Which bike should I buy?

johnny

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
Hi guys,

I'm looking for something super-tough, really light but not very expensive. Which bike should I get?












  • Budget is about $4k
  • Style of riding ix XC/trail - will be doing a lot of commuting and towing a baby trailer in about 8 months, after winter
  • Happy to look at full suspension, but figuring that I'm keen to go lightweight, that I might have to settle for hardtail, due to budget constraints
  • Aiming for lightweight - got me a good dose of osteoarthritis in the knee and have to minimise impact as much as possible
  • I weigh 100+ kg - usually around 110kegs
  • Happy to look secondhand, happy to look at getting one of those custom Ti frames @beeb has, happy to consider brand new
Have been out of the game for well over a year due to family and having the knees of an eighty year old. No idea what's good these days, but am aware that CV19 has dealt blows to the supply chain and it's a bit of a waiting game ATM.
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
A modestly built spitty. I’m on a correctly sized one now, and loving even more that I thought possible. Will never be ‘light weight’ but not a tank, and so versatile.
 
Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
I think the spitty is a similar sort of bike to the spider? If so, another vote in that direction.

Super capable, not as effortless descending as my tracer but tackles all the same stuff and usually does it faster.
Climbs well, I beat all of my climbs in very short order on it despite it having 30mm more travel and near 2kg heavier than the xc dually before it.
Can be tweaked more towards weight weenie or burly builds if the generic "trail" style isn't exactly right.

I wouldn't get hung up on weight too much. Sure it's a thing, but good suspension will help your knees more than a featherweight bike. You work so much harder on a hardtail, up and down off the saddle and getting hung up on roots and rocks if you don't wrangle the bike right. I loves me a hardtail still, just not if I want to go quick or have an easy time of it.

Sent from my H8324 using Tapatalk
 
pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Go vintage and get a Santa cruz super 8.

Bicycles Online (a site sponsor) seem to offer well priced and spec bikes from Polygon and Marin. I was pleased with the polygon I owned in the bang vs buck comparisons.
 
S

SF Trailboy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Congrats... Old mate the bike broker Australia on bookface had a big Tallboy xl/l well within you budget... It’s pretty old school from memory...
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
SF Trailboy said:
Congrats... Old mate the bike broker Australia on bookface had a big Tallboy xl/l well within you budget... It’s pretty old school from memory...
Click to expand...
Rob is a flog though. He’ll tell you what bike he wants you to have regardless of what you need, and pocket a big commission. Just sayin.
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
I’m sure you’ve noticed it’s a terrible time to buy, @johnny. Used prices are 50% over what they should be in non covid times, and you can’t negotiate, coz there’s 10 panicking morons ready to outbid each other and pay more than the inflated asking price.
I was hunting for 4 months to find Felixs mate a bike recently. Minty RM thunderbolt BC edition. Was $3500, but we had mutual friends, so he dropped it to $2800 (kids budget was $2500ish).
Picked it up, stunning light bike, first ride he binned it and cracked the seat stay.
Long story short, I’ll keep an eye out, but bargains are thin on the ground, and there’s none of the bargain new runout models in shops.
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
SF Trailboy said:
This much is no doubt true, but the tallboy seemed to fit Johnny’s bill....
Click to expand...
All I’m sayin is if Rob is selling a decent Tallboy in budget, it’s other not as good as it looks or, he’s selling for a friend and I’d want to look over it well...or other reasons. He’s been making the most of the covid tax from the bikes I’ve seen him flogging off.
 
D

Daniel Hale

She fid, he fid, I fidn't
pink poodle said:
Bikes and toilet paper.
Click to expand...
you see the lines at the perth supermarkets, F’ers went crazy- lines out the door to get in

PS saw a spec chisel in the flesh today, alloy ht- almost carbon light and well spec‘ed for the 2.5k..i think you will have trouble stocking giant -the 3 stores within 30min of me are still scratching for stock. you could do worse than this merida 120 mm carbon with a z2 130 fork
371903
 
Last edited:
bear the bear

bear the bear

Is a real bear
johnny said:
Hi guys,

I'm looking for something super-tough, really light but not very expensive. Which bike should I get?












  • Budget is about $4k
  • Style of riding ix XC/trail - will be doing a lot of commuting and towing a baby trailer in about 8 months, after winter
  • Happy to look at full suspension, but figuring that I'm keen to go lightweight, that I might have to settle for hardtail, due to budget constraints
  • Aiming for lightweight - got me a good dose of osteoarthritis in the knee and have to minimise impact as much as possible
  • I weigh 100+ kg - usually around 110kegs
  • Happy to look secondhand, happy to look at getting one of those custom Ti frames @beeb has, happy to consider brand new
Have been out of the game for well over a year due to family and having the knees of an eighty year old. No idea what's good these days, but am aware that CV19 has dealt blows to the supply chain and it's a bit of a waiting game ATM.
Click to expand...
What size you after @johnny?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top