the price was the same then) - or are there better value brands?
Also is it worth getting rear suspension. I go on off road tracks
mostly and some road

My own opinion is that if you are going on off-road tracks (by which I
take it you mean the likes of forestry trails), then rear suspension is
not necessary. Also, I don't think that at £500 you would get rear
suspension that would work that well, and it would just add unnecessary
weight to the bike. If I were you, I would stick with a hardtail, but I
would say that - Orange P7 in my case :-)

BTW, you might like to get the current (July 2008) issue of MBR, where
they've reviewed various £500 MTBs. The Marin bike is not amongst them,
but that omission in itself means nothing. To cut to the chase, the
Kona Blast came top, with the Specialized Rockhopper and Commencal
Normal D in joint second. You do need to ride the bike though - you may
find that the bike of your dreams is actually the wrong shape for you!

Hope this helps!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

On Tue, 20 May 2008 21:07:54 +0100, "Blue Frog" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I'm looking for a good quality and light mountain bike for around £500 maybe
more. Could anyone recommend the best value?
I bought a Marin Palisades Trail in 2003-have they improved since then? (the
price was the same then) - or are there better value brands?
Also is it worth getting rear suspension. I go on off road tracks mostly
and some road

My Marin Pallisades Trail, bought in 1995, cost £545. I'm having
severe problems with its sprocket ratchet.

I don't think that I'll buy another mountain bike - my touring bike
can cope with any off-road I'm likely to do.

I might buy a Brompton, however.

I'd also quite like a road bike.

Blue Frog said:

I'm looking for a good quality and light mountain bike for around £500 maybe
more. Could anyone recommend the best value?
I bought a Marin Palisades Trail in 2003-have they improved since then? (the
price was the same then) - or are there better value brands?
Also is it worth getting rear suspension. I go on off road tracks mostly
and some road

Any comments appreciated

Take a look at the Specialized Rockhopper Disc c£500. Been happy with
mine and seems quite popular - reasonably spec'd handles well. Hard-
tail which is probably what you want at that price.

Regards,

Duncan

Blue Frog writtificated

Quoted message said:

I'm looking for a good quality and light mountain bike for around £500
maybe more. Could anyone recommend the best value?
I bought a Marin Palisades Trail in 2003-have they improved since
then? (the price was the same then) - or are there better value
brands? Also is it worth getting rear suspension. I go on off road
tracks mostly and some road

Any comments appreciated

Do you want a sporty but harder to control ride for fast technical trails:
short wheelbase, bars low, responsive steering; or a more relaxed, comfier
ride: longer wheelbase, more upright position, stable and dependable
steering?

Blue Frog said:

I'm looking for a good quality and light mountain bike for around £500 maybe
more.

Check out the GT Avalanche 1.0 disc, I got one for my partner. Very
good reviews in the mags, excellent spec for the money. Had it 3
months now and is a pleasue to ride. Very wide bars are comfy but
sometimes a pain going through trees or gates. Changed the seatpost
clamp for a quick-release, otherwise no issues. I bought nearly new
from ebay but you can get them new for under 500 quid e.g.
http://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=406&category_id=22
. See if you can find a shop with one so you can try it out for size
and a test ride.

Blue Frog said:

I'm looking for a good quality and light mountain bike for around £500 maybe
more. Could anyone recommend the best value?
I bought a Marin Palisades Trail in 2003-have they improved since then? (the
price was the same then) - or are there better value brands?
Also is it worth getting rear suspension. I go on off road tracks mostly
and some road

Any comments appreciated

looking at your bike from,
<http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2003&Brand=Marin
&Model=Palisades+Trail&Type=bike>

i'm not sure you'd see that much differnce, at £500 any thing full
suspention is likely to have compromises.

a new hardtail will have better suspention/brakes and gears. but this
will be most likely quantum stuff, i personaly find disks a whole lot
better than v brakes partically if you add in wet muddy tracks with dumb
inclines but for most part it's little bits so unless your bottoming out
the forks? or the brakes are lacking power or some other problem?

if one has space i'd be tempted to just upgrade the Marin if
needed/wanted and maybe get a differnt type? maybe a racer, or
cyclecross? i dunno what ever tickles your fancy.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com