Your Next Bike

[norbs]

You have ideal conditions down there to Hurts. Flat stuff to get you up to speed and the hills to take you to the next level. I loved the few rides I had down there.

[CLP]

Hope to able tag along with you for a ride one day and do some k's with norbs before his epic. .

hell yeah, no dramas. Not that i actually get out for long rides that often. Would suggest looking at Adelaide Cyclists too .. lots of regular rides get planned through there.

I think Norbs is only looking to do some gentle kms before his epic .. pretty sure we can find something suitable!

[Hz-Lab]

Got the sucker... haven't ridden it yet, got it home all excited and the heavens opened..bah!

[CLP]

Got the sucker... haven't ridden it yet, got it home all excited and the heavens opened..bah!

Awesome! looking forward to reading the first ride report

[norbs]

Got the sucker... haven't ridden it yet, got it home all excited and the heavens opened..bah!

Whoohooo.

[Crowella]

Got the sucker... haven't ridden it yet, got it home all excited and the heavens opened..bah!

So awesome, and I agree with the heavens opening because...

I too, got the sucker. Did a few laps of the block in the rain, so happy but hell twitchy. Maybe I'll wait until its dry to warm up to it. Pics too once I get internet back at home.

EDIT: Straight in the door. Now has my SPD pedals from the sirrus, lights. The pedals will be the first change, they feel so heavy. Now to save for a garmin 500

[Hz-Lab]

ooh that looks sexy

[CLP]

I too, got the sucker. Did a few laps of the block in the rain, so happy but hell twitchy. Maybe I'll wait until its dry to warm up to it. Pics too once I get internet back at home.

Niiiice!

probably find that as a race bike it'll tend to be a little on the twitchy side.. though with that comes decent maneuverability once you have it all under control

CLP

[9ra55h0ppaH]

Well, I have decided to get myself a bike! I have a few mates who already ride, so i can spend a few months killing myself trying to keep up! Im trying to keep the costs down, but I dont want to cut too many corners doing so.

I have already decided on a hardtail MTB, Im budgeting around $1300 or so on the bike, but if something is a bargain, id probably throw up a bit of extra cash for it. Im struggling a bit with the whole 26" vs 29" wheel thing.... 29ers look stupid but I have noticed how many of them are on the market, I hear mixed reports about how they ride compared to a 26" too.

I had the bright idea that perhaps i buy into a reasonable frame, then driveline componentry can be upgraded if i deem it "necessary" later on. That idea lead me to this:
http://www.avantiplus.com.au/products/s ... t-scale-70 and being a 2012 model, i might be able to haggle on its price a bit. The only thing that it seems to lack is an air-sprung fork, which the internet seems to say is well worth having. Scott dont make a 2013 version of this bike either, so ill either get myself a huge bargain on a run-out bike, or miss out entirely. Scott do sell a $1500 (but air-fork-equipped) bike http://www.avantiplus.com.au/products/s ... -scale-660 but being a 2013 version, i doubt ill be able to knock much off the price. Any idea if a bike store would offer a good deal on the runout bike, but upgrade the fork?

Can anyone give me any advice, or alternatives? I want to buy the bike locally so i can have it fitted properly. id be primarily riding on firetrails & not too nasty single-track... id like a bike that climbs well so im a bit conscious of the bike's weight, but im of fairly solid build (6"1 - 95kg) but while id hope to loose some weight, I dunno a straight-out XC frame would last with me onboard as the downhills are always the most fun

Cheers guys!

[CLP]

Hz is likely to be the best person for advice on mtbs!

if you are sticking to firetrails, have a think about cyclocross bikes too.

[Hz-Lab]

Scales are tops bikes. Definitely get an air shock if possible. Don't bother asking for the upgrade because the air forks alone will be more than half the cost of ur bike. Push the budget a little and it will be well worth it.

Hardtails are awesome if xc and efficiency is ur goal. If you want to attempt some gnarlier stuff them I'd advise like a 120mm travel duelly or bigger.

29ers have a disadvantage to every advantage, you get fanboys on both wheel sizes ( lookout, 650b wheel sizes is the next player in wheel size) but make your own decision really. U accelerate and corner better on a 26 but a 29er rolls extremely well and can handle obstacles with a little more stability. 29ers will generally be a little more expensive in all aspects.

Giant and trek generally offer the best value in regards to what u get for your money. So don't disregard looking at their range. But the Scott's are definitely nice bikes. Oh, and trust me, at an avanti plus store they have a lot of room to move on Scott bikes. Even on current models, if they don't drop the price, ask for free shit.

Hope some of that helps. Buy something in the similar range as ur mates though, you'll ride a lot more if you can all ride the same sort of trails.

Hope some of that helps

[Enforcer-J]

Hope some of that helps

[Hz-Lab]

I hope SOME of it HELPS

[9ra55h0ppaH]

Im still a bit torn over the 26 vs 29 thing, i really need to ride them, or at least a 29" to make a real opinion on it, 29's look like clown bikes, but I have heard good things from mates who have ridden them, Im looking almost exclusively for bikes with air-forks now, making them fit in the price-range is kinda fun though :P Trek make a dirt cheap bike with an air fork, again a 29" model, and some reviews have said the frame is a bit iffy, but might be worth a look at as the rest of the components are pretty good for the money.

I had a look in 2 bike stores on Friday to see what i could find, an AvantiPlus Dealer, and a store that claims to sell Specialized & Cannondale bikes...

Well, the AvantiPlus dealer has the biggest store in town, 2 stories and room for hundreds of bikes.... they had 40 there at best, and only half a dozen or so MTB's, im not sure if they are renovating, moving or going broke, but no one approached me in the store (i was the only customer) and they seemed more worried about knocking off for the day! Anyway, i might go in there during the week and see if anything changes, if they didnt sell Scott's i wouldn't bother... I went down the road to the other store and they only had 1 bike that was even vaguely suitable, a 29" Specialized of some sort, but it was ticketed at a fair bit over what i wanted to spend, again the store only had a couple of dozen bikes in it, and no cannondales at all, even with the big sign in the front window, i have a feeling they have lost them to another store.

Few more stores to look at during the week, Who stock Giants, GT's, Kona's, Trek's, Merida's and presumably Cannondales! :P Any other brands out there worth looking at as well? I dont think Whyte bikes are sold anywhere down here, which is kind of irritating as some of their bikes looked pretty schmick on their website... One store down here sells Santa Cruz bikes too, not sure ill be able to afford one of them though, as cool as they look... Integrated bottle-opener on the frame fo'sho!

[Hz-Lab]

Contact whyte from their website, their dealers will most likely be boutiquey bike stores. Nice bikes tho

[Enforcer-J]

$1300 can get you some seriously decent 2nd hand bikes, especially if you go with a 26".

29ers are all the rage because they are quick race bikes, but if you want to have fun then 26 be it.

[Hz-Lab]

Fair point about the 2nd handies, but as a general rule everyone wants to sell their bikes for more than they are actually worth. You need to be patient to score a bargain. The other downfalls are obviously not knowing the history and not having a warranty.

29'ers can be just as much fun, they'll make u feel more confident over rough stuff straight off the bat. I do think u need to ride both and see what feels nice. There is nothing wrong with either option, it's a personal choice. You can always split the difference and go 650b wheel size. Scott have a few 650b bikes in their new range and it's a size that is taking off very fast. It's kind of the best of both worlds thing.

I guess the main decider here will be price, and if that's the case you'll get a better 26 inch bike for your money than a 29er. That's the reality of it.

[Hz-Lab]

Just to add, check out silverback bikes too, they come in at a really good price point are are very solid and capable bikes. They are still a pretty new company to aus so their bikes don't have the inflated price of the big guys.

[9ra55h0ppaH]

Just to add, check out silverback bikes too, they come in at a really good price point are are very solid and capable bikes. They are still a pretty new company to aus so their bikes don't have the inflated price of the big guys.

Will keep an eye out.

Any idea what kind of discounts one would expect through haggling? 10-20% off? might help me with budgeting and what i can screw the bike store for if they dont budge on the bike, get them to throw some other gear in? (Gloves, Helmet, Pedals, Shoes?)

[Hz-Lab]

My 1st kona was ticketed at $1900, it was current year but about to be replaced, I paid $1150. My downhill Scott was ticketed at $3500, it was only 4 months after its release, I paid $2200. My trek was
Ticketed at $3500, that's what I paid lol, the rrp price was
$4500 on that and where I bought it was the cheapest in aus anyway.

It takes time going back and forward between stores and playing them against each other. But it pays off.

[Hz-Lab]

Just don't expect much give with the bigger stores like avanti plus. I found the larger stores just shut down any haggling in a flash.

[Enforcer-J]

AvantiPlus took 25% off my commuter even after I had basically told them they'd made a sale!

I haggled with 2 stores on 2 different types of bike when I was after a dually. One store hardly budged (same store Kyle bought his Trek) but the other dropped from $1950 to $1700 on a bike with $2500 rrp

[9ra55h0ppaH]

The AvantiPlus here in Hobart is a franchise-type arrangement, so it might vary from store to store...

Hopefully going to check out the rest of the stores tomorrow, A couple of Kona's have taken my fancy, and I know that retailer does deals

[Hz-Lab]

If its old kona stock then bargain hard, Kona as a company have made huge efforts to revamp the current range to get them back up the pointy end of the market. As a result the distributers have been flogging off old stock like no tomorrow. After conversations that occur late in the evening whilst drinking in a Bike shop, certain deals were discussed, lets just say Kona Dealers in Aus are being encouraged to palm off old stock, and Kona are making it somewhat easier for them...

go nuts on that!

[9ra55h0ppaH]

Well, dismal failure on the 2012 front, all of the local stores have sold their 2012 stock, and best of all none of them have their 2013 stock yet! (might explain why the big avantiplus store didn't have any bikes in it) 26" bikes are going to be neigh on impossible to get too... Felt, Cannondale, Giant, Trek, Specialized dont have 26ers anywhere near the price/spec level im looking at, so it looks like 29ers are the go. The severe lack of bikes around (only 2013 bikes i saw were Giants, didn't look too bad ill admit, was in the size id want and didn't look as clown-like as the 29's id seen previously) might give me some extra time to save up

Then again, the local Santa Cruz dealer said i might be able to spec up my own bike from them for not much more cash, and have it in a few weeks... how much extra cash remains to be seen though!