I’ll tell you a truth of mountain biking… There’s 2 main ways to choose a bike:
1) Try loads of stuff and make an informed choice based on that
or
2) Buy one that you think looks good without trying much if anything else, then insist it’s your perfect bike.

Copyright Northwind 2011

This has got me thinking how have I really chosen my bikes.

2003 Gary Fisher Marlin (Did a bit of research online made a shortlist of bikes for £600 then went for the Gary Fisher mainly becuase I liked the colour; No Demo)

2004 Specialized Stumpjumper HT (Wanted a light hardtail frame as i was firmly in a weight weenie phase, my LBS had a frame going cheap so I bought it, I had been loking at Maxlights and Merlin Malts before the Stumpy came up. No Demo)

2005 S-Works FSR 120 (Fancied a full-sus and there were deals online for them and how could I go wrong with the full sus verion of my beloved Stumpjumper? No Demo)

2007 Pace RC305 (Had good reviews I fancied a “hardcore hardtail” looked great. No Demo)

2007 Blur LT (Demoed a Heckler and absolutely loved it, started looking around for s/h frames found a cheap BlurLT so bought it instead! So err NO Demo!)

2008 Superlight ( Demoed a Superlight and loved it and since then always wanted one got a s/h 2008 frame a couple of months ago)

Thing is I’ve really like all my bikes regardless of the thought process behind getting them

is it shiny?

does the rear hub make a nice clickety clickety noise…

I MUST HAVE IT!

1992 – Raleigh Activator – Grandma bought me it for Christmas it was too big for me but I had a total riot
1993 – Kona Lavadome frame only (89 or 90) second hand cos it was cheap an ACE
1997 – Giant ATX 970 – had a cracking deal at the bike shop.. heavy but rode up and downhill pretty well.. cept the forks were PANTS
2000(early) – Kona Explosif frame only (’99) second hand. started with P2s then hand a mix of good and crap forks over the next 6 yeras til I broke it – fantastic bike
2000(Later) – Orange Patriot LT – tested a few in diff guises tested a few other bikes .. none seem to match up
2006/7 – Cotic Soul – just wanted one to replace the dead Explosif top bike
2008 – Orange Five – Patriot died – I had been thinking about replacing it and tested a lot of bikes. The Five wasnt going to be as hard hitting as some other bikes but I can really ride it all day everywhere. Put big forks on it with wind down and its truly a ride the world bike.
2008 – Giant Glory – wanted a DH bike and this had a cracking deal. Gets me down most steep gnarly tracks pretty well.
2010 – One one 456 SummerSeason – broke the cotic and wanted a HT – a mate had one going very cheaply in mint condition so I got it. not as good as the Cotic as its heavier and has a ‘deader’ feel – but its a hard hitting ride that got abused all winter!

Work out budget.

Examine classifieds.

Choose bike for sale for budget.

It’s worked out okay so far

Colour.

Basket

gt zaska – got the best bike I could afford from the catalogues

orange patriot 7+ – wanted an orange, felt the travel, 1.5 headset and spec were great, most expensive bike I’ve ever bought

Lapierre Froggy 518 09 Model with air shock ( demo’d ) – again, felt it was the most forward slanting of all the bikes available, 1.5 headset, nice groupset, fox forks, air shock, lighter than my 43lbs orange. After the demo I couldln’t get the suspensions feeling out of my head so instead of getting a cotic I got this! Still very very happy with it.

Work out budget -> Find best looking bike slightly over budget -> A two week old Cannondale SL1 : )

Price

2001 Stumpjumper FSR – wanted a half decent bike. Went to leisure lakes intending to spend ~£500. There were 2 identical FSR’s for sale 2nd hand. Retirees had bought them, then had to sell them back to the shop as one of them was found to have a heart condition (retiree, not bike). They had Magura Julie brake upgrade and looked absolutely brand new. New price including brakes was £1400 I think – I got mine for £850.
I rode it round the car park, but no more…… 😳 did me for 8 years though.

Replaced with 2010 Stumpy FSR. Got a shortlist from reviews, what I liked the look of, could afford. Tried to demo all 3 (Stumpy, EX8 & Zesty), but couldn’t get a demo Zesty for love nor money.
Got a demo Stumpy from my LBS and paid £50 for a demo EX9 from Leisure Lakes, then took them for a day at Cannock. Much preferred the Stumpy.

Inbred – Wanted to get a cheap hardtail frame to put the bits from the old Stumpy FSR on. So got an Inbred, as 2 mates have them and from my short rides on them, it seemed like a decent frame for general pottering about on.

– 1999 Stumpjumper HT – first ‘proper’ bike, 60 second tarmac test, knew nothing else
– 2001 Trek 9.8 – always wanted one, ordered without ever sitting on one
– 2001 S-Works FSR – seemed like a good idea, bought from a friend, never really liked it
– 2003 Racer-X – quick off road test, liked the bike
– 2006 S-Works carbon HT – wanted a hardtail to race on, ordered purely on spec
– 2007 S-Works Epic – always liked the premise, this seemed the first one that really looked good
– 2007 Fuel Ex 9.0 – daft bargain, too good to turn down as a trail bike
– 2008 S-Works Epic – logical progression from the 2007 one
– 2009 S-Works Epic – as above
– 2010 Top Fuel 9.9 – after decreasing reliablity on the Epics thought I’d try something different, didn’t like the Spark, that left the Fuel. Proper 3 hour demo ride on an aluminium confirmed it seemed pretty good
– 2011 Top Fuel 9.9 – logical progression from the 2010 one

So… basically I tend to take a punt based on what looks good on paper and what I’ve ridden before! Helped by having heavily discounted access to a limited number of brands through the LBS.

The only bike I’ve been disappointed with was the 01 S-Works FSR. I intended to build it up with Fox forks and discs and what not (the OCLV hardtail was SID WCs and V-brakes), but ran out of money and just ended up using SIDs and v-brakes, it didn’t ride all that well at all.

Smell

A combination of reviews and borrowing friends bikes and compareing the geometry to figure out which bits I liked.

I did actualy demo an Enduro before getting the Pitch, perfectly happy with it, although I’m struggling with finding trails to ride it where the bike holds me back not the other way around.

1999 -stumpjumper M2 comp
went into evans having decided i was deffo getting a cannondale (mostly because it was light and in a cool pearlescent paint job) They had run out of the cool paint job and they had a good discount on this, really good decision in the end as im sure id have broken a cannondale the amount of DJ i did on that M2. shouldnt have sold it really but i grew out of the frame size.

2002? – wanted a full sus and ended up with a stumpy FSR comp (not much imagination!) was the yellow and blue year with fox forks which i really wanted. was really noodly and flexy, lightweight but felt like it never had much confidence in it.

2003 – swapped the frame out for a Titus Racer X after a ‘car park’ bouncing test ride. wanted FSR design with a stiffer frame

2009 – found a crack in the titus, cried a little, then thought i ought to see what this 140mm full sus lark was about so got the Ibis Mojo SL based on reviews and a test ride of the turner 5 spot (and deciding that was far too heavy)

2007 – second bike cotic simple because it was as different to a geared full sus as poss and looked really pretty.

oh and there was a second hand SX trail i bought cheap to take out to the alps and sell on

Want… if I want it enough I’ll get it (luckily Ibis’s just don’t appeal to me).
Only had one mishap so far, but that more due to my lack of skill/balls to use the bike to it’s full potential, rather than it being a dud bike.

Lust

1995ish Orange C16R – obsessed over reviews, test rode it along with some Konas and other things, spent my first 6 months pay working at a supermarket on it.

1998 Kona Manomano – after the Orange got destroyed in a theft attempt at uni, I had a fat insurance cheque in my pocket, saw an ex-demo one in the bike shop for that amount, thought “I can afford a full sus!”, tried it out, bought it. Trouble is, it was shit, and put me off full suspension (and indeed mountain biking) for a few years.

2005ish On-One Inbred – the £399 rigid Deore offer. Did very little research, but it looked good (evoked DeKerf memories), well priced, was familiar with Brant’s name from his magazine work in the past so a bit of trust that it would be good. And it was.

2008ish Dialled Prince Albert – good rep on forums, wanted something a bit harder-hitting, bought a s/h one to try out thinking I’d flog it on if it didn’t suit. Liked it so much I bought a newer one in orange a couple of years later. Still have it, still love it to bits.

As demo days seem to be quite a recent thing, the only “test rides” I’d had before was leaving my wallet at the shop and having a ride around the block. Which isn’t really enough to determine whether something is any good or not. I suspect in part my aversion to full suspension is that I’d feel the need to try out dozens of different bikes, obsess over reviews and geometry and linkage designs endlessly then feel I’d bought the wrong one when I saw something different.

Walk into LBS just for a chat. See shiny bike,(usually one the owner has been riding, we ride the same size frame, but is looking to upgrade/change ’cause he owns the shop,) have a discussion why i can’t afford it/wife will kill me having another bike, agree on price and payment method (the joy of having a LBS you have used for 15+ years) walk out with new bike.

1993 Kona Hahannah – Christmas present from my dad.

1997 Specialized Rockhopper – it had suspension forks and 24 gears, bought with no test ride to replace the Kona which was rapidly heading towards mtb heaven.

2000 S-works HT (custom build) – The rockhopper had been stolen and I had some insurance money to spend, test rode a Spec FSR with a view to buying the top of the range 1999 model heavily discounted down from £2500 to £1500 iirc, 4″ travel manitou x-vert triples and hayes discs, went out for the test ride around Guisborough woods with a friend, I didn’t really get on with the bike but my mate was considering buying one at the time so we swapped bikes, I fell in love with his s-works so we went back to the shop and I bought one there and then.

2010 S/H Santa Cruz Blur 4x – I’d test ridden one back in 2007 and knew that I wanted this bike, but couldn’t afford one at the time. October 2010, just split from my fiancee and had a nice refund from the jewelers for the wedding rings, a frame came up on the classifieds at the right price so I snapped it up and transferred all the parts from the s-works

So that’s my biking history, 18 years and 4 bikes, can’t see the blur being retired any time soon, although having changed almost every component on it over the last 11 months of ownership I have a full box of spares begging for a new frame to join them, so think another HT will be sat in the man-cave before too long.

what type of bike do I need that will be perfect for the majority of my riding – then shit loads of research – has to be a good deal, not a big brand, and look the part

Turner!

I usually just read MBR & MBUK and then buy the opposite of what they recommend.

Titusrider and I have an oddly similar history of bikes… 1999 Stumpjumper, Stumpy FSR, 2003 Racer-X. Very odd!

Sniff the seat.

Works on things other than mountain bikes too. 🙂

Njee- esp the Racer -X there were about 5 of those in the UK back then, mine got hand delivered to my house by the importer and his dad and they came in for a cup of tea!

i buy most of my bike without a test ride.
not many bike shops will spec up a bike up to test ride for a 21stone 6ft4” bloke.

Mainly geometry now. I know what I like and buy frames/bikes to fit my needs. Long(ish) tt, short chain stays, bb not too high, slack head angle.

Suspension wise, most of the common designs are decent so it seems much harder to buy a bike with crap suspension these days.

I take into account reviews from dirt, STW and sometimes mtbr, but take these with a pinch of salt.

Also I talk to friends who are good riders and ride similar stuff to myself (a bit of everything)

Ghayness..

Mostly on looks, I can tell by the angles if I’m going to like it or not. XC Ladybouy at heart you see, so anything too slack and it’s binned on the premis it looks like a schwinn sting-ray..
Same with Roadies too, though I tend to think of finishing kit/wheels..

I like black bikes me, stealthy, so invariably it’s got to be monochrome at least.

Njee- esp the Racer -X there were about 5 of those in the UK back then, mine got hand delivered to my house by the importer and his dad and they came in for a cup of tea!

Agreed. I was riding for Titus at the time, I got rid of my Racer-X when Paul stopped being the distributor (as well as having problems with the frame not being satisfactorily resolved by the new importer!), they weren’t the same after that!

1997 kona hahhana coz id seen mag reviews of it and i think it looked well sexy and i was doing a summer camp in the states
1999 my beloved kona swiped by scallys from outside tescos, got a shiny new muni mula as a replacement on insurance plus some extra cash
2002 trips to wales had convinced me i needed something burlier but it was a trip to thetford that saw me mess up a set of doubles and snap my muni mula,bac then konas importers offered a crash replacement on a new frame so i got a bear which was excellent took me to the alps, scotland, dh races, trail centre weekends, megavalnches
2003 i bought a 97 lava dome frame on ebay and built it up with the original parts i had left over from my muni mula its now my daily commuter
2009 wanted something burlier, bought a 01 kona stab front end on ebay to match the rear end id found in innerleithen bike shop when i snapped my seatstay on the mabie darkside,built it up with s/h parts as a dh bike
2010 upgraded the stab to a pristine 06 stinky frame off pinkbike for not much cash as i wanted something with better angles lower cog etc, stinky was silly cheap and i knew all my parts would be a straight swap
2010 also time to upgrade my bear frame as replacing pivot/ servicing shock wasnt worth it
got a s/h kona 2008 dawg frame on ebay nice and cheap simple swap of bits over, longer more xc orientated and a fair bit lighter also rp23 pedaled much better- id previously demo’d a dawg and tried a commy meta which i liked but frame snappages scared me off, also tried a sanat cruz heckler descended well but didnt clim as well as the dawg

somewhere i bought a 24″ felt brink bmxcoz i wanted a bmx

anyway im now a confirmed kona whore and very happy with my rides

Perceived value for money. Focus, On-one, sale bikes for me.

Most I have never ridden when I bought them. I rode my full suss around the carpark but my road bike, cross bike and hardtail were all bought of geometry specs (although that probably equals complete guess).

Size of frame is always the deciding factor above everything else – it almost impossible to get to test ride stuff in my size and that can be easily set up for me, so I have to make a decision on how things look on paper and hope it’s ok in real life.

I’ve always tended to know what I wanted and whether something will be right geometrically, so if I liked the look of something, I tended to buy it.

It’s hard to buy a bad bike from a reputable brand/manufacturer these days.

It’s hard to buy a bad bike from a reputable brand/manufacturer these days.

Not so sure about that, maybe not bad but you can find one that doesn’t suit you at all despite all the research and looking good on paper.
Most of my bikes have been bought either ‘blind’ or car park test, but as you will see, got burnt badly recently and don’t think I will risk it again…Part from road bikes were I just buy second hand/what I can afford, but know my measurements and what I like so don’t feel can go too wrong…Although thought that about MTB’s.
Definitely not some one to convince myself that it’s a great bike, wish I could life would be much easier with that kind of self confidence/conviction!

1991- Marin Bear valley, in the sale and fitted me, ride round the car park, preferred the more brightly coloured ones but was a good deal and Dad was buying!

1994ish- Marin Indian fire trail- seemed logical move to something a bit nicer, lighter and bigger. No test ride.

1996/7ish- Klein Pluse II, wanted something fancy! no test ride, bit of a mistake as Klein sized there bikes weirdly, was a bit small. Really nice bike just fit was a little off.

From here on just bought frames and parts not complete bikes

1998 Pace rc200 f6, test rode one round a car park, that a customer of the shop, kindly bought in for me to try. Bought due to longer top tube although after mistake with the klein went a little the other way and bought the size up. Was a tiny bit too big.

2001 Pace rc200 f8, sized down, liked the pace, so stuck with them but just got a more suitable size.

2005/6ish Pace rc300 always wanted one since they came out, bought the last 19″ ever made. Good bike but didn’t like it as much as the RC200

2008ish Santa Cruz blur xc, bought because I wanted to try full sus and recommended to me by friends, no proper test ride though. Fantastic bike, really liked it part from the bearings.

2010 Giant anthem, bought as I wanted something more xc focused and seemed like a safe bet with all the positive reviews and comments. And on paper, angles and measurements were spot on. Turely horrible! Worst bike I have ever owned by miles, would have happily swapped it for the Bear valley! Goes to show, you should test ride a bike first, will never buy a mtb without test riding again. Sure it was a good bike just not a good bike for me.

2011 Orange elite, after disaster with the anthem funds were low, test rode one at Glentress, fast, made me smile loads and feel like I was 12 again, far better bike than I was expecting it to be. Right up there with the blur and the RC200, probably better.

I’ve only bought 3 bikes in the recent past (20 years).

Marin Wildcat Trail – because the guy in the shop said it would be strong enough for an ex-BMXer and it was affordable (broke it in less than 2 hours).

Commencal Supreme Mini – Again affordable and I needed suspension at both ends as the Marin was trying to kill me.

DMR Reptoid – Impulse buy from CRC. Had called in to look at an Identity P66, but they didn’t have one built up. Saw the DMR and thought “that’ll do”.

how it looks 😉

Canvas opinions on STW

Of late it’s been right price/place right time.

Pompino was an ebay fluke.. 65 with lots of kit with it..

Inbred was from long line of triggers broom builds.. think the hubs are the oldest bit.

Mountain Cycle full sus was a drunk purchase on christmas eve two years ago. My first full sus bike, and, it’s taken me down some crackin trails very quickly.

Only time I’ve been let down by bikes is when I’ve tried to get by on one thats a tad too small for me.They feel great descending but just wrong on everything else, no matter what set-up I try….Other than that the GT’s,Spesh’s,Giants,On One’s,Maxlights,Kona etc have all felt great…
One point I should add is,I haven’t bought a complete bike for over 7 years now,just frames.So everything bolted to it is stuff that I like & get on with,it makes a HUGE difference !

Always liked the design of the single pivot Oranges, ever since the Patriot….

Needed a DH specific bike, so purchased a 222 in 2008… liked how it rode… then purchased an old Patriot frame in 2010.

IMHO, both outstanding frame designs – I have no need to change them (until they eventually break).

Kona Kilauea – it was the right price and was well rated at a time when I needed a new frame because the Rockshox Mag 10 fork I’d bought (with a huge 45mm travel!) made the frame I already had handle like a barge.

Marin B17 – rode a mate’s, really liked it, bought my own

Scott G-Zero – Design, price that made sense. No big FS bikes about to test so I bit the bullet

Inbred – bought on recommendation – happy that it rode as well as I’d hoped

Pace RC303 – always liked Pace, price and geo looked right. Turned out to be great until it cracked. (Pace replaced it on warranty, no problems)

456 – basically the same as my inbred so I knew it’d handle right

Rocky Mountain Element – was sold silly cheap on the classifieds so I took a punt even though it was a size too small. Turned out to be my favourite bike yet (till it broke…)

Giant NRS – fitted the bill at the time when the RM broke. Bought second hand on the classifieds. Sadly broke after 5 rides. Not happy

Singular Swift – rode a mate’s, really liked it, bought my own