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New bike day last week as I picked up one
one of these.
To give a bit of context I'm about 6' tall and weigh in about 13 and a bit stone (184cm, 85kg) and am mostly a road rider, I like long days out on the bike.
I don't have much in the way of MTB skills, can't jump, wheelie or any other gnarl-side stuff.
I've had a couple of MTB and CX bikes over the years and always enjoyed things like South Downs Way, New Forest trails etc. Previous MTB have been 29ers.
For a long time I couldn't decide if a HT or FS bike was right for me but in the end decided that for long days the extra arse comfort was worth it.
I swapped out the included seatpost for a brand-x dropper, took me about an hour to fit it, Decathlon had the foresight to put a blanked hole at top of down tube and little access panel at the BB to make routing really easy.
Went out for a nice steady gravel trail ride yesterday and really enjoyed myself, the bike was fine, seemed much lighter and faster than previous alu FS bike.
Think it's a great value bike, can't think of anything else I'd like to change for now, and looking forwards to plenty of rides.
Here's some pics. I'll add some more detailed ones later on.
Cheers!
Nice one. Big fan of Decathlon and, ever since seeing this on the ST front page, I've been intrigued as trying to get back into long xc days like sdw.
How'd the weight come in as 12.1kg for large seemed optimistic to me? Hoping some medium-sized come in stock
Crazy value - shame they don't make a similarly priced bike at the trail/enduro end.
I haven't weighed it, but it feels light. I can get it on the roof of the car and have road bikers arms. I suspect that Decathlon are very honest about bike weights though.
It came with tubes in the tyres, took those out for an immediate 500g saving. Since then I've added a dropper post and pedals. The original alloy post must have been 300g or so, pedals probably similar and the dropper about 600g, so I'd say it's roughly back where it started. I'll try and get it weighed as is.
Welcome to the forum. 👍
Great value for money there and good to hear your enjoying it.
SDW double on the way now?😁
I picked up a Rockrider 5.2 as a second bike a few years ago. I think the modern equivalent is the 520. Can't fault it, though I was looking on Decathlon's site the other day and there seemed to be a lot of reviews complaining about build quality (ie, assembly / setup rather than component quality).
Haven't been able to weigh it, but have added some close up pics of the access hatch, BB area and tyre clearance with the stock 2.1" tyres as requested by a couple of posters.
Edit: pics haven't really shown the clearance that well, but there is lots. Though in muddy conditions, wouldn't want to go much wider.
Thanks for posting up does look good. Be interesting to see how you get on. It have to be small frame for me being short on hight 😂
Shame that decathlon don't do demo bikes. But then again I guess it only add to the cost of the bikes.
Is there a geometry chart?
From this very website..
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Completed South Downs Way in a day on it yesterday, long and tough day out as usual but the bike was absolutely spot on. Not a single problem with it (all four of us got through without any bike snags).
Think we did it in about 10h50 rolling, 13hrs total, which is decent for our group. Weather was as near to prefect as you could ask for.
Very happy with my bike choice!
That's a lot of bike for the money, I really like the look of these. I'd be tempted if I was after another XC bike.
How does it feel on climbs and descents? Looking at the geo, seat tube looks a little slack and even the XL looks quite short (for reference I have an XL Scott Spark RC). I'm never any good at judging a bike on geo charts, so would be interesting if you could compare it with a more mainstream offering?
I'm no expert, as I said in original post I'm pretty unskilled rider, so I'm not really able to give much feedback other than I really enjoyed riding it and felt comfy. I'm not ripping up bike parks or slaying trails, I'm more into long distance rides. This was my 3rd successful SDW in a day in last three years.
I've not had many MTB, but this one felt better than my previous FS bike, a 2010 Rocky Mountain Element.
I managed to get down all the steep descents without any problems, the climbs were long and hard but with the suspension in the least bouncy position, they were mostly manageable. I had to push a couple of them, usually because they were too steep. The bike wasn't the problem!
Overall I think it suits my needs really well and was a good value choice. I did think about a carbon HT but glad I went this route as it seems they really punish you on longer rides and aren't as much fun downhill for less skillful riders.
If you're after a good value FS bike and aren't looking to get the last 1% of performance out of your steed, I don't think you can go wrong.
Looks ace, light and great value.
I saw you yesterday doing it and we chatted about the bike. It does look really nice in the flesh and I would say that the photos don’t do the finish justice.
I ended up completing it in just under 10hrs riding 12 in total. The weather really was just about spot on for doing it, even the breeze was appreciated.
I saw you yesterday doing it and we chatted about the bike.
Ha! That's brill. Glad you had a good time out there, always nice to have a chat on a ride.
Getting it done in 12h is impressive work. We had plans to get the 1930 train but realised with about 35km to go that we weren't going to make it and eased up a little. Saying that, I was getting pretty tired by that point and don't think I had much choice about slowing up. The second half is so much harder than the first.
Great value bikes! Â Enjoy riding it?
Ingloorious how are you getting on with the bike.?
Good question. How bigger tyres do you think you could fit? That's with 29er rims. I think it will do tyres with 650b?
Just popping in to say well done on the sdw, I ride it over 3 days and that was enough.lol
Loving the look of the bike too. 👍
Bored, so hosted it for you.😊
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Very nice! I think they make well specced, well thought-through bikes.
Been watching since this thtead started and still no mediums in stock ☹️
I'm loving the bike.
I think it'd take bigger rubber on 29s in dry conditions, I'm not sure you'd want to go a lot bigger if muddy, it'd start to clag up I reckon.
It was designed to take 27.5 wheels too, so that seems like the way to get big tyres on.
If not ridden it much the last month or so, been away to the alps with the family and despite taking bikes with us, I didn't get much riding time on my own. I can confirm it will keep up with a TT bike on the Annecy cycle path though. At least until he finished warming up 🙂
I'm hoping we get some nice late summer weather for some evening rides before the light goes.
Also, I'm really pleased with Decathlon after sales support, the fact that you can take your bike into any Decathlon store, anywhere in Europe is a real bonus. In my experience so far the mechanics are really good and very helpful. Went to the biggest Decathlon store I've ever seen in Annecy just before closing time and they made the time to fix a minor niggle with no drama and no charge.
So, overall, very happy just want to ride it more!
looks like a good bike. Keep on enjoying it.
Inglorious good to hear, I have order one lucky had a small in stock..
Have asked that I the 27.5+ wheels fit and yes so ordered a set. To see can get refund if not happy with them. Should be interesting to see how it rides.
Jay
Inglorious how are you getting on with the bike.?
My one been my go to bike at moment rides really well have bent one rear mech hanger where the rear mech picked up a big stick and in to the wheel.
Hand one shock bolt work a bit loss but all good now.
Just put on some 2.4 Goma tyres so we see how that goes on tomorrow ride.