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by **jon avery** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:06 pm

You are lucky if your company are using Evans Marco, my work order from Holland so they get the bike at book price but give you a very good deal. Prob is you you cant get say a 1500 bike for a 1000.

by **sid_day** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:05 pm

I would go for a Kona: Solidly built. Generic syspension design. Easy to work on yourself.

GT I drive is overly complicated and proprietary.
Cannondale Lefty overly complicated and proprietary.
Mongoose is also overly complicated and proprietary.
Trek rear syspension is poo (not just my POV)

Specialised stumpjumpers ran out early in the season.
A specialised FSR XC would be good value if you can get one with a Fox shock.

by **sid_day** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:06 pm

Kona Kikapu Deluxe 2007 Mountain Bike Â£999.99 bargain!

by **sid_day** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:08 pm

This is also not bad value:
Cannondale Prophet 500 SL 2006 Mountain Bike

It's between that and the Kikapu

by **higg** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:44 pm

The Kona does look fairly sound, but what do I know, I'm still on a hardtail. I can't make out if it's a Fox shock though. Good if you can get the a propedal setting, even if it's only for road sections or racing.

I'm curious about the Pinnacles which have a good price because of their links with Evans, but this is the first year they've mass-produced FS MTB.

I think Evans do have demo bikes which you can book for a day, if nothing else this will give you a feel for different types of full suspension, even if you end up getting a different make (but they might have a Kona demo). If you do this from Gatwick store you can probably get over to Leith Hill for a try out.

by **sid_day** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:18 pm

The prototype pinncles were VERY heavy.
The one I checked out was a 4" travel full sus being raced by an Evans employee: full XTR and a lightish Reba fork but it must have weighed at least 27lbs

They are just bike #1657 from a Taiwanese producer anyway.

The full sus bikes are identical to other brands you see on the continent.

by **sid_day** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:16 pm

Felt are a bit of an unkown quantity yet. It is early days for their UK distribution.

Kona has had been around for a long time and has a huge number of dealers.
This is important when trying to source spares like bushings and bearing kits.

I have a friend who was sponsored by Felt this and last season and he wasn't impressed with the Equilink.

by **mrP(Boonen)VT** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:38 pm

Will in Pearson's tried to convince me that the Felt F1 road frame was the way to go.......have toadmit it was superlight, but don't know about them as a manufacturer?

by **sid_day** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:52 pm

It's more an issue of the MTB Full sus designs.
They have a unique suspension design.
If Felt pull out of the UK (as has happened with other brands in the past) it will be hard to get spares.

by **Dombo** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:34 pm

Get the Kona.

I have a 2002 King Kikapu (frame was upgraded to this under lifetime warranty in 2003 from a '99 Mokomoko). It is a great bike, tips the scales at around 25-26 lbs and has been used for racing, SDW in a day, the odd commute to work and my inaugral club run when fitted with 1" high pressure slicks. It handles twisty singletrack extremely well and climbs like a goat on crack according to one positive review on http://www.mtbr.com!

The geometry has not changed that much over the years and it is a well-proven design, eminently upgradeable as parts wear out. Mine only has the front and rear mechs, seatpost and shock as original.

You see a lot of them around Leith Hill, particularly older models which says a lot for their longevity.

Oh, and the other advantage is that it's not a Trek, who of course got where they are today thanks to you know who :wink:

by **Andrew G** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:42 pm

[quote]My new canondale is about 10 years old

by **ciad** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:35 am

cant believe that you can get on this scheme "ITS SO UNFAIR!"

my company dont even do this and we are the biggest employer in western europe.

I like the Treks and the Felts at that range, quite like the geometry. but for that price range I would get a better hardtail. although very boring i would go specialized for that money you cant go wrong.

I find it hard to imagine you riding a new bike marco! hehe

by **EdO** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:05 pm

The bike I rode the SDW last Saturday was a Scott Scale 60 05 model with XT groupset. I've got the disc mounts should I want to upgrade my V brakes.

The updated model is on Evans site http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=70473
it looks pretty impressive pricewise but probably a bit under your budget. I find them light and have a good riding position.

I use mine for commuting and doing some occasional off road stuff NDW & SDW etc.etc. I don't know if anyone has had any bad experiences with Scott as a brand but they've been pretty reliable for me.

by **sid_day** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:00 pm

I have had a selection of full sus bikes over the past few years.
(lightweight racing under 4", trail riding 5-6" and back to 4.5")
I had a bike with similar travel to the Dawg and although they can do pretty much anything an XC orientated rider would want (smallish drop offs negotiate very large rocks) they are overkill really.

A 4" travel Kona will be robust but not uncessarily heavy.
More than 4" of travel is a bit of a drag for something like the SDW or the lakes.

If you get one of the cheaper kikapu's (make sure it has a Fox shock) I would swap the fork for some Rock Shox revelations or Recons.

If you can't be arsed with that get the Cannondale.

Personally I'm wary of single pivot bikes like that though because they are:

Quick to wear out bearings and shock bushes.
Also the shock is a load bearing part of the frame.

Both mean increased maintenance costs and shock servicing is now quite pricey.

The wheel base on the longer travel bikes are far too long for dirt jumping anyway.

by **sid_day** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:07 pm

The only problem with Scott's is the ones with Scott's own shock.

Any bike with a proprietary shock is bad news for the customer as they have no/little choice where they can get servicing done.

From the last TF Tuned Newsletter:

[quote]Also, as most of you know by now, we no longer service Scott shocks. If you have a Genius in need of lovin', the nice people at Scott UK will be pleased to help - the number is +44 1670 712129. We will of course continue to honour our three-month warranty on TF-serviced Genius shocks - after all, a day without Genius is for Tim a day not lived to the full. No, really, honest!
He's soooooo sad to see them go. Ahem.

Best regards,
-
Caroline
TF Tuned Shox

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