money to spend... which bike???

[eoinkildare]

im going to buy a bike for messing around with on trails, cross country stuff. i'm also planning on doing a small bit of touring too.

i want a hardtail with disc brakes.
im planning on getting a spare set of wheels with slicks for the touring.
what bike should i get??
i'm planning on spending around 1000 euro including the spare wheels... i love the bike to work scheme!!!

[DaveS]

im going to buy a bike for messing around with on trails, cross country stuff. i'm also planning on doing a small bit of touring too.

i want a hardtail with disc brakes.
im planning on getting a spare set of wheels with slicks for the touring.
what bike should i get??
i'm planning on spending around 1000 euro including the spare wheels... i love the bike to work scheme!!!

As far a I know Specialized are usually very good at anything they try (with the exception of Saddles). You should be able to get a Rockhopper (http://www.cycleways.com/store/product/41601/Specialized-Rockhopper-Disc/) and have money left over for some wheels and accessories...

[SGMarini]

Would have to agree with dave, rockhopper is a good all rounder. Light strong and good for money. I have one for about 4/5 years, bought it for touring France and it did the job well!
Only problems were the wheels, cheap mavics/shimano hubs were a disaster. first the rims bent a few times so got them sorted out time after time then then hubs went rough.
I think the new RHPR has DT rims and not sure on the hubs, check them out though.
Maybe for the second wheels get something a step up for XC.

Anyway I was looking around for myself and see below link seems to be cheapest RH around and they do bike to work scheme

http://www.worldwidecycles.com/c-3-mountain-bikes.aspx

Also worth checking out Cube, seem to be good value but I don’t have any experience with them
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=30539

[TomH]

I'm not sure about any other bikes, but the GIANT XTC 3 is a pretty good entry level hardtail that you will never get tired of riding...they retail for about e800 or a bit less maybe...

To further complicate things...http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15277378

[diamondG]

how often will you be using the slick tyres for touring?
if its not often, you could just change the tyres whenever you're going to use the slicks. I suppose a tyre change only takes 30 minutes.

it would mean you could get an even better hardtail

[Morgan]

If you're only going to be using the bike for touring now and again then you don't need a separate set of wheels. Just buy a set of slick tyres and swap them over before your epic journeys. Put the money saved towards the bike.

If you're touring then that will narrow down the choice of bike. You'll need something with full braze-ons for a rear rack. The Rockhopper would be a good choice in this regard - although you might have to work around the rear disc caliper. Personally I'd go for a steel frame but there aren't many about these days.

I'm surprised Paddy hasn't commented on this one yet.

[paddyobrien]

who me?

Don't worry too much about the biek having full rack braze ons. You can get racks from a company called old man mountain (http://www.carradice.co.uk/racks-and-attachments/index.html)

that attach to the rear axle and v brake mounts. Have been using one for a year or so now (though only about 1 week with a full touring load) and can't fault it at all.

If you've the knowledge to build a bike up yourself from parts it can be easier to get a good frame with moutning points that you need. People always say steel is better for touring as it can be welded anywhere, if an aluminium frame breaks you're generally in need of a new frame. Wouldn't worry overly though .. if the frame breaks you're probably screwed either way.

I use an on one (http://www.on-one-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Not_Sliding_Dropout_31.html) frame and forks as the frame has rack mounts and both have full mudguard mounts (very important for touring).

[Fergal]

Don't worry too much about the biek having full rack braze ons.

brazeons?

are they like male "brazzers"? - you know like, dirty inner-city scummy tracksuited wasters-of-space

ie; "hee-yer, Shardon, ya durty brazzer"

[ken]

Does anyone know if there's an irish shop selling cube bikes? Their site says cycle superstores are a dealer but there's nothing on the site if you search for cube.
Work has signed up to biketowork.ie so no chance of buying through chainreaction or squarewheels.

[paddyobrien]

apparantly they have the road bikes now and will ahve the mountain ones at some stage. Thats second hand info though, so in the finest tradition of these things is probably completely wrong.

Its controversial but did you try calling them?

[Morgan]

The Superstore have just started stocking them recently so probably haven't updated the website yet. I saw a few road bikes in there the other day.

[ken]

Just got through to them, they've only started stocking them in the last month or so and they've got some out in the shop.
So the rumors were true and controversy is a good thing.

[paddyobrien]

and controversy is a good thing.

sure it makes life interesting!

[eoinkildare]

AtsTHAt's a great help lads. Seems that the rockhopper is the favorite so. Yis are probably right about the spare set of wheels, might just do a tyre change when I need to.
Cheers guys, I'm going to buy my bike now!