New Mountain Bike Motivation

[richyrich]

Hi

Am new to this forum and just wanted your opinion on new mountain bikes I should be considering as a motivational goal. I'm looking to get back into cycling as soon as possible, just for leisure (mainly off road, but a bit of on road stuff as well). The purchase would be aimed at more off road.

Having recently been out of work, I'm spending my time on some online training to improve skills a bit. Being keen to get back into a bit of mountain biking I'm looking for a bit of motivation to get me through this training and something to aim for when I get back into work.

I have a (really) ancient Marin Muirwoods, the old Matt Graphite, green forks one and love it...Riding position is great, it's comfortable and has never let me down.. I think the only major change it's had is a new rear derallieur after an incident! However, I do find it exceptionally heavy and a bit of a drag uphills etc. I want my next purchase to be something a little bit better; lighter, better components etc.

I've looked online at Marins, possibly the Palisades or Hawk Hill, just because I love my Muirwoods so much and they do still look good.

Having read a lot of comments on here about Orbea(albeit mainly road bikes), I thought I'd check them out and have really fallen for them. They just look great to me and I'd probably be looking at the CompAir or Satellite. I don't really know anything about them though. Do they have a good reputation etc.?

I haven't actually got round to riding anything yet, as I'm not sure when I'll be in a position to purchase, but just wondered if there are any other makes / models you'd recommend or suggest I take a look at?

As I said above, I'd never heard of Orbea before, so am keen to hear of any other makes I might be missing out on. Obviously, I know the main brands, the likes of Specialized etc. but quite like the idea of supporting a possibly lesser known or smaller brand, provided they have a reputation for decent bikes (and they look good! )

Hope that all makes sense, was a bit of a ramble I'm afraid.....So anything around the £850-£900 mark would probably fit the bill. What would you guys be considering for that kind of money?

Thanks

 

[bonj2]

could try to find an ex demo cove stiffee which has been built up by an LBS or a trail centre and had good forks and brakes on it.
Also have a look at cube - whinlatter forest is a test centre for them, you could obviously try them out there, but again you may be able to get a discount on an ex demo.
Definitely a hard tail though. You need to be spending more for a decent full sus.

 

[richyrich]

Cool...Thanks

Yes, I was only really considering a hard tail. Not a huge fan of full sus...

 

[freakybacon]

Coming up to the end of the season, and the mainstream manufacturers will have their new models out soon- so there will be bargains to be had on old stock if you are not a badge snob. Have a look on the Evans/chain reaction/Pauls cycles websites- even Hellfrauds is worth a look & you might be able to twist the local managers arm.

 

[SlowJoe]

IMO

Hello ,
If you like the muirwood (fine bike) and you want to recreate a little of that old school feel with some update tweaks I cannot reccomend enough the Charge Duster range (especially the eight) Greatold school feel and just so much fun to ride. Check out the website .

 

[richyrich]

Thanks for the input guys. Liking the look of Cube and Cove. The Charge seemed a bit steep when I was looking...Around £1,100...

Does anyone have an opinion on Orbea? What sort of reputation do they have? From what I've read on here, loads of people seem to rave about the road bikes, but couldn't ind much comment on the mountain bike range.