Advice on a new bike

[MtbO]

Hey

 

 

 

I am looking for a new bike and would just like some advice and would just like to know what some of you guys think. I have been using a friend's old giant hardtail for some short adventure races (kinetic urban adventure) and some mountain bike orienteering, but I am looking into getting into the longer stuff so I need to almost invest in my own bike.

 

 

 

Should I look for a decent hardtail or is softtail the way to go? It is my first bike, but since I am getting into the more "serious stuff" which would be better. Would it be better to go for new or second hand, I was thinking second hand because of the specs that I may be able to get? What specs should I be looking for? My budget is probably at most R10 000.

[droo]

This one, if you're looking for a bargain race-ready hardtail. It's worth about 20k new.

[GtDominator]

Denpending of yr age, height and physical conditions woud be the way to go....if you are 30+, above 6,4ft and is not that fit then i wud go for a soft tail as yr body needs the comfort more than the speed....but if you are in teens or twenties and is competing competetively then i wud deffianately go for a hard tail.

A hard tail wud also be financialy cheaper to buy second hand.... In my opion second hand can be better depending on the quality of the product...ps. if you do buy second hand make sure u r buying the right specifications and quality that they are adventising...research the product.

[MtbO]

Well I am 19, 1,87m tall, quite fit, but more of the running kind since I am a foot orienteer. I am looking at eventually getting into longer adventure races like Swazi extreme, but at the moment I do need my own bike for shorter adventure races, the odd mountain bike race and mountain bike orienteering.

 

 

 

I am actually almost thinking of now putting everything into trying to get the best softtail that I can for my money, so as not to have to upgrade as soon, my friend recently also got quite a good deal on one. It may be a bike in a million that I have to find, but oh well.

 

 

 

Thanks for the advice.MtbO2009-12-19 16:57:23

[!D!!!]

Someone PLEASE HELP!

i started cycling in 2008 as a sport and my dad bought me a cheap ass Dunlop mass production bicycle,I knew from the beginning it was useless,After a year i decided its time for a real bicycle so we visited many cycle shops around my area.My dad was on a strict budget at the time so he looked around for something secondhand.........We found a fuji sundance for R3000 and thought it was a bargain and bought it.I did a race with it and thought it was wonderful,but it needed a major service so i sent it to my local dealer who is also the cheapest......the news was bad the qoute came over R3750!!!! We were shocked we that we had a bargain bt sadly not,so our dealer said he would sell the bike for us at around R1700 only.

Now i need a bike on a budget of R5000 and only a little over.

He showed me Shwinn Mesa with good specs such as lockout fork,deore components and hydraulic disc brakes,But the bike i like and want is the Felt Q520 for R5000 but it has alivio components,and mechanical disc.

 

So would it be worth it to buy the felt and just to buy the felt and upgrade to hydraulic disk brakes and deore or deore XT components and what other bikes do you know of in my budget that i can use for racing?

 

thank you,all of your help will be appreciated.

But please do help

[javadude]

I had a Fuji Sundance and its not such a bad bike. I can't possibly see how the bill could come to R3750, unless it needs a new shock. I would seriously consider getting a second quote from another shop.