First mountain bike, help choose

[iBike]

My wife and I are shopping for mountain bikes. Would like to know what you guys think. 

The giant revel 0 (2012) (R5200) looks nice but I have only read bad things about the fork. It is a SR Suntour XCM fork. Should I even worry about something like that?

My other option is serfas xcr3 (R5000) at a good price.

I thought of the silverback stride 10 for my wife.

Any suggestions? Our budget is max R5000 per bike.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-za/bikes/model/revel.0.disc/10751/53439/

http://www.silverbacklab.com/2011_website_SILVERBACK/stride10.htm

http://www.serfasbikes.co.za/bikes.cfm?year=2012&prod=XCR3_2012

[Wayne Potgieter]

I ride a titan comp,the wife rides a titan calypso comp.

 

All within your budget. Check them out as well.

 

We are very happy.

[Pants Boy]

Have a look at Axis bikes as well - I got one last week after a fair bit of deliberation between Titan and Axis. Axis won over components. The A60 is around R4K

[BLACKvoodoo]

What about that new brand , Pygo or Pyro

[BLACKvoodoo]

Or buy your wife a R500 bike (she'll stop cycling and you'll have spent R5000 on a gloryfide clothes horse) and spend R9500 on yours.

[CAAD4]

You might get a wheelset for your PYGA for 5k.....

[CBS]

That Serfas looks to be great value. Don't think you can go wrong with the Silverback for your wife. Whatever you decide, enjoy!

 

Christie

[EZRider]

You might get a wheelset for your PYGA for 5k.....

 

I doubt it... Maybe on CRC!

[iBike]

Think of going for a GT avalanche 2.0 2011 model. It's marked down and looks great for what you pay.

[Motard660]

Look around and you will find GT Avalanche 1.0 (2011 ) for about 5k. That is really great value for money. One of my friends bought one a few weeks agoq and he is as happy as can be with it.

[RiderX]

The fork and wheelset are the most important components to look at when buying a bike.

 

Between the three the Serfas is by far the best value, then the Silverback and lastly the Giant. I really wont go for the Giant the spec is horrible.

 

Also look at what mongoose has on offer they are often a good choice for an entry level bike.

 

If you decide to go with the Serfas then the first thing to upgrade would be the drivetrain. This needs to be changed in any case after you have been riding regularly for say a year and a half and therefore you can afford to save a bit here for now.

 

One other option you can investigate is to go second hand. For R5000 you can find a much better hardtail than you will ever find first hand. This is the best route to go for an entry level bike imho especially since the second hand hardtail market is rather saturated. Be sure to take someone with that knows something about bicycles to view the bike with you though.

[BLACKvoodoo]

I would say Fork and group set.

[iBike]

Thanks MariusD, sound advice. Regarding the serfas, they don't have my size (xl) thus the good price doesn't help. Maybe i am in luck this afternoon. Viewing a gt 1.0 avalanche (2011) xl size this afternoon.

MariusD will you recommend the gt seeing the serfas is no more? Furthermore, my wife is pondering between the axis 60 and silverback stride 10. Can you help her make a decision? Both are in the same price category.

[Andro]

Buying new or second hand, think if you know bikes you can get more bang for your buck secondhand.

[RiderX]

Thanks MariusD, sound advice. Regarding the serfas, they don't have my size (xl) thus the good price doesn't help. Maybe i am in luck this afternoon. Viewing a gt 1.0 avalanche (2011) xl size this afternoon.

MariusD will you recommend the gt seeing the serfas is no more? Furthermore, my wife is pondering between the axis 60 and silverback stride 10. Can you help her make a decision? Both are in the same price category.

 

If this: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gt/avalanche-10-disc-2011-mountain-bike-ec024766#features

is the spec then the spec is also looking very good. Like the serfas it is much better than the other 2 choices. Unfortunately you dont get an air fork but the drivetrain is much better. Im not too sure about the GT hubs you'll have to research what people think about that. Its a close call between the two but I can definitely recommend the GT.

 

Please do make the salesman understand that the 2011 GT is an old model and that you should get some discount on it. Then it would be a very good deal for a first hand bike.

 

To be honest I dont really like either the Silverback or Axis. Silverback is only 8 speed and today one expects to atleast get 9 speed even on entry level bikes. The Axis have some unknown inhouse components in critical areas such as the hubs and rims and I really dont know how these are but expect them to be of lower quality and heavier than more well known components. Both have low performance Suntour forks which is really bad. If both cost about the same then the silverback is probably the better buy even though the axis is 9 speed.

[iBike]

Fitted the GT yesterday and picking it up this afternoon. Exited. Yes MariusD it is the one you searched above. I am a beginner so the gt will do. Because there's no big difference between my wife's choice we are going for the stride 10 just because the shop is closer to where we live. Anyway thanks all for the help.