MOuntain bike help required

[paxton]

I need a new bike to cycle to work throught the whole year (winter too) and also general off roading with my son. Nothing to harsh

I am going to buy a bike through the "cycle scheme" and have narrowed it down to 4 possible bikes

09 GT outpost Disc £303.99

09 specialized hardrock sport £299.99

09 scott aspect 60 - £329.99

and a cheap option of 09 GT palomar £219.99

which one??????

I am also unsure weather or not to go for discs sor V's? Do puddles grit etc effect V's greater than discs?

Im in a muddle please help

rich

[Brimma]

Do you have a choice of which company you buy the bike through, or are you restricted by your employer ? Lots of bike retailers operate the bike-to-work scheme, but I would have had to go through Wheelies Direct if I'd have opted for it.

Regarding the bikes, I'd suggest you go for the best combination of weight and specification. No disrespect intended, but all bikes in that price range are likely to be fairly heavy, and so will require a reasonable amount of effort to get rolling, so try to get the lightest one possible.

Brakes again are a matter of personal choice. Discs will probably pull you up better than V-brakes, and will provide better stopping power in the wet. They can, however, be harder to set up, and require more maintenance than V's. Having said that, the bikes you are looking at will most likely have cable-operated discs, which are easier to maintain than hydraulics.

Hope that assists.

[The Ors]

Hi

I bought This Pinnacle Peak from Evans late last year on a Ride-2-Work scheme.

I'm not suggesting you buy one as they are Evans own brand & hence are exclusive to Evans Cycles but it was around your price point & I am very pleased with it. I use it for cycling to work & off-road & it has survived a fair bit of punishment without breaking. What I'm trying to say is I think you can get a perfectly usable bike for £300.

As for brakes, I would definately go for discs.

Cheers

[Bodie]

Have you sat/ridden the bikes that would be my first point of call to make sure that you can get comfy on them.

Have you registered on bikeradar.com and read some reviews?

[smog monster]

Halfords are doing 20% off all GT bikes at the minute . . .

Halfords for Adult Bikes

[paxton]

Halfords are doing 20% off all GT bikes at the minute . . .

Halfords for Adult Bikes

dont think halfords do cycle scheme

Tax free bikes for work through the Government's Green Transport Initiative - Cyclescheme, provider of Cycle to Work schemes for UK employers

they do another scheme which my work doesnt :(

[*tim*]

I have no experience of any of the bikes you have posted, nor am I going to trawl around bike site looking at them for you, post some links and I might take a look

With regards to disc brakes, cheap / cr*p disc brakes are just that. You would be much better going for a set of better quality v-brakes. At the price range given the disc will be cable, and chances are the bike manufacturer will of compromised other components so that they can spec disc brakes.

V-brakes are simple, and work very well with good pads / cables, and IMHO will out perform cheap discs in all but the wettest of conditions.

[Burnsey]

Re brakes - agree with *tim*

At that price point decent V-brakes are the better option and you can easily change the pads to higher performance ones once the first set wear out. Had cable operated tektro discs on my Mongoose and they were absolute hopeless once the going got tough. Now got a set of Clarks Clim8 6 piston hydraulics that do the job.

As said Maintenance and contamination are things to put you off disc brakes. Nowt wrong with v brakes

GT won't be bad. Best thing is to go and sit on a few.

[paxton]

cheers for your help people! off to leisure lakes shop.....

[Shifty]

I have an 09 Gt Outpost with V brakes, and I use it to cycle around Vancouver, also to cycle for exercise, and the odd trip around the trails off road in the park. Cost me $350 Canadian, and it is exceptional value for money. I would definitely recommend you try one out. If the Uk version has the plastic pedals like mine did, I'd buy some metal ones as I snapped one of mine after a week.

[bengie]

harder to set up, and require more maintenance than V's

sorry but i really can't agree with this, i have never had to adjust any my discs once setup and neither has my brother, also once setup and working the maintenance is far lower as its a simple case of bleeding them once a year or so at most! yet v's need adjusting far more often due to pad wear etc.

our bikes bikes have been ridding in the wettest/muddiest conditions for both fun and racing and the discs never once got clogged up or let us down where V's would quite often during a bit of fun only.

but back on topic if it were me i'd get the hardrock.

[amateurstuntman]

The thing with discs is that a bad disc brake is tons worse than an average v brake.

A good v brake is better than almost all cable activated discs but a good set of hydraulic discs are amazing, so much feel and power.

I have a road bike now but I used to race mountain bikes, if you aren't going to be doing anything extreme you will be hard pressed to beat the value represented by the carrera line at halfords.

My Carrera road bike came from halfords via the cycle to work scheme.

A couple of points on that, if you stop riding the bike to work technically you have to pay the money back. Second, if you leave work you have to pay it back.

That caught me out when I left my old job as a postman and I had to pay it back out of my final pay packet.

Ouch.

Last thing, suspension is heavy and in almost all cases totally pointless, save weight and complication by getting a bike that doesn't have it or delete the suspension and spec a rigid fork on a hard tail bike, there are very few rigid forks available for mountain bikes nowadays so the ones you will be able to get are going to be quite high spec.

I know it doesn't seem very butch but if you are going to use it for work you don't need it.