Mountain bike: Giant XTC 4 2005

krazyk

Hi all,

I've moving a bit further out from work soon and need some sort of transport to get into town (need something anyway regardless of the move for lots of reasons). So as I definitely don't have the money to buy or maintain a car I've gone for mountain bike.

I've wanted one for a while and haven't ridden since I was young (and the exercise will do be good :-)).

I've investigated bikes and kits to get for ages. I'm interested on getting a medium size Giant XTC 4 2005 bike (normally about £500) as it's light and good for beginners like me plus can be used for commuting as well as a bit off off-road riding. I have a budget for a further £500 on the extras (helmet, gloves, weather clothing, lock(s), slick tyres, repair kit, lights, etc). But hopefuly I won't need to spend all that and some of it can wait till later though if it's cheaper to buy them all together then I'll do that.

There are several shops that stock this bike (though not Evans Cycles which is a pain) and have been asking around for info. But I'll ask here too. I have seen some shops offer 6-24 month finance options, some only 6 months, some have choices, some give you free extras, some give you discounts. What should I go for? I have a big CC debt already so don't really want to put it on my CC's, but I need cash to pay the debt, so in a no win situation. A 0% finance option sounds good but you're stuck with it for that period. A CC purchase opens up more places to buy the bike from (and I could put it on my Egg Blue card which currently has a 0% deal on new purchases for 5 months) but of course I will pay interest on that at some point.

Does anyone have any tips on buying bikes (and the kit), where to look or specificaly know the best place to bike this bike and how to do it?

K

Tom_Jones

Have a look at https://www.wiggle.co.uk for all you clothing needs, excellent company to deal with. I would say £500 for your accessories budget is high, a good figure would be half that.

Onto the bike, I own a Giant XTC which cost £800 and it's an excellent bike with front Manitou suspension and is an excellent easy ride even with the hills here in Wales . Personally I would find a good local bike shop for advice as frame size is very important, and buy a couple of cycling mags for good advice.

If you already have a large CC debt why not go for a cheaper bike, you can get a decent Orange bike for around £300 https://www.orangebikes.co.uk for advice, and also look on e-bay.

Happy biking

jimmyjim_uk

Giants are nice bikes. You can find good cycling accessaries on https://www.zyro.co.uk

Its always nice when buying cycling clothes to try them on before you buy.

If you can get to 'On Your Bike', they have two stores. One in Brum and one in London. The Birmingham store has decent range of cycling clothes and accessaries. They have a web site https://www.onyourbike.net

HLK

If you type 'BICYCLE Giant XTC 4 2005' into Froogle you'll find a couple of places doing this bike for around the £450 mark. I think the comments from Tom Jones above are worth considering though... you could put the extra to clearing the CC debt.
Good luck.

EvilMonkey

If you're set on this bike (which to be honest I know little about) I'd stick with a local bike shop unless you're saving stacks. I bought my bike over t'internet from and picked it up (about an hours drive to some warehouse) when something went wrong and I tried to get it fixed they were very evasive and wouldn't do it under the waranty. I took it into my local place and they said they would normally have pushed it through as a waranty for customer satisfaction reasons (IE if they annoy everyone that comes into their shop they'll have a bit of a problem later on).

Also, I'm sure you can do a bit of bargain (bike at full price but all the bits at cost \ whatever?).

A couple of other sites which are good for the bits and pieces https://www.bikepimp.co.uk it's like a bike specific comparrison site, Wiggles already got a mention and last but not least https://www.chainreactioncycles both wiggle and crc have good special offers on clothing bits etc.

pealy

Agree completely with EvilMonkey, the support of a decent bike shop can be invaluable and don't be scared to haggle - if you're buying all the gizmo's to go with it I'm sure they'll cut you a deal. I'd also expect a good shop to do a mini-service a few weeks after purchase after things have started to bed in a little, you won't get that through mail order.

alric

try paulscycles 01362 696276
currently doing 2004 nrs3 for 450 quid
you probably want a small if you're 5'9 or under, try before you buy

Longpockets

See if your company parcipates in or will participate in the government backed scheme to purchase a bike from your pre tax income. See https://www.booost.uk.com This can halve the price of your bike plus accessories

krazyk

Hi guys,

Many thanks for your comments. I've left my details with Boostuk and see what they come back with. I think the comment about the LBS is a good one and will find my nearest and give them a call to see if they can get hold of the bike.

I'll also check the other sites mentioned too.

One problem that I do forsee is that I have no-where really very secure at home (the new home) to lock up the bike outside and won't have room inside. I've not moved in yet but at a quick look around the garden I couldn't see anything to lock the bike to outside. The back garden is open with a road and other houses behind it and the fence is dead easy to jump over. Also the gardens for the neighbouring houses are very open, just a wire basically separating each garden.

OK, this area is very low on crime, you can see people have left their windows open when they are out, but I would still want to secure my bike when it's outside (plus I suppose it would need some sort of cover).

Thanks again.

K

EvilMonkey

I'd be looking to keep it inside maybe? If not you can get land anchors, or a cheaper alternative, a bit of metal sunk into a couple of feet of concrete in your garden.
If by cover you mean insurance, I extended my home insurance, this is far cheaper than a specialist company with less restrictions. If you mean keeping it out of the rain you really need to do that, the english weather will seriously shorten the life of your bike bits.....

krazyk

Hi EvilMonkey,

I was actually talking about a cover to cover the bike when outside, but thanks for the insurance tip, probably worth doing that. How much extra was your insurance when you extended?

I have no choice on the bike being outside, I don't have the luxury of a big (or even slightly bigger than small) house, so will definitely have to get put outside, but I know what you mean. I have found a cover for £28 that is waterproof on both sides and elastic at the rim.

K