You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Looking for a hybrid to replace my 7 yr old Trek 7200 FX something with significant performance increase
budget up to £1200
any advice appreciated
thanks
Spesh Camber??
Where you going to be riding mainly?
What kind of riding are you interested in?
Would you prefer a full sus or a hardtail?
Those 3 questions (and probably a whole lot more) will need answering first before any sensible recommendation can be made, otherwise you'll just get a whole list of people naming the bikes that they own, regardless of whether or not it would be suitable for you.
thanks mboy
mostly road but some trails/tracks
Then definitely a lightweight hardtail. Full sus will be a big no no here...
You'll probably want a full compliment of gears too, if you go for a suspension fork then no more than 100mm probably, and also a spare set of slick tyres will be useful.
Check out [url]www.merlincycles.co.uk[/url] for their Rock Lobster frames, they can build you a full bike for a little over £1k with a very good spec. They're very light, nimble frames that would suit your purposes very well.
Otherwise look at things like Cube's Reaction, maybe Cannondale Flash's, maybe a Giant XTC etc. But lightweight hardtails with lots of gears will be the key for you here, if you wanna ride on roads a fair bit as well as offroad.
do you need mudguard or pannier mounts ?
Get a cyclocross bike. Buying a mountain bike if you mainly ride on the roads is a very very stupid idea.
Agree with Davidtayforth! Doesn't sound like you'll be needing any suspension so why have something heavy and faffy? What about the Giant TCX 1? http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/tcx.cyclocross/9328/49855/
I guess if a cyclocross is too roadified, a rigid 29er would sit at the other side of the fence? With some nice hard wearing tyres you'd get a good distance out of them, rather tragically enjoy riding around roads on my Scandal more than my Tricross at the mo.
[url= http://www.evanscycles.com/products/genesis/fortitude-race-2012-mountain-bike-ec033948 ]Bit racey perhaps.[/url]
[url= http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/sawyer-2012-mountain-bike-ec030314 ]Woah, get that one, no more talking, that one. Awesome.[/url]
Not that populer round here these days but what about a flat barred Roadrat with Sram Apex & BB7s.
[img] 
[/img]
Or for heaver duties a Ritchie P-29er frame would be first choice [s]realistically[/s] alternatively get an Inbred 29er in the sale, SLX groupset, some XT disc hubs on open pros. And still have change for fish and chips on the way home.
like the look of that roadrat