Some notes I made while researching what bike to buy, so it’s a bit scrappy and probably out of date now. I got most of this info by reading over forum and opinion posts (like the Mountain Bike Review forums and the Bike Forums), so I don’t know for sure whether anything here is correct or not.
Brakes
Mechanical discs easier to maintain than hydraulic. Some people say that a good set of mechanicals are better than a low end set of hydraulics.
Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes are brilliant according to all forum posts I found. BB5 not so good. BB7 meant to be easier to adjust and maintain. They also have better pads that are used across more Avid brakes so should be easier to find.
MX-4’s are also good.
No
Tektro Novela hydraulic. “..the low end of the low” and others from mtbr.
Quad QMD-6. Appear to be a cheap BB7 clone, harder to maintain.
Shimano BR-M415. Poor performance hydraulic. Better to get good mechs.
Shimano generally not meant to be good.
Groupsets
Shimano, highest spec first (See Shimano Group Overview though old, from 1999):
XTR
Deore XT
Deore LX
STX-RC
STX
Alivio
Acera
Altus
SLX fits in somewhere near Deore XT (which is above Deore), perhaps better. Better for road going bikes. See Shimano’s new SLX groupset.
Get Alvio or above. Below that they’re too budget.
SRAM vs Shimano
| SRAM model | Equivalent Shimano model | |————+————————–| | X-5 | Deore | | X-7 | Deore LX | | X-9 | XT | | X-0 | XTR | —————————————–
Forks
Some forks in best first order, roughly (from RST vs Rock Shox vs SR Suntour?):
- rock shox dart 2 (or tora)
- rock shox tora’s (or dart 2)
- sr suntour xcr rl (suntours are similar)
- sr suntour zcm (suntours are similar)
- rst gila t8.
RockShox Recon good.
RockShox Tora probably the best I can get with my budget.
RockShox Dart 3 shit, as is RST Gila.
Suntours mostly bad apparently.
RockShox
Highest spec first:
SID. For XC race.
Reba. For trails. Good.
Recon. Good enough! Will be lucky to get with my budget.
Tora. Decent entry level fork. Heavy, but described as exceptional for the price.
Dart 3. Bad.
