You are hereForums / By Discipline / Mountain (off road) / MTB Gear / n +1 help
n +1 help
The time has come for me to upgrade my 26" HT after a year of great service. It's given me the MTB bug and taken all the stacks and abuse I can throw at it. I'm probably going to retire it to a road training bike now to keep the k's down on the new bike.
My budget is around $2k so I'm looking at another hard tail. I've not ridden a 29er yet but I think that's the direction I'm going to go, I felt out of place on a 26" bike at Awaba last week!
The 2 bike I'm looking at are:-
Giant XtC 29er 0
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/bikes/model/...
Felt Nine Race
http://www.feltbicycles.com/Australia/2012/29-/N...
The specs are pretty similar and it'll probably come down to feel but I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts and alternative suggestions.
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
Get a dually
Felt as there are to many gaints in the world.
Check out Divinci bikes my brother just got a 29er dually. Sweet looking bike. There 29er hard tail looks the goods as well for the money.
Can never go wrong with a Canadain bike
If possible it would be good if you could throw a leg over a 29er and see what you like and don't like.
I am umming and rring over HT or FS atm....but possibly leaning towards an anthem 29er. Yet to ride one!
I would only get a 29er for 100km races or longer rides and not doing much of either at the moment....
I got a bike fit recently and found that my body geometry suits different bikes more,I.E seat tube angle, and lengths of frames. Worth checking that out first to see which bike geometry suits your body type.
I used Trysport in Bassendean, (budgie)they were great and only $50 was around a 45 minute basic fit and they are happy advise on bike geometries and sizes befor you spend your money
I'm with Andy, get a dually. You are making us look look slow
Being serious, I would take both bikes for a test run and see how they go, getting fitted up sounds like a plan and I guess you need to weigh up whether you want to get a better quality frame (felt) or better quality componants (giant)
Andy, after trying Thomo's dually, I really didn't like the way it bobbed when climbing. Also, my budget doesn't stretch to a decent spec dually.
Floydo, one of the reasons I bought my current Felt is because it is something you don't see very often. The Devinci bikes are nice, do you know of a stockist in Sydney so I can see one in the flesh?
Shano, I'll definitely be giving what ever bike I buy a bit of a test ride, even if it's only a couple of laps of the block.
Timepoor, a bike fit sounds great, especially at that price. Does anyone know of bike fitting for a similar price in Sydney?
Thomo, I'm trying to find someone who stocks the Felt to give it a test ride, the Giant is in at my LBS and I plan to go have ride this week.
What makes you say the frame is better on the Felt?
I'd be wary.
They're brought in by Meeco, the same mob as the Contour cameras. I've found - first hand - their service to be average, and their attitude towards receiving constructive customer feedback on their products quite poor.
While I don't have first hand experience, never having been a customer, the word in the industry is that Giant's support is excellent.
You may get lucky and not need either, but if the bikes are otherwise close in performance I know what would swing my decision.
have a look at the welding joints, when i was comparing bikes the giants welds are rather larger and untidy (look like they been done by a high school student) compared to other brands (smoother and less bulky more professional), obviously this is my opinion. The giants I have looked at have far more flex in the rear end than other brands, again this is based on my opinion and experience.
Interesting, Thomo, you have a better eye for detail than me. I'll look out for frame flex when testing them both. Thanks.
John, thanks for the insight. Do they have a shop I could go and see their bikes?
On paper it's hard to go past the Giant's, they just have great spec for the money. The felt looks nice but doesn't have the same level of spec as the Giant (i.e. cheap cranks and brakes). The downside to the Giant is that everyone has one but that's for good reason. Personally I'd go for the Giant, if you wanted to in the future you could pick up a chinese carbon frame for $500, sell the XTC frame to cover some costs, and swing the parts across to end up with a nice custom 29er
"have a look at the welding joints, when i was comparing bikes the giants welds are rather larger and untidy (look like they been done by a high school student) compared to other brands (smoother and less bulky more professional), obviously this is my opinion. The giants I have looked at have far more flex in the rear end than other brands, again this is based on my opinion and experience."
Some people's opinions are just that. Opinions.
My Spanish is not too good so don't quote me, but....
I'm fairly certain this guy had no complaints about rear end flex on his Giant the other night as he crossed the line on stage 14 TDF.
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/teamsriders/...
Jess Douglas doesn't seem to have too many problems either.
http://www.jessicadouglas.com/
If you're really interested in the Felt, try TBSM in Mortdale. Well worth the trip from anywhere in Sydney.
to the felt and xtc is the specialized Carve Pro. for $2K.
Very similar spec if a bit cheaper....
http://www.specialized.com/au/gb/bikes/mountain/...
@oldandslow jess douglas and luis leon sanchez have vested interests in promoting giant bikes (heck they get paid to ride them). Now as for Sanchez, the carbon frames giant makes for their road team are not available to the public (use high grade high modulus stuff which is actually carbon fibre). Now as for Jess Douglas, sure her frame may be a giant bike, but before she rode for giant im pretty sure as a non sponsored rider she rode a Scott Spark, much stiffer than any giant out there.
Now sure giants feel very stiff (its because they use a wider standard head tube). BUT the only reason some people believe ghost shifting exists is because Giant frames have been known to flex up to 5mm laterally, pulling the cable and shifting for you... You see the approach to bike making is different. The name GIANT says it all, we're big, they mass produce bikes. Now having worked for bike shops who stock both Giant and Felt ill tell you the profit margins on both those brands are very much the same. So where does the extra cost come from on the Felt? - Answer: Production quality. The Felt frames are really nice stuff. You can't honestly tell someone that a bike with lesser spec that is slightly more expensive is automatically a worse machine.
Now at the end of the day whats going to make a bigger difference to Pete B. Will it be the smoother shifting action of an xt over and slx (which is marginal) or the supposedly better fork on the giant (evo series forks arent actually made by fox and the performance compared to a reba is much the same, in fact the reba has better damping qualities) or will it be a better made frame?
My advice is to ride the two, throw "on paper" spec out the window, which shop gives you better service (because that's also a factor), which bike just feels better, because spec will contribute to the feel of the bike. Remember that the frame is what really is the heart of the bike, not that bling xt derailleur or those shiny elixir 5 brakes, although they will contribute to your decision as they impact the overall feel of the bike.
Hope this helps!
Finally seen the light and coming over to the dark side of 29ers. Once there you never go back.
I think there are a few points in your opinion piece that are worthy of addressing.
1. Sanchez's frame is available to the public, all TDF race bikes legally have to be commercially available. In this case it's a TCR Advanced SL
2. Giant can sell their bikes cheaper than felt etc because of their enormous buying power with the component suppliers and economies of scale for frame manufacture and assembly. They also tend to have their own factories rather than buying frames from other suppliers. The bikes they make that are cheaper due to lower production quality are the ones that compete in the lower segments like the Boulder and the Talon against other comparable cheaper bikes.
I don't disagree that frame feel is very important, but just there's nothing to support the theory that Giant frames are rubbish or their better component specs should be ignored
Lots of food for thought there guys, thanks.
My LBS (inner city cycles) stocks both these bikes, admittedly lower spec but the same frames. I'm going to have a test ride on them both this Thursday. I'll let you know how I get on.
This may be a newbie question but, what am I looking for when you say "frame flex"? Is there a way of testing for this?
Here some food for thought regarding frame flex. If you're like me you will scroll to the bottom for the conclusion
http://www.bikethink.com/bicycle-frame-efficiency/
@Pete B, there is one major factor when buying a new bike you seem to have missed, what looks better
Mikey,
"So where does the extra cost come from on the Felt? - Answer: Production quality. "
Your logic is incorrect. It may be the case that felt's frames are better, but it has little to do with the bike shops price. the pricing into a retailer has almost no relationship at all to cost of production, for almost any product.
Thnigs, bits, substances that are produced on capital equipment are so damn cheap to rpoduce the marginal widget, that it matters not at all to the marketing dept who set the prices. If it were the case then bike A would be hte better product because bike A is more expensive than bike B - nothing could be further from the truth.
Perhaps the dumbest australianism there is, is "you get what you pay for" - no you dont, the price is what maximises profit - and the more people who believe price is indicative of quality, the more importers will increase their price.
The point I was trying to make was that no matter what brand name you throw up, some one will always be willing to trash it. Particularly the name Giant.
There is a good reason you tend to see so many of them. They make a good value bike.
If they were rubbish Team Rabobank, Jess Douglas and many others wouldn't risk their reputations and careers riding them. Don't recall any Big W's in the TDF.
Is the Giant better than the Felt? Don't know?
What I am fairly certain of is that for $2000 you'll get a good hardtail no matter what brand you decide to go with.
Enjoy
Gents
I couldn't agree with oldandslow more, I ride a Merida 120 and I am sure there are those that will rubbish my choice and that is fine. I guess the beauty of having a large range of bikes to choose from we can make our own opinions up on the various brands
I rode about 6 or 7 different bikes before choosing my bike, the Merida just felt great to ride compared to the other brands and I was not happy with the construction of the giant bikes.
Pete asked for our opinions so I offered mine, if he decides that he doesn't agree with me and the Giant is the bike he wants for whatever reason, thats fine. I think we can get a bit precious sometimes.
ok - to be compltely upfront - I do have some bias to declare - I am supported by the following brand and shop.
Just keeping it fair.
What I would suggest would be to look to buy a bike from the same place that fits you. A bike brand that offers a proper fit service is sure to be better than getting fitted by MrX and then speaking to MrY in the shop with the advice.
Take a look at the Specialized Carve range. Excellent hardtails, race, trail, cruise - whatever. They also have the excellent BG fit service - so everything is all dialled in together at point of sale. Shorter / Longer stem. Wider saddle perhaps? All of this stuff can be worked in.
Of course, this means that you might get a chainset that is a grade lower than on other brands. Not really that big of a deal in my mind.
If you're in the City, drop into the new Specialized Concept store on Clarence street. They have some Carve's in there now. They have a full BG fit service.
Even if I was supported by them - I would be suggesting a good fit ahead of a shinier chainset everytime.
Couldn't agree more. A good bike fit is invaluable and a Specialized is priceless
sure, you see plenty of them around but that's because they're good at the heart... The frame. They just make excellent frames that perform really well.
My next ride will be a Specialized without question. That's just my opinion and it's not to say that the Giant and Felt aren't worth a try. If the Specialized wasn't in the running I'd be favouring the Felt if not for anything else more than knowing how much you enjoy your current ride. Call it loyalty if you may
I just saw the Bike addiction has XTC Composite 29ers for $2,400 (normally $3k). If you can stretch your budget to that it's pretty amazing value
After careful consideration and plenty of research into various bikes, taking everyone's advice into consideration, I called into a bike ship on my way home and bought a bike that I knew very little about and had done no research on! I took it on a reasonable length ride around the local back streets near the shop and it just seemed to fit. It didn't really feel any bigger than my current 26.er. Hopefully it'll feel the same on the trails! After getting home and reading a few reviews, it seems to be a well regarded bike which made me feel a lot better.
(DiscoDan - I did go and have a look at the an XTC composite, nice bike and I nearly bought it - if only Giant didn't go so mad with the blue paint! It just made it look cheap! No offence to anyone who owns a Giant, the color scheme isn't for me)
(Ant - The guy in the shop mentioned that he rode with you and Jenny and invited me to join you at the next race. If we do bump into each other at some point, maybe I could grab a couple of tips from you about setting my bike up properly?)
I pick it up tomorrow and can't wait to take it on the trails this weekend.
What did you get?
Better photo's after I pick it up. (With reflectors removed!)
The shop has upgraded the fork from standard
Looks like a nice bike, looking forward to seeing it in action
I'm trying to think of who this chap might be, and which shop it is?
Having seen its a Bianchi - I can think of only one shop worker / owner who rides with Jenny and I.
If its who I think it is (Liam) he can turn a pedal pretty effectively himself!
What he doesnt know about bike set-up isnt worth knowing, but I'd be happy to lend a hand in the fit department.
If its not Liam, then I am stumped!
It is Liam at Bondi bikes. Great shop he has there with very helpful staff (himself included). Can't wait to pick the bike up this afternoon.
I feel an early finish on Friday coming on - anyone for a few laps of Appin?
Liam is a great guy, and the shop is an alladins den of bits and pieces....
Seriously, if he is there when you pick up the bike (he is often to be found at the coffee shop over the road) talk to him about training - he is a real knowledge. There are very people that I would trust with good training advice - and he is one of them.
Of course, he's almost a complete roadie, but for the fire-road based MTB races (3 Ring, Fling, Wollombi) he would give anyone in Australia a race.
Enjoy the bike.