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Hi all, I have the chance to buy a new bike on the Bike4work scheme so have 1k to spend soon, I currently ride a rebuilt Cindercone at the moment, thought I knew what I wanted up unitl last Sunday when I saw what you guys riding at Thorndon.

I was thinking 29er hardtail, keeping with budget was think Specialised Carve Expert 2012 or Trek X Caliber, I have a mate telling me to go full sus, but can't see point unless I'm going to ride more DH or go to places like Wales which is very unlikey.

I like to ride round the local trails, parks in Essex, so maybe a full sus would be wasted on me? I really liked the Orange Crush that someone was riding Sunday that looked the nuts to me, although a bit more than 1k.

Also I'm a short a** at 5ft6" or maybe 7" so should I be looking at the 29er or 26er, this will probably stir up lots of opinons but lets hear em, what do you think I should buy?

I bought my bike using the C2W scheme, so i bought a bike 1 component at a time to make sure i got the best value i could with the best components i could, not only that, the frame i wanted didn't come as a complete bike LOL

For Essex based riding a hardcore hardtail or AM bike will be just fine, cant comment on the 29'er thing though as i feel even 26" is too big for me sometimes LOL (i'm a 20" boy at heart) phnnaaaar !

Hardtail will be fine but.....

I started riding last year and began on my trusty 2009 RockHopper SL which I bought from a mate. All last year and into Spring this year I used to say Hardtail, Hardtail, blah blah, all day long..

However, I've just built myself a 100mm travel Full Suss and love it. As it's not a big travel bike it doesn't feel too soft, instead it still handles nice and twitchy like my Hardtail but with the rear shock soaking up all the bumps for me which makes a nice difference, especially on long XC rides.

Thanks for that, food for thought Hmmm, this is it exactly I have been riding many years on and off and I even went back rigid as was doing more trails than serious XC, but if I can find something that does not obsorb all my pedal effort I would consider it.

go for a lockable fork there are plenty about

I got rockhopper expert from c2w this may, my pals went for cheaper bikes and all have had trouble already ! im really enjoying it...
i got knee..shin..and elbow pads to soak up the bumps!!!
want to get a full suss jobby next year as fancy some jumps an that once got my confidence up!

Did speak to you on Sunday at the end of the ride in the car park about this, i'ld go 26" long travel (120-130ish mm) hard tail if you are just intending on riding local, go steel frame if you want a little bit more comfort. It's lighter and will be better spec'd than even a short travel full susser.

Everyone that was on the regular sunday ride was on 150mm full suser cos we go Wales (and Scotland and alps) regulary where the trail is very rock. The thing is as we all ride that type of bike no one is at a disadvantage or advantage when riding.

Cheers for your input guys please feel free to recommend any bikes you think would suit or if you are reading this and have purchased a bike around 1k then please let me know what you think of it and the make model. Thanks for all the help Jason

My rockhopper was £800 on the scheme you will need to change the crap pedals!

I am an out and out 29er convert and for what I do they are perfect I live in Hadleigh so ride locally, they're quick comfortable and handle well, I wouldn't go for a fully unless you're regularly heading off on trail centre weekends... I also don't feel Spesh/ Trek off very good value either amd there are better bikes on the market, but then being a shop owner I am slightly biased! I don't know if you've tried the big wheels, but I have a couple demo bikes if you wanted to try, might be a size too big but I reckon you'd be able to have a go

I do agree, i adore my hardtail and i reckon a hardtail makes you ride better as there is a smaller error margin and you rely less on the bike just soaking stuff up but they can be hard work on longer rides, not sure why people say you need full suss to jump ?? bmx's dont have any suss LOL and i find the 140mm on the front of mine sometimes makes for some tricky situations, i often ride with them locked out !

Its really a case of each to their own, we're all different, i was admiring Matt vanders E-commencial at Thorndon the other week and it got me thinking about a full suss XC/all mountain style bike, still do just cant afford one LOL
If you buy a full suss bike be prepared to spend on some tuning as they mostly all come with a 'medium' coil/shock and that may not be right for you.

Well I have new bike or I had a new bike for a day or two.... If all goes well this afternoon I will explain what I mean later and give you the full story

Well Chaps I bit the bullet and choose a bike, the B4W cert arrived I rang around and ended up getting a Specialized Carve Expert 29er 2012 from Evans at St Pauls London, I rode it home to Laindon last Thursday night after work, it felt great to ride, I enjoyed it a lot although I dont advise riding that distance in jeans with a work bag around your neck!

Anyway I was very happy until Friday night when after work I got the bike out the garage and set about changing the pedals for my Egg Beaters, once done I sat back eating dinner admiring the bike with a big smile, then I heard a loud pop! Whats that I said to my little lad Charlie? I thought a inner tube had let go turns out it was the air side of the Rock Shox Recon Silver TK, the seal pop out the top of the shock... Just sitting there!

I reseated checked the pressure which had dropped to 50PSI, I added another 50psi leaving it at 100, 10 mins past then pop! out came the seal.

Sat morning I took the bike to Evans at Lakeside, one look and they said no prob we will order you a new bike, great I thought, can I hold on to this so I can still ride I asked? Yeah no problem, ok I said while your at it can you get me the pop loc upgrade kit please? Yeah they said.

Monday I got a call from Evans your bike is here, cool I said be there at 19:00 to collect, took the other bike down, they took a look and said cant take that it is dirty now you have ridden it, we will have to swap the shock over... Ok I said no problem about 20 minutes pass and the guy said oh we could not fit the pop loc it wont fit that shock. Oh ok no worries I thought I will put up and swap shocks later, bike came down from upstairs and I tested the shock that had been replaced and the lock out would not work, looks where exchanged and they said ok we will look and see whats what, turns out as it had been apart to try and fit the pop loc they had done something to the unit by losing fluid.

Long story eh, bet you are getting bored, I will try shorten. Anyway thanks to Jamie at lakeside Evans branch I now have a new Specialized Carve Pro 29er (has better everything really and would cost £1500) instead of the Expert model, there was another issue on collection I noticed the front hub on the Pro some play, they took it apart and resolved there and then.

Can't fault the Evans Lakeside store and Jamie on service there were problems but they resolve which is what you want.

So tonight I will get it out for a first ride and see how it goes, planning to stay off the trails until I fit some frame protection so just a path / road ride tonight of about 20 miles.

Drama !!

Glad its sorted though

What a palava !