Scottish Elises

I'm looking for a new mountainbike & need a bit of advice. I used to be into mountain biking when I was younger but things have moved on a bit since.

looking for a full suspension trail bike with a budget £1000 to £1300.

After a bit of research, I've found two quite highly rated bikes but have no prior knowlege of the manufacturers.

option 1 - Ghost ASX 5500
http://www.ghost-bikes.de/2011/en/bikes ... -asx-5500/
the 2010 version got 4.5 /5 from What mountain bike and seems to tick all the boxes but I've seen some criticism that it's a bit lardy.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... 0-10-36185
It's retailing at £1699 in the UK but I can get it from the German distributor for £1300 delivered.

option 2 - Boardman MTB Pro FS from Chris Boardman (although he needs no intro, I've no experience with the kit)
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtbfs/fs_pro.html
It's been highly rated in the press and compared against pricier bikes from other manufactures but there seems to be a bit of snobbery about them only being sold through Halfuds. 2011 model not released but there are some 2010's kicking around.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... o-09-34684

My money would go on a Specialized Pitch....

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... p-10-37049

...but my opinion may be biased

Depends on what you are going to use the bike for really Alex, Trail Centres, Cross Country with a OS map.

Another option would be the Lapierre Zesty...

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... y-08-31095

Depending on the spec you want you can pick up last years model for £1200 which is a good buy IMO

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lap ... gn=froogle

I've got a Pitch Pro and it's excellemt for all day trail centre riding. Gets great reviews and would highly recommend. Although i'm looking at a Trek Scratch now...

Like mike says the pitch is a good bike as is the zesty. Also the commencal meta 5s are in your budget (I'm biased toward them tho ).
Not sure you'd get a zesty 314 for that price, 214 maybe tho.

Definitely try them out first tho, sizing is all over the place and you can't assume you'll be the same size on all bikes.

Mike Scib wrote:My money would go on a Specialized Pitch....

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... p-10-37049

...but my opinion may be biased

Depends on what you are going to use the bike for really Alex, Trail Centres, Cross Country with a OS map.

HI Mike, it would be mostly on Trail centres/forrestry commission stuff. I've got Bennachie on my doorstep with quite a few trails around it.

I'd been shying away from big travel bikes because of the additional weight & have read that they tend to be wallowy on climbs - which will be worse for me on most bikes as I'm 95kgs.

The Pitch looks a nice piece of kit but i must say I've taken a shine to the Lapierre.

cheers.

Mike Scib wrote:Another option would be the Lapierre Zesty...

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... y-08-31095

Depending on the spec you want you can pick up last years model for £1200 which is a good buy IMO

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lap ... gn=froogle

I agree.

Alex 111s wrote: HI Mike, it would be mostly on Trail centres/forrestry commission stuff. I've got Bennachie on my doorstep with quite a few trails around it.

I'd been shying away from big travel bikes because of the additional weight & have read that they tend to be wallowy on climbs - which will be worse for me on most bikes as I'm 95kgs.

The Pitch looks a nice piece of kit but i must say I've taken a shine to the Lapierre.

cheers.

It depends if you enjoy the ups (some people do ) or the downs. As said i have the Pitch and my bro-in-law has the Spicy, Zestys big brother. But we both enjoy the downs.

A better bet could be to go for a smaller travel bike like the Specialized Epic or a Giant Trance, both of which will make light work of the ups and still be enjoyable on the downs.

If you go for a higher spec bike it should have adjustable suspension too, so you can set it for your weight better

Cool, I'll have a look at those as well. Don't really enjoy the climbs but don't want get something that I'll struggle with because you cannae change the laws of physics (unless they install a chair lift on Bennachie sometime soon).

p.s. the two options I originally listed have adjustable rear shock & partial/full lock-out for climbs.

Giant trance bikes are brilliant. I just sold mine and bought a Spesh Epic. I do trail centre and xc races. The Giant did everything brilliantly, just got a really good deal on a carbon epic that I couldn't refuse. My mate bought a Giant Anthem for xc and he rates it better than his Turner 5 spot.

make a cheeky offer

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intense-M3-Downhi ... 4cf55a18a1

Lapierre Zesty 214 gets my vote .............2 mates have purchased recently.....Boardman isn;t a bad shout if you can get it through Bike2Work though

GregR - nice rig ! Keep her.......I have a Cannondale Judge myself. Can't knock the old school rigs

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/sun ... 75#reviews

seems a good deal compared to the RRP
not sure if its any good tho.

What about Cube ?
they do some well spec'd bikes.

David

~ ~ Cal ~ ~ wrote:Lapierre Zesty 214 gets my vote .............2 mates have purchased recently.....Boardman isn;t a bad shout if you can get it through Bike2Work though

GregR - nice rig ! Keep her.......I have a Cannondale Judge myself. Can't knock the old school rigs

been shopping around for a Zesty - doesn't seem to be any 2010 models left in Large & 2011 models ar above what I'm willing to spend. . really nice bikes.

We don't do the bike to work scheme here at my work but since originally posting I've found out that we have a employee discount scheme where we can buy stuff including Halfuds gift vouchers @ 10% off plus I have access to an employee discount card, meaning I could get the Boardman FS bike for £820. (leaving £500 for more toys) I think my mind is now made up. Cheers All for the advice.


P.S. GregR - Nice but frame is a medium, no good for me.