{"id":4129,"date":"2012-06-26T00:27:23","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T23:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4129"},"modified":"2012-07-31T17:56:47","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T16:56:47","slug":"choosing-a-new-mid-range-hardtail-mountain-bike-for-single-track-trails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2012\/06\/choosing-a-new-mid-range-hardtail-mountain-bike-for-single-track-trails.htm","title":{"rendered":"Choosing a new mid-range hardtail mountain bike for single-track trails"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I went mountain biking with some of the guys in the running club that I belong to (quite a few of the runners are duo- or tri-athletes… not me though!). I had a fantastic evening blasting around the woods and even managed to get both wheels off the ground on one of the jumps – not bad considering I was on my fourteen year old Trek 830 and very out of practice.<\/p>\n

My bike has served me well but it has no suspension and is fitted with road tyres – these days it’s better suited to a quick trip to the shops, or towing my son around a country park on a connector bar so I decided to buy something with a little more… va va voom… for summer evenings on cross country trails.<\/p>\n

The trouble is, I don’t know a huge amount about mountain bikes, so I needed to learn – and learn fast. This post is sharing some of what I discovered.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. First up, was to determine my budget – it’s no good comparing bikes that are completely different. \u00a0I also decided that I wanted a 26″ bike – I’m told 29ers are great for going fast – and if you’re tall – but I’m not! Also, hardtail (front suspension only) seemed appropriate for my type of riding – full suss (full suspension) bikes are really for more hardcore guys taking on board some serious downhill runs.<\/li>\n
  2. Nothing beats testing bikes before committing and I found that most of the shops near me were really helpful and happy for me to have a short ride – either in the car park\/up and down the street or even further, leaving behind my driving license and car keys as security. \u00a0I’m not sure they would have been so happy if I took the bike up to the woods for a real test, but it’s enough to get some idea.<\/li>\n
  3. With one exception (Evans Cycles in Milton Keynes), where the sales guy spoke so quickly I struggled to keep up (and talked at me, rather than listening), I was able to pick up some good tips – Trek’s Milton Keynes store were particularly helpful, as were Roy Pink in Newport Pagnell and Leisure Lakes in Daventry – and I got some good advice to help me through the minefield of component names.<\/li>\n
  4. For Shimano\u00a0(I’m told that) Deore is the starting point for mid-range gear, with SLX, XT, and XTR rising up the spec sheet.\u00a0Similarly, for components with a number, higher is better (e.g. a Shimano M525 hub is better than an M475).\u00a0I was also told that there’s a\u00a0argument\u00a0to get higher-spec shifters because\u00a0d\u00e9railleurs\u00a0get smashed and replaced… shifters tend not to.\u00a0None of the bikes I seriously considered had SRAM components (although I did have a quick look at bikes from Boardman, Whyte and Cube that do) so I’m not sure how they compare, but I did have to weigh up the Avid Elixir brakes against the Shimanos – all I could do there was take advice – and any of them will stop me a lot more quickly than the\u00a0calliper\u00a0brakes on my current bike!<\/li>\n
  5. As for gears, 30-speed seems to be the norm these days, with most of the bikes I considered running a Shimano HG62-10 11-36 cassette (11 is the number of teeth on the smallest cog, 36 on the largest) with a 42\/32\/24 crank seeming to be fairly standard up front).<\/li>\n
  6. I’m sure I should have learned about handlebars, stems, headsets and grips – but I didn’t. I stuck with the essentials – and what was comfortable\/looked good (although I’ll probably look to replace the pedals pretty quickly).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    After a few days of Internet trawling and shop visits, my shortlist was:<\/p>\n