MTB buying advice please

[elcrni]

hi all,

i am sorry, my German is not so good yet, so i want to write in english if thats ok.

I am Alek, currently living in Austria, lots of hills and country roads around my house so i finally decided to get myself MTB after riding cross for a while.

So, as I am MTB, i would kindly ask for advice on what kind of MTB to buy.

2000 euro on a bike.

I'm looking for a "race" bike, or down hill bike, or trail bike ... how do I know which one will be ok for me. ..

I am IT specialist by profession, i am not athlete and i am not planning to ride demanding forest trails, what i plan is to drive with friends on forest roads, mild uphill/downhill, more of a relaxing drive off road.
Some asphalt as well. So, regular recreating rides, also with family around local farms.

I am 182cm tall, 85kg, 82cm leg

My choices are:

1. https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/radon-jealous-7.0-713589
This one should be "race" bike? Handlebar is too low for me maybe? Unconfortable? Can i get a new stem and perhaps raise the handlebar?
2. https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/radon-cragger-8.0-791310
Turns out, this is trail bike... downhill? one front chainring, is that ok for relaxed MTB riding?
3. https://www.canyon.com/en-at/mountain-bikes/trail-bikes/grand-canyon/grand-canyon-al-slx-9.0-sl/1630.html?dwvar_1630_pv_frame_color=GY%2FOG&quantity= 1
I am not in love with this one visually, but it may be ok ...

Or maybe something else?

Many thanks in advance,
Alek

 

[Altmetal]

I'm looking for a "race" bike, or down hill bike, or trail bike ... how do I know which one will be ok for me.

This depends in your most favourite flavour oft mountain biking.
Perhaps checking what the locals are doing and then shopping local is a better idea than buying the wrong bike via mail order.

 

[elcrni]

thanks Altmetal!

I do not really have a "flavour" yet
Locals, as everywhere else, are into all sorts of bikes and activities, from e-mtb's to fatties and everything in between. I live in a small hilly town with access to any kind of trail, dirt road, forest... but i enjoy gravel forest roads and sometimes easier trails, nothing with lots of obstacles.
I did a further research and i see that perhaps XC is the one to go with, obviously i will not race but neither jump around. Also, that Radon Cragger 8.0 is marked as "trail" but now after reading about both trail and XC, i see that is is more of a "regular" bike than really and only spec'd for hard trails. I will also ride on asphalt from time to time so i think i would go to 6.35 tyres but nothing bigger.

Caragger 8.0 is a beauty and perhaps would cover everything i would do with it. The only problem here being one front chainring... yes, another philosophy as every bike friend i ask, they have different opinion, hahah.

I am now riding this bike:
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/radon-scart-light-10.0-713922
i think i never ever changed from gear, it always stays on the middle one (36T), but again, its nice to have a choice.

I have one local bike shop but they have limited choice of bikes.

Many thanks for all your help,
Alec

 

[Geisterfahrer]

I'd say pretty much any mountain bike will fit your requirements as long as it's not for downhill only.
I'd go for a somewhat moderate bike - not too much travel, rather hardtail than full-susser.

Number one in your list ist intended for XC-racing indeed. Of course you can install a different handelbar with more rise. This way you may lift the handlebar about 2 centimetres. The stems attached are already on the short side. Here as well you can go about 2 centimetres shorter. An even shorter stem than 50 mm on an XC-bike would be pretty strange. But I think that's not neccessary. After all, they only offer 18 and 22 inch. 22 ist way oversized, 18 might just about fit. And its top tube is only 602 mm. For racing purposes that would be very little. For your intentions it might be okay.

The aforementioned goes for number 3 as well as they're very similar in geometry.


Number two is a bike which will give you a lot of confidence on more difficult tracks, e. g. steeper slopes, rocky terrain with a lot of tree roots. It's not meant for the sole use on fire roads. But it might fit as well. The Frame is a bit longer, which induces a more stretched bosition. But the headtube is longer and so is the Suspension fork. This brings up the handlebar and thus a more comfortable position.

A one-by drivetrain will be no problem on either bike. The range of gears is wide enough, a lot wider than the cassette on your Scart light. You'll get along with it for sure.

If you're absolutely sure you won't get into riding trails then go for number one or three.
You might even consider buying a gravel bike (similar to your Scart light, but with dropbar), but my choice would be an XC-hardtail like 1 or 3.

If you might get interested in rougher terrain, buy number two.

 

[Flow3200]

As you aren't quite sure what to buy I could recomand to visit a bike shop and try out some different kind of bikes (Hardtail and Fully).
In my opinion a Hardtail would make more sense (Better Equipement for Price, Lighter, Easier to Maintain). As you want to have a little bit of fun Downhill on Trails, I would consider a Trail Hardtail which has a bitter fork and a Dropperpost. For example the Ghost Asket: https://www.ghost-bikes.com/bikes/hardtail/bike/asket-89-al/. You still have the advantages of a Hardtail but you get some advantages for your Downhill as well.

 

[rhnordpool]

Buying online without practical experience of the various types of mountain biking and thus no real experience what kind of bike is fitting you, is a bit like playing lottery with pretty expensive lottery tickets.
Have a look at the single trail scale: http://www.singletrail-skala.de/ (I assume you can read and understand a bit German)
With the bike you have now, you can bike asphalt, forestry roads and - by chosing "thicker" profiled tires - singletrails up to S1 easily (as long as you are not focused on high speed down hill biking and jumping).
So why not take it a bit more relaxed, enjoy your recent bike and try to rent and test some bikes (CC, AM/Trail, Enduro, HT or Fully, whatever you can grab) and experience the differences. Then you will be able to make a real choice. You are in the Alpes somewhere, may be your local shop rents bikes, may be there are some Bikeparks or tourist spots in the area, where you can rent bikes for a real test in the right environments.
The alternative would be to look for a typical "one-fits-all"bike in size L, hoping that the geometry fits you - and if not, hoping that you can make it fit by changing the handle bar, etc.
Bikes usually used for Alpcross are such bikes - not too heavy (12,5-13,5 kgs in size M), not too much travel (120-130 mm), a steering angle 66°-68° and with 2x10/11 gear shift (in case you later would prefer 1xXX you can easily change to it, vice versa is not always possible). Still you should test some fullies to experience the difference and decide, whether you buy a hardtail or fully. The bike should allow 2.4 tires, more is only needed, if you reach expert status with rather extreme biking interests.
Key point is in my opinion really how important high speed down hill and jumping with the bike is for you.
Only if this is of great importance for you, then you really should increase your practical experience by intensive bike testing/renting before you buy.
These infos are based on my personal experiences with 15 years of biking with old heavy hardtails, 120-140 mm fullies, some Alpcross and lots of trails in Alps and hilly areas up to S2. I enjoy biking in great environments, enjoy technical biking with looking for the right line, do not like bikeparks, big jumps and fast down hill and enjoy to reach the top of the hill with my own forces on a rather light weight bike (typical Alpcross bike).
One little advice for the thread here: If you get "extreme" advice, ask the author, what kind of biker he is and what he likes to do and compare, how this fits to your ideas of mountainbiking. Otherwise you run risk to listen to the wrong people.

 

[elcrni]

thanks guys, really helping!
I am not planning to ride exclusively on gravel/farm/forest roads, i can manage all that with my Scart Light now, great bike! However, when i go riding with my friends we mostly ride easier road/trail because of my fitness, skill and my bike.
I am into hardtail only, really dont need fully. Now, as "Geisterfahrer" said: If you're absolutely sure you won't get into riding trails then go for number one or three... I am not sure, i would like the option. I really like number 2., and by comparing all 3 bikes, they are not radically different... so i should be OK on number 1. and 2. for both, relaxed gravel road riding and some easier forest trail, up or down.

I do not plan to go serious with MTB, i will not race on any sort of terrain, i will not jump, climb rocks... i want to be able to ride my bike on various terrains marked as "easy-mid" in terms of skill and fitness needed, and have fun.

Again, all 3 bikes are, at least to me, quite similar. Also of concern is riding comfort, i will rarely be on the bike for longer than 2-4 hours but it would be nice to be comfortable.

 

[rhnordpool]

Also of concern is riding comfort, i will rarely be on the bike for longer than 2-4 hours but it would be nice to be comfortable.

Then at least test some fullies on a longer tour to experience the difference.
I biked several years with a hardtail but lived than in a flat area with rather bad roads with cobblestones and lots of potholes. Doing longer tours regularily on such roads made me change to a fully.

 

[elcrni]

i had a cheap fully some 15 years ago, i remember i was going up and down all the time being always around 85-88kg it really made me feel like riding a horse

 

[Geisterfahrer]

The main differences are fork travel and the dropper post on number two as well as its head angle. But number 2 and three could probably be retrofitted with such a post as well. The other differences however can't be altered.

As for full suspension: You can't compare your ancient full-susser to a modern bike. Things have evolved a lot.

Probably it would be really best if you tested some modern bikes to experience things yourself and make up your mind.

 

[scylla]

As for full suspension: You can't compare your ancient full-susser to a modern bike. Things have evolved a lot.

Geisterfahrer is absolutely right there! No modern fullsuspension bike has much of this "riding a horse" feeling anymore. This was long time ago. Today the linkage and suspension technique is so advanced that not much energy is wasted in the suspension and it doesn't bob around much on the climbs. And if it should do so, then there is a "lockout" or "platform" switch on the rear shock in order to keep it quiet.

When you say that you are after relaxed fun rides and look for comfort, in my opinion this really calls for a fullsuspension bike. To be clear about that, there's nothing wrong about hardtails, I ride mostly on hardtails myself. But it's a lot more demanding, both in terms of technique on singletrails and in terms of fatique on rough terrain, therefore it is by far not as relaxed and comfortable as a fullsuspension not only on singletrails but even on rough dirtroads with ruts and potholes. With fullsuspensions being as advanced as they are now, the reasons to choose a hardtail are: you don't want to spend so much money... you want to improve your own technique and/or you are after a good challenge... your riding style is rather slow on very technical trails... you want to ride really fast/race on smooth terrain ... you are a wight-weenie... you want a low-maintenance bike... you want to have the pure feeling of less suspension.
As far as I understood your ideas about biking, nothing of that applies to you. So I think you should at least have a look at some moderate fullsuspensions (i.e. not too much travel, not too aggressive geometry, relaxed position on the bike), and also test them if you get the chance, before you rule them out categorically. With fullsuspension also the category named "Trailbike" would apply best to your needs I suppose... you already looked into that for hardtails, and it's basically the same with fullsussers.

 

[elcrni]

Thanks for all your help guys!
I think i have finally decided on Radon: https://www.radon-bikes.de/en/mountainbike/hardtail/cragger/cragger-80-2019/

Now, the more i read the more i see people saying that one front chainring is for strong MTB riders, which i am not, so... I've found a gear calculator: http://gears.mtbcrosscountry.com/#29I7035I11778
and i see that gearing ratio on Radon 32T - 10-50 is pretty much the same as 36/26T - 11-42 on canyon 9.0 SLX AL...

Also, i am reading reviews on Canyon customer service and their reviews are awful, people having nightmares with orders and waiting for months on some occasions.

So the main question is, is this gearing calculation right? Does this math means that i will have the same gears on Radon as i would have on Canyon? I am suspicious as if its the same, why people would use 2x11 setups...

Many thanks,
Alek

 

[Aldar]

Yes the calculation is right, the difference are the steps betwen the gears , they are just a bit bigger on the single Chainring

 

[Geisterfahrer]

You can easily calculate it for yourself: Simply divide 32 by 50 (0.64) and 26 by 42 (0.619) and compare. The higher the figure the harder to pedal. In this case it's pretty much the same.
Nowadays one ring usually works fine for most riders. Some want a wider choice of gears and not such big leaps between the rings. Those better pick 2 chainrings and a narrower cassette.

When it comes to reports on Canyon you have to consider that mostly dissatisfied people make statements on the internet. There are or at least were indeed some issues. And often people have to wait a long time till they finally get their bikes. You can be lucky or unfortunate.

 

[RFS_134]

people having nightmares with orders and waiting for months on some occasions.

there`s a simple rule with Canyon orders: if it`s marked as "in stock", on the website, you will get it instantly. If there`s a delivery date in the future, there might be a surprise in one or the other direction

 

[elcrni]

Thanks guys!

RFS134: Yes, seems to be the simple rule but... i have sent an email to Canyon 4 days ago asking for bike availability and still no reply. On trustpilot reviews i see that bikes "in stock" are often weeks late, so... it's one thing when you know you will wait but another when you should get it in 10 days and instead you get it month later.
On the other hand, bought two bikes from Bike-discount and both arrived within a week. Oh well, just not ready to gamble.

One last question is on tyres: Radon has Hans Dampf rear and front... and since i will be riding equally on asphalt, forest road, gravel and some trails, would this be ok or should i replace them, with Ralph, Ron...?

Many thanks again, you have been of huge help!
Alek

 

[RFS_134]

Radon has Hans Dampf rear and front... and since i will be riding equally on asphalt, forest road, gravel and some trails, would this be ok or should i replace them, with Ralph, Ron...?

Hans Dampf is mainly built for All Mountain/Off Road use. But i don`t think you have to change them instantly. Rolling resistance may be a bit higher than other tires with more mixed profile. But tires are always a compromise, that depends on your most driven terrain. I think you can easily use them for your mixed tours and replace them when they`re done..