Time for a new bike.. help me out lads.

[reefsurfer]

Had bmx,dirt and mountain bikes of various quality.
Now my last bike is trashed and rusty in the cellar and im getting a new one within 2 weeks.

Im thinking of a downhill bike... but im guessing i wont do much downhilling...

I will mainly use it for street but once and awhile i like taking it offroad in to the forest with small paths and tracks.. so some kind of a hybrid bike with shock absorber front and back that can take a beating or two.

Highest price im willing to pay is $700/£548/380pound.

Any ideas?

[Foo]

If you're adamant on getting rear suspension, for that price point you take a BIG quality hit because of the compromise of adding rear suspension.

At that price point I'd recommend looking at a hard-tail with a quality frame, light weight and some decent forks + disc brake up front.

If you go for a soft-tail, you'll have crappy forks, sub-standard disc brakes, and the whole thing will be HEAVY.

If you're after a full suspension 'downhill' machine, double your price point and start there

[reefsurfer]

double your price point and start there

Im getting a new car aswell... so my budget is somewhat limited.

Guess i have to buy a crappy mediocre bike?

There must be above avarage/decent bikes for that price?
Im browsing the net now.. but i cant find any cheap but good bikes.


Edit*
Browsing here: http://www.bikes.com/bikes/2005/index.aspx
But they dont seem cheap..

[reefsurfer]

The biggest problem seems to be to get a hybrid cross-country/city bike..

There is either cross-country OR city bike, but i want one that can handle both.
If i get a cross-country bike it will be heavy and have horrible wheels that will be a pain in the ass to use on tarmac in the city... but if i get a city mtb it will be crap offroad...

[Foo]

There are some great bikes for that price point, but you have to go hard-tail.

What bikes do you already have sitting around? If you already had an acceptable set of components on your old bike (Shimano XT or such) then you can buy the frame, rims, forks and other pieces for a new one and transplant the other parts from the old bike.

Properly formed custom builds are a lot better than off-the-shelf units.

[reefsurfer]

There are some great bikes for that price point, but you have to go hard-tail.

What bikes do you already have sitting around? If you already had an acceptable set of components on your old bike (Shimano XT or such) then you can buy the frame, rims, forks and other pieces for a new one and transplant the other parts from the old bike.

Properly formed custom builds are a lot better than off-the-shelf units.

I have an old Univega (europe brand only?) in the cellar but its totally ruined and the shimano gears are ruined and some of the spokes are smashed, wheels are fucked,handlebars are rusty and over used... i wouldent take parts from it to even build a $5 bike.

Hard-tail is without suspencion/shock absorber right?
Would like to have it though, sure your mostly standing up while going offroad so i guess you could go for just the front with shock absorber... right?

[Foo]

The benefit of having a front shock on a bike is massive, the benefit of the rear shock is much, much less, but they look cool... that's most of the reason for their success.

You'll be going offroad light duties, and also on-road. Full suspension bikes are a pain in the ass on-road because half your pedalling force ends up in the spring, at least with the low-end full-suspension frames.

you can pick up a frame like this: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... odelID=300
relatively cheap, pick up some forks for about the same price, then the rest of the components you can probably squeeze into your budget...

But I'd concentrate on a light hardtail frame, a set of medium-quality low-travel forks (3-4 inch travel), and front-disc brake (get a V brake for the rear... rear brake is much less important)

[Timbo]

http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/cata ... m?ID=20086
http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/cata ... m?ID=20189

A bit more than your budget but you'll probably be able to find them cheaper if you shop around.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD do not buy a full suspension bike that costs anything less than £800 -- they're universally rubbish.

[Foo]

For reference, a list of components people typically over-spend on:
Rear suspension
Rear brake
Groupsets (these are shifters, gears, hubs.. the drivetrain)

And people typically don't spend enough on:
The frame
The forks
The wheels
Front brake

=)

[Timbo]

The benefit of having a front shock on a bike is massive, the benefit of the rear shock is much, much less, but they look cool... that's most of the reason for their success.

That is IMHO, a lot of bollocks. If you think rear suspension is all about image you've either never ridden a decent FS bike off road or you've never ridden a serious enough trail to warrant it.

Also buying the components of a bike is never going to be cheaper than buying a whole bike complete. It's the same for anything. By buying individual components you'll end up with something of higher quality since you tend not to be able to buy cheaper components retail, but as a result you clearly will not make a saving in price. I should know, all of my bikes are built by component.

[Foo]

The benefit of having a front shock on a bike is massive, the benefit of the rear shock is much, much less, but they look cool... that's most of the reason for their success.

That is IMHO, a lot of bollocks. If you think rear suspension is all about image you've either never ridden a decent FS bike off road or you've never ridden a serious enough trail to warrant it.

Also buying the components of a bike is never going to be cheaper than buying a whole bike complete. It's the same for anything. By buying individual components you'll end up with something of higher quality since you tend not to be able to buy cheaper components retail, but as a result you clearly will not make a saving in price. I should know, all of my bikes are built by component.

I'm talking about why you see every chav and his mum riding a full suspension bike nowadays, not about the high-end side of things where people can afford to spend good brass on a suspension frame, and ride them in situations where they DO get used. Clearly, this is not one of those situations.

Likewise with components, you'll notice I was factoring in being able to transplant components from the old bike, which as it turns out he's not going to be able to do. Shame, because you can save money and get a better bike via that method.

Context darling, context.

[reefsurfer]

What concern me the most is the frame and the tires, i want a good frame and good tires that can withstand some heavy bumbping... i´ve seen a set of wheels with double rims on them, or atleast it had reinforcments on the regular rim so it could handle some hard bumps.

I will probably not custom build my own bike with differnt parts foo, my budget is to low and i feel that i dont have the time... if i was a professional/athlete biker i would probably do it and i would add a few hundred bucks to my budget.... but for now i will settle with a mediocre bike that can handle a few bumps here and there.

Maybe i should leave the suspension out and just go for a regular frame and a good set of rims?
That would probably be the best... gears,chain and other parts can always be replaced later on.

[reefsurfer]

This one dosent have any shock absorbers in the back and its an expensive cross-country bike... something like this but with a regular fram and no front suspension should be good enough.

And i do know its the "latest thing" with suspension in the rear and i dont need it since im not going full out extreme obviously.
I do want the bike to look good, but at the same time function well offroad and on tarmac/city..... it seems unreachable though.. lol.

[Foo]

I think for your price point you should be able to get front forks, and if you're taking the bike off-road at all you should go for them.

[AmIdYfReAk]

i hate soft tail bikes...

[Timbo]

I'm talking about why you see every chav and his mum riding a full suspension bike nowadays, not about the high-end side of things where people can afford to spend good brass on a suspension frame, and ride them in situations where they DO get used. Clearly, this is not one of those situations.

Fair enough, but you didn't say that.

Likewise with components, you'll notice I was factoring in being able to transplant components from the old bike, which as it turns out he's not going to be able to do. Shame, because you can save money and get a better bike via that method.

Again you didn't say that. Besides I think you'd struggle anyway, very few components from a old chav bike are going to sit nicely with a new frame like the one you posted. You'd easily end up going over budget from all the components you didn't think you needed because you have them already.

Context darling, context.

Reading something in context only works when you provide it in the first place.

[losCHUNK]

place the handbags on the ground and move away slowly

[Timbo]

:icon25:

[Foo]

:icon26:

[reefsurfer]

Im thinking of Crescent Edge bikes 2005 brand.

http://www.crescent.se/pages/bicycle.asp?brand=edge

The ETC 500 or the ETC 400 unisex.

What ya think?[/img]

[reefsurfer]

Those edge bikes looks good an its below $700 aswell... they say on the site that the bikes are built for harder conditions and that they are robust.

[Foo]

Site is dutch? and won't let me click on anything.

[reefsurfer]

Site is dutch? and won't let me click on anything.

Swedish site,swedish brand, Macromedia flash.

[Foo]

Lousy hurdy gurdy flash shit *mumble*

How am I supposed to fix a 'bork bork' error?

[reefsurfer]

Lousy hurdy gurdy flash shit *mumble*

How am I supposed to fix a 'bork bork' error?

Whats a bork bork?
Just try it from main site maybe?
http://www.crescent.se