First Purchase - looking for a hardtail MTB

[JRN89]

Afternoon guys & girls, 

I'm sure there have been countless similar threads, so in advance I appreciate any advice you're able to offer me here. 
The more criticism the better, as I'm somewhat lost with all the options available and trying my best to make an informed purchase. 

I guess to start off, a few 'fun' facts that might help guide some of your views, and probably a bunch of unnecessary waffling:

• I'm 32, 1.86m, 90kg, optimal weight probably 85kg, so always going to be a bit on the heavy end. 
• Based in Fourways, Jhb. So a fair amount of my 'weekly training' would likely be Cradle/Northern Farms I assume. I travel often around the country for work and other hobbies, so I'd get to explore a few more scenic and technical trails too I'm sure. 
• I'm looking for a bike to keep fit, enjoy the outdoors and social aspect, and ultimately challenge myself with a few longer 100km rides here and there. I'm not looking for some crazy downhill racing bike, but more along the lines of XC and open gravel road cycling, although some technical challenges would be good fun. 
• Budget, at this stage I'm unsure, but I don't really want to be looking at potentially outriding my bike, so I'm happy to spend more on the initial purchase in the hope of ultimately keeping this one for a good number of years, but let's say circa 25k.  
  
  So, this is where I'm lost, with all the potential options available.
  1. I don't think the budget allows, but I was hoping to start off with a carbon frame, and then slowly work on the components to bring the weight of the bike down over the years. Perhaps the new alloy frames are light enough for this not to be an issue. 
  2. I understand look and feel is not important, but I quite liked the look of the Titan Drones, and colour scheme of the dash. So if they look good, and ride well, I may have reached a biased conclusion but I don't want to get caught up in that, only to find out there were better specced bikes at similar prices, or with better after market service etc, which I why I'm here asking for pointers.  
  
  Bike Options that I'm aware of, could be missing a few:
  Titan Drone Dash, Elite, Comp, Pro
  Merida Big 9 XT
  Scott Scale 965
  Norco Charger 1
  Trek Roscoe
  Trek X-Caliber
  Silverback Superspeed 
  
  I'd be more than open to secondhand bikes, but thought I'd ask for some pointers here before looking what is on the hub. 
  
  Over to you ????
  
   

Edited August 24, 2021 by JRN

[117]

Some good choices there. If my biasm allows then the XT or the Norco 

But, drop your bike budget to 20k, and use 5k for a decent helmet, bibs,kit, shoes etc. 

Remember, any new baaaik will cost you more than the price tag shows as the retailer (yes, even the LBS) will come along with the usual Oh, you need tubless tyres... here... kaaaching. Oh, now you want to add tyre sludge, here.... kaaaching. Oh, you need to pay for tyre tape, here.... kaaching.  And so the list goes on. Your now 20k budget gets taken down to 15k plus upgrades and tools. 

My point is, you can haggle the retailer for these items to be thrown in instead of a discount. Or, check that it actaully has these prior to the purchase. Dont let them fool you into being a total newbie that has no idea and an endless credit card - unless of course, you do have an open card then the above is irrelevant. 

As for a carbon, you'd find a 2nder in that range for sure. Look around on the hub clasifieds and ask on the bring back the comments on classifieds thread and the guru's will help you out for pointers to a good or snakey deal. 

 

 

 

 

[_David_]

All of the bikes on your list are decent bikes just double check stock and availability. On a hardtail your front suspension is very important and expensive to upgrade. Try and get a bike with a decent suspension fork.

Good luck and I hope you find your dream bike!

Edited August 25, 2021 by _David_

[JRN89]

22 hours ago, 117 said:

Some good choices there. If my biasm allows then the XT or the Norco 

But, drop your bike budget to 20k, and use 5k for a decent helmet, bibs,kit, shoes etc. 

Remember, any new baaaik will cost you more than the price tag shows as the retailer (yes, even the LBS) will come along with the usual Oh, you need tubless tyres... here... kaaaching. Oh, now you want to add tyre sludge, here.... kaaaching. Oh, you need to pay for tyre tape, here.... kaaching.  And so the list goes on. Your now 20k budget gets taken down to 15k plus upgrades and tools. 

My point is, you can haggle the retailer for these items to be thrown in instead of a discount. Or, check that it actaully has these prior to the purchase. Dont let them fool you into being a total newbie that has no idea and an endless credit card - unless of course, you do have an open card then the above is irrelevant. 

As for a carbon, you'd find a 2nder in that range for sure. Look around on the hub clasifieds and ask on the bring back the comments on classifieds thread and the guru's will help you out for pointers to a good or snakey deal. 

 

 

 

 

117, thank you for the response ????

Some valid points there, and I'd be more than happy to relook the budget in favour of some other gear, I'd set aside a separate budget for that but I'm always up for a haggle, especially when that card you speak of certainly does have a limit! 

Will post a request in the 'comments on classifieds thread' and see what comes of it. 

Any reason for your preferences towards Merida & Norco? 

[JRN89]

22 hours ago, 117 said:

Some good choices there. If my biasm allows then the XT or the Norco 

But, drop your bike budget to 20k, and use 5k for a decent helmet, bibs,kit, shoes etc. 

Remember, any new baaaik will cost you more than the price tag shows as the retailer (yes, even the LBS) will come along with the usual Oh, you need tubless tyres... here... kaaaching. Oh, now you want to add tyre sludge, here.... kaaaching. Oh, you need to pay for tyre tape, here.... kaaching.  And so the list goes on. Your now 20k budget gets taken down to 15k plus upgrades and tools. 

My point is, you can haggle the retailer for these items to be thrown in instead of a discount. Or, check that it actaully has these prior to the purchase. Dont let them fool you into being a total newbie that has no idea and an endless credit card - unless of course, you do have an open card then the above is irrelevant. 

As for a carbon, you'd find a 2nder in that range for sure. Look around on the hub clasifieds and ask on the bring back the comments on classifieds thread and the guru's will help you out for pointers to a good or snakey deal. 

 

 

 

 

117, thank you for the response ????

Some valid points there, and I'd be more than happy to relook the budget in favour of some other gear, I'd set aside a separate budget for that but I'm always up for a haggle, especially when that card you speak of certainly does have a limit! 

Will post a request in the 'comments on classifieds thread' and see what comes of it. 

Any reason for your preferences towards Merida & Norco? 

[JRN89]

5 hours ago, _David_ said:

All of the bikes on your list are decent bikes just double check stock and availability. On a hardtail your front suspension is very important and expensive to upgrade. Try and get a bike with a decent suspension fork.

Good luck and I hope you find your dream bike!

David, thank you for the response - what you consider as decent, or not? 

The possible forks coming with those options would be:
- Manitou Machete Comp 
- Manitou Markhor Comp
- Rockshox Sid SL Select
- Rockshox Judy Silver
- Rockshox Judy Gold
- Marzocchi Bomber Z2
- Fox Rhythm 32 Float 2

Are there any that really stand out as superior / inferior to anyone reading? 

[RobertWhitehead]

9 minutes ago, JRN said:

David, thank you for the response - what you consider as decent, or not? 

The possible forks coming with those options would be:
- Manitou Machete Comp 
- Manitou Markhor Comp
- Rockshox Sid SL Select
- Rockshox Judy Silver
- Rockshox Judy Gold
- Marzocchi Bomber Z2
- Fox Rhythm 32 Float 2

Are there any that really stand out as superior / inferior to anyone reading? 

I sent you a PM earlier this morning. I wanted to do a post here as well so that you don't think I'm some Oil Rig worker (Bike Hub joke). But any way, I collected the Rocky Mountain this morning from the LBS. I will also add a kiekie here for comments.

PS: That extremely long front brake hose has been shortened. 

[Rolf Hansen]

15 minutes ago, JRN said:

David, thank you for the response - what you consider as decent, or not? 

The possible forks coming with those options would be:
- Manitou Machete Comp 
- Manitou Markhor Comp
- Rockshox Sid SL Select
- Rockshox Judy Silver
- Rockshox Judy Gold
- Marzocchi Bomber Z2
- Fox Rhythm 32 Float 2

Are there any that really stand out as superior / inferior to anyone reading? 

They are all decent but they are not all equal.

 

In terms of the RockShox the Judy Silver has steel stanchions and the Judy Gold has aluminium stanchions so will be quite a bit lighter. The Judy range is lower end and the Silver is the entry level air model. The Gold is a mid range fork. They are both air shocks so should perform well but they are not in the same league as the SID SL Select. The SID is a XC race fork.

As for the Manitou forks the Machete has thicker stanchions so should be stiffer than the Markhor. It is a little heavier though because of this. I don't know more about this I am afraid.

[117]

1 hour ago, JRN said:

117, thank you for the response ????

Some valid points there, and I'd be more than happy to relook the budget in favour of some other gear, I'd set aside a separate budget for that but I'm always up for a haggle, especially when that card you speak of certainly does have a limit! 

Will post a request in the 'comments on classifieds thread' and see what comes of it. 

Any reason for your preferences towards Merida & Norco? 

I ride an xt, and I think a Norco is probably the 2nd best looking ride out there. But, those both hold their value better for resale in my small world

 

[_David_]

Don't know by how much you can stretch your budget (and not sure about availability) but the Chisel Comp looks like an awesome bike. I like the new 2022 Trek X Caliber 8 as well.

https://www.specialized.com/za/en/chisel-comp/p/184105?color=291528-184105

 

and I saw this bike in the secondhand bikes if you are 1.86m tall you should fit on a Large.

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/492891/amazing-trek-pro-calibre-96-special?referrer=top

Edited August 26, 2021 by _David_

[JRN89]

19 hours ago, RobertWhitehead said:

I sent you a PM earlier this morning. I wanted to do a post here as well so that you don't think I'm some Oil Rig worker (Bike Hub joke). But any way, I collected the Rocky Mountain this morning from the LBS. I will also add a kiekie here for comments.

PS: That extremely long front brake hose has been shortened. 

Hi Robert, thanks for getting in touch - I was looking for something in the second hand range, probably from 2018/19 onwards.
I think this frame is closer to 2013? 

[JRN89]

18 hours ago, Rolf Hansen said:

They are all decent but they are not all equal.

 

In terms of the RockShox the Judy Silver has steel stanchions and the Judy Gold has aluminium stanchions so will be quite a bit lighter. The Judy range is lower end and the Silver is the entry level air model. The Gold is a mid range fork. They are both air shocks so should perform well but they are not in the same league as the SID SL Select. The SID is a XC race fork.

As for the Manitou forks the Machete has thicker stanchions so should be stiffer than the Markhor. It is a little heavier though because of this. I don't know more about this I am afraid.

Rolf, this is exactly the sort of help I appreciate from the hub, thank you. 
You know a fair bit more than me, so this was a good starting point ????
Now to spend a few lunch breaks reading up on forks....exciting !

[JRN89]

17 hours ago, 117 said:

I ride an xt, and I think a Norco is probably the 2nd best looking ride out there. But, those both hold their value better for resale in my small world

 

Yip, both great looking bikes - good to know their values seem to hold well, will keep that in mind thanks. 

[JRN89]

1 hour ago, _David_ said:

Don't know by how much you can stretch your budget (and not sure about availability) but the Chisel Comp looks like an awesome bike. I like the new 2022 Trek X Caliber 8 as well.

https://www.specialized.com/za/en/chisel-comp/p/184105?color=291528-184105

 

and I saw this bike in the secondhand bikes if you are 1.86m tall you should fit on a Large.

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/492891/amazing-trek-pro-calibre-96-special?referrer=top

David, thanks for those links. Both are quite appealing to the eye, and seem to have the parts to back them! 
I didn't know cycling had become such a 'craze' in recent years, finding very limited stock across all the brands to be a common theme.