What bike to buy???

Hello im new to this, ive been lookin to buy a bike for a while now to mess about in forestry gravel roads, walkways, downhill, nothing too extreme, ill be just out on my own, not racin. Ive been to a few bike shops now and ive looks at a few second hand ones. I still dont know what i need exactly. Im 6ft 12st and im thinkin hard tail, 100mm+ forks, 20+ gears, hydraulic brakes. Dont want to spend serious money on one either as i might not use it that much. Any help would be appreciated

Well you've described an xc hard tail well so really all you need to do is buy one. How good it will be depends on what you want to spend.

If you hear banjo's peddle faster ! :)

400euro really id buy second hand too.

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbi...ke.html?b=2050

Worth a look. Heard good reviews about the company.

don;t buy bikes from outside your Country..buy local, there are several over that way, take a trip down to Derek in Moycullen Bike Works...or come to Dublin and I'll sell you any fine bike you want in Eurocycles on the Long Mile road or give me a ring during the week, I'll talk you through what you need.
Richie
o876376065

Any need to get a full suspension bike or are they more for jumps?

I'm afraid I have to disagree with Richie. I bought a new Spesh Stumpy Expert EVO last year, and whilst I really did want to buy locally (Cycleways) they were miles off being competitive. I was very honest with Cycleways, told them the price a UK shop were doing it for me (which was 20% cheaper!), but they wouldn't budge one cent. That's a significant amount of money when you're spending a wedge!

On the other hand, it's great to have a local guy who can give you a warrenty and servicing etc.

that was Cycleways, i can do a good deal on Focus, Corratechs and Felts. I will do as good a deal as you can get in the UK.
Richie

Bikes may be cheaper abroad but when your forks blow up or your seat stay falls off it's immensely difficult to get warranty replacements

I have to agree with the shop local advise...I bought a carbon hardtail in the UK and the frame broke and it looked like i was up the creek only for the Super Hero's up in the Bike Rack looked after me id have been without a bike for a long time...i wouldnt buy abroad again...

I agree that there are risks involved. Just pointing out that some LBS' are still ripping people off.

I disagree G-Man, they aint so much ripping you off. It's a chicken & egg thing. The UK has more cyclists in London than we have people in the entire country. They can work off very low margins. Kinda like McDonalds.
Here, we get hit with higher VAT rates, higher taxes, VAT on helmets, etc,etc. LBS's here have very low profit margins, but still do their best to look after their coustomers. They can't compete with the big UK shops on price, but they can better them on service, customer care, warranty etc. The amount of complaints I hear about small Irish shops is minimal. The Likes of Expert, Bespoke, Bike rack, Hollingsworth, Cycle inn etc will stick their neck out to try and get borderline warranty issues sorted. The big shops can sometimes lose the personal touch, but still do their best, and most have someone their that is trustable. eg: Richie in Eurocycles...
Not every shop will be the same, so don't tar them all with the same brush. If one won't budge, ask the next.
I had a guy storm out of my shop because tubes were cheaper in a shop in Majorca..
Yet he was probably willing to pay more for milk in his corner shop than in Tesco. What's up with that?

I had the same experience- bought a carbon xtc off Pedalon and when it cracked, they told me they wouldn't do anything for me. After a year of fighting it was the legends over in OC that got me a warranty replacement but I'd be very reluctant to buy a bike abroad again.

I've only been able to afford second hand stuff, but for 400 euro you could pick up a decent second hand hardtail (some people say they're better to start on), a secondhand fullsuss bike would usually go for more than 400 and may require some more looking after.....check Adverts.ie for local bikes or see if you can pick up a trade in from a shop, just get the best bike you can find for the money....if you're not using that much half worn parts will last you ages.

Forget about foreign shops, you might pick up a **** lowest spec possible yoke for 400 but it may not fit you properly, might not be as nice as it looked on the net and may not last forever.....I think you'd get much better second hand bike for 400, but that's just me, if you have closer to a grand to spend you'll pick a decent yoke up in an Irish shop, or a fairly new higher spec'd second hand bike.

I only use Irish shops for replacement parts (ie: not full bikes), I'll go to CRC a bit, but mainly for major bargains that nobody else wants, I always visit my local shop in the village but as I repair stuff myself and buy used parts I'm actually **** all use to them, they're still dead nice though, if I go in looking for bolts or cable ends they wont even charge me.....if we all **** of and buy everything online they'll be no local shops....if I had the money to buy a new bike there's no way I'd buy it online.

I use the Cyclesueprstore website to give me an idea of what **** will cost me locally because it has a good amount of stuff listed on it....I'll actually shop there too, (their loyalty card thing has saved me a few quid a couple of times), or anywhere else on route between Dublin and Wicklow.

Best of luck with whatever you get, like everything though, the more money you have the better.....I don't think you don't need a brilliant bike to get out on the trails, but you don't want to be pushing it home every time you go out....there's cheap mountain bikes out there that aren't meant to be used on mountains at all.

Buy local.
They'll be there for you when it goes wrong... online stores and most UK shops with web sales leave you once you get the visa bill.
Most Irish based sports retailers have very small tight margins particularly on hardware like bikes. But if you spent on a bike here, they'll look after you on kit, the online and UK boys won't.

Hello im new to this, ive been lookin to buy a bike for a while now to mess about in forestry gravel roads, walkways, downhill, nothing too extreme, ill be just out on my own, not racin. Ive been to a few bike shops now and ive looks at a few second hand ones. I still dont know what i need exactly. Im 6ft 12st and im thinkin hard tail, 100mm+ forks, 20+ gears, hydraulic brakes. Dont want to spend serious money on one either as i might not use it that much. Any help would be appreciated

Well you've described an xc hard tail well so really all you need to do is buy one. How good it will be depends on what you want to spend.

If you hear banjo's peddle faster ! :)

400euro really id buy second hand too.

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbi...ke.html?b=2050

Worth a look. Heard good reviews about the company.

don;t buy bikes from outside your Country..buy local, there are several over that way, take a trip down to Derek in Moycullen Bike Works...or come to Dublin and I'll sell you any fine bike you want in Eurocycles on the Long Mile road or give me a ring during the week, I'll talk you through what you need.
Richie
o876376065

Any need to get a full suspension bike or are they more for jumps?

I'm afraid I have to disagree with Richie. I bought a new Spesh Stumpy Expert EVO last year, and whilst I really did want to buy locally (Cycleways) they were miles off being competitive. I was very honest with Cycleways, told them the price a UK shop were doing it for me (which was 20% cheaper!), but they wouldn't budge one cent. That's a significant amount of money when you're spending a wedge!

On the other hand, it's great to have a local guy who can give you a warrenty and servicing etc.

that was Cycleways, i can do a good deal on Focus, Corratechs and Felts. I will do as good a deal as you can get in the UK.
Richie

Bikes may be cheaper abroad but when your forks blow up or your seat stay falls off it's immensely difficult to get warranty replacements

I have to agree with the shop local advise...I bought a carbon hardtail in the UK and the frame broke and it looked like i was up the creek only for the Super Hero's up in the Bike Rack looked after me id have been without a bike for a long time...i wouldnt buy abroad again...

I agree that there are risks involved. Just pointing out that some LBS' are still ripping people off.

I disagree G-Man, they aint so much ripping you off. It's a chicken & egg thing. The UK has more cyclists in London than we have people in the entire country. They can work off very low margins. Kinda like McDonalds.
Here, we get hit with higher VAT rates, higher taxes, VAT on helmets, etc,etc. LBS's here have very low profit margins, but still do their best to look after their coustomers. They can't compete with the big UK shops on price, but they can better them on service, customer care, warranty etc. The amount of complaints I hear about small Irish shops is minimal. The Likes of Expert, Bespoke, Bike rack, Hollingsworth, Cycle inn etc will stick their neck out to try and get borderline warranty issues sorted. The big shops can sometimes lose the personal touch, but still do their best, and most have someone their that is trustable. eg: Richie in Eurocycles...
Not every shop will be the same, so don't tar them all with the same brush. If one won't budge, ask the next.
I had a guy storm out of my shop because tubes were cheaper in a shop in Majorca..
Yet he was probably willing to pay more for milk in his corner shop than in Tesco. What's up with that?

I had the same experience- bought a carbon xtc off Pedalon and when it cracked, they told me they wouldn't do anything for me. After a year of fighting it was the legends over in OC that got me a warranty replacement but I'd be very reluctant to buy a bike abroad again.

I've only been able to afford second hand stuff, but for 400 euro you could pick up a decent second hand hardtail (some people say they're better to start on), a secondhand fullsuss bike would usually go for more than 400 and may require some more looking after.....check Adverts.ie for local bikes or see if you can pick up a trade in from a shop, just get the best bike you can find for the money....if you're not using that much half worn parts will last you ages.

Forget about foreign shops, you might pick up a **** lowest spec possible yoke for 400 but it may not fit you properly, might not be as nice as it looked on the net and may not last forever.....I think you'd get much better second hand bike for 400, but that's just me, if you have closer to a grand to spend you'll pick a decent yoke up in an Irish shop, or a fairly new higher spec'd second hand bike.

I only use Irish shops for replacement parts (ie: not full bikes), I'll go to CRC a bit, but mainly for major bargains that nobody else wants, I always visit my local shop in the village but as I repair stuff myself and buy used parts I'm actually **** all use to them, they're still dead nice though, if I go in looking for bolts or cable ends they wont even charge me.....if we all **** of and buy everything online they'll be no local shops....if I had the money to buy a new bike there's no way I'd buy it online.

I use the Cyclesueprstore website to give me an idea of what **** will cost me locally because it has a good amount of stuff listed on it....I'll actually shop there too, (their loyalty card thing has saved me a few quid a couple of times), or anywhere else on route between Dublin and Wicklow.

Best of luck with whatever you get, like everything though, the more money you have the better.....I don't think you don't need a brilliant bike to get out on the trails, but you don't want to be pushing it home every time you go out....there's cheap mountain bikes out there that aren't meant to be used on mountains at all.

Buy local.
They'll be there for you when it goes wrong... online stores and most UK shops with web sales leave you once you get the visa bill.
Most Irish based sports retailers have very small tight margins particularly on hardware like bikes. But if you spent on a bike here, they'll look after you on kit, the online and UK boys won't.