Dipping a toe

[rovers1875]

I have just bought one of these Voodoo Bizango (£430 second hand, only only one month old) and my first impressions are good. ( I'm in similar position ie roadie, and felt like having the odd bimble off road). Good luck with whatever you go for

 

[fossyant]

Be a MAN and get a rigid 90's MTB.

They are a hoot. They do stop us silly roadies getting too silly. An old Skool MTB does climb like a rat in a drain pipe with a roadie on it, but all that time you've gained waiting for the MTB lot uphill will be lost down hill in buckets.

I love my old Diamond Back Ascent. LX and XT equipped and it's done some stupid stuff, and even bent a car. Built out of Tange CroMo girders.

 

[Motozulu]

I loved my SS rigid - just stripped it though and selling off the bits as it was getting too hard on the joints - climbed like billy-o.

 

[bikeman66]

Be a MAN and get a rigid 90's MTB.

They are a hoot. They do stop us silly roadies getting too silly. An old Skool MTB does climb like a rat in a drain pipe with a roadie on it, but all that time you've gained waiting for the MTB lot uphill will be lost down hill in buckets.

I love my old Diamond Back Ascent. LX and XT equipped and it's done some stupid stuff, and even bent a car. Built out of Tange CroMo girders.

View attachment 121102

Fantastic looking bike! Still love my 1993 rigid Kona Lava Dome MTB. Doesn't get ridden quite so much these days, but I could never part with it. Nostalgia on wheels!

Certainly climbs like a mountain goat........and I managed 52mph down Butser Hill (basically a massive grassy descent on the South Downs Way). Straight bladed Project Two forks weren't the most forgiving in terms of comfort, and I was a bit beaten up by the time we reached Beachy Head, but what a machine.

Great to see your Diamond Back in such good nick!

 

[bikeman66]

Be a MAN and get a rigid 90's MTB.

They are a hoot. They do stop us silly roadies getting too silly. An old Skool MTB does climb like a rat in a drain pipe with a roadie on it, but all that time you've gained waiting for the MTB lot uphill will be lost down hill in buckets.

I love my old Diamond Back Ascent. LX and XT equipped and it's done some stupid stuff, and even bent a car. Built out of Tange CroMo girders.

View attachment 121102

Fossyant. So impressed was I, with your Diamond Back, that I had to go and dig out a picture of my old Kona Lava Dome.

It's had a few mods over the years, but never really just for the sake of it. Mainly just replaced bits and pieces when they were worn out with tarty stuff. XTR V brakes with Avid Speed Dial levers replaced the original canti's, Middleburn chainrings were some of my favourites, and the "Hardcote" inner was a revelation. Merlin Cycles built me a pair of proper sexy wheels with Mavic rims on Hope hubs, complete with tarty red nipples. Would have loved to have kept the original thumb shifters, but an upgrade to 8 speed meant a change to Sachs Wavey Shifters.

Ridden thousands of miles on this thing, and 99.9% of them were pure joy........going over the bars during a race, straight in to a bed of stinging nettles being the exception!

Race you on the Diamond Back any time!!!

 

[fossyant]

Fossyant. So impressed was I, with your Diamond Back, that I had to go and dig out a picture of my old Kona Lava Dome.

It's had a few mods over the years, but never really just for the sake of it. Mainly just replaced bits and pieces when they were worn out with tarty stuff. XTR V brakes with Avid Speed Dial levers replaced the original canti's, Middleburn chainrings were some of my favourites, and the "Hardcote" inner was a revelation. Merlin Cycles built me a pair of proper sexy wheels with Mavic rims on Hope hubs, complete with tarty red nipples. Would have loved to have kept the original thumb shifters, but an upgrade to 8 speed meant a change to Sachs Wavey Shifters.

Ridden thousands of miles on this thing, and 99.9% of them were pure joy........going over the bars during a race, straight in to a bed of stinging nettles being the exception!

Race you on the Diamond Back any time!!!
View attachment 122319

A proper bike.

 

[ozboz]

I was lucky , got this GT XCR idrive for £120 from a LBS , 1997 bike , had it powder coated and lots of other stuff , had loads of fun on it , it had been a trade in . Worth a look at the bike shops

 

[mythste]

Right! I never actually got round to this because I somehow convinced myself into getting another road bike...

Anyyyyyway, There's some terrible part of me that wants to go and get muddy again. I've had to revise my budget to £250 so definitely second hand now.

Any of you with a keen eye spotted anything that might suit?

 

[ChrisEyles]

I like looking for mountain bikes on ebay

Here's one that caught my eye in your area:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCOTT-MOU...931336?hash=item3d2849d108:g:Z6EAAOSwI-BWLNo~

looks pretty nice to me, and well within budget!

There's also this which looked great at first glance but reading the blurb sounds like it is probably stolen! Must go tonight indeed... Gotta love ebay....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-kona...620203?hash=item4d4d22fc2b:g:hQ0AAOSwCGVX98r3

 

[Jody]

Any of you with a keen eye spotted anything that might suit?

I would say something like this GT below. Alloy frame, hyraulic discs etc. Should ride well and within budget

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gt-avalan...989284?hash=item2374a77e64:g:EFYAAOSwFdtX0cMs

 

[mythste]

Something about those GT frames doesnt talk to me... I think I prefer a more XC looking setup (but hey, It's not like I can be too picky at my price point)

I've come across a couple of 4-5 year old Genesis Core models that really appeal to me, The only problem seems to be that they are running Suntour forks which puts me off. Would it be reasonable to try something with Suntour forks with a view to upgrading if I take a liking to being off road?

What would be the cost of a tiagra/105 equivalent fork (if that makes sense!)

 

[mythste]

At the top of my budget, but can anyone see anything drastically wrong with this?

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2072787/

 

[Jody]

At the top of my budget, but can anyone see anything drastically wrong with this?http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2072787/

I think I prefer a more XC looking setup (but hey, It's not like I can be too picky at my price point)

Bit of a contradiction. The Reign is almost a DH bike and far from being an XC machine. It won't be heavy but isn't going to be a light bike and has 6"+ suspension front and rear so will bog down a bit when climbing. My mate has one and its a good bike, albeit a newer model. A Giant Anthem is an XC full suss (see my avatar pic). The running order from XC to DH for Giant is Anthem 4">Trance 5">Reign 6"> Glory 8"

The GT posted was a do it all XC hardtail that won't weigh too much and is within budget but only you will know what you want out of it.

Would it be reasonable to try something with Suntour forks with a view to upgrading if I take a liking to being off road?
What would be the cost of a tiagra/105 equivalent fork (if that makes sense!)

It makes sense but I don't know road tranmission hierarchy. You can swap a fork for what ever suits your budget and needs aslong as its roughly the same travel and steerer size/length. Too much of an increase in travel will alter the geometry, Normally you can sway approx 30mm without having too much of an effect on its handling. There is a lot too think about with forks from basic make/model, spring forks through to air, damping control, lock outs etc.

 

[Nigeyy]

First thing with that budget is very easy: unless somehow you stumble upon a bargain of the century, don't bother with full suspension. You are only likely to get a very heavy pogo stick with two wheels.

The next question is, do you want front shocks? If you do, cross off bikes with 1 inch steerers -good suspension forks with 1 inch steerers are about non-existent and availability will get even worse. In fact, there's also a case to be made that 1 1/8 steerers are eventually going to be going that way as well, as tapered steerers are now far more common. However, based on your budget that may well not be a concern and there are still many great forks with straight 1 1/8 steerers -just so long as you are aware that long term that may cause an issue.

So you don't want suspension? The good news is that you should be able to find a really good quality mtb for that money. If you are pretty sure of that, then it really doesn't matter what kind of steerer diameter you have.

Are you bothered about wheel size? If you are, chances are you'll find bigger sized wheel bikes will be more expensive (at least that's the way it is over here).

Lastly, no matter what you buy, upgrade costs will almost always be uneconomical in comparison to spending a little more to get that bike that may have that component on!

Oh and the north west....over a 2 day train ride away

 

[Crackle]

You should be able to pick up a Boardman for under 300. They too had Suntour forks but they used the Radon ones which were at least usable.