Giant revel 1 v Cannondale F9

coL · 03-02-2012 11:25AM #1

Am thinking of buying a front suspension mountain bike and two local shops have deals on a Giant revel 1 and a Cannondale F9 respectively at the moment.

The price is the same and without going into the specs in detail the main difference is that the Giant has disk brakes wheras the Cannondale has V brakes.

To me the Giant seems like a better deal but I am afraid that the hydraulic disk brakes will be too expensive to keep and maintain especially if something goes wrong. Also I live in a sandy environment and am wondering if the sand will be bad for disk brakes?

Does anyone have any advice on which bike is the best option to go for?

Hmmzis · 03-02-2012 12:37PM

None of them. The components on both of them look a bit sad and the suntour fork on the Giant is just dead weight - damn heavy, not very reliable and has serious rebound issues. I have the same forks on my cube mtb and the lockout is on its way out (have done just 3k kms mostly commuting), the coils are starting to give in and the preload adjuster has never done anything apart from fancy clicking.

Save up for something more decent or try the second hand market. There are some good bikes out there if you know what you're looking for.

And don't be put off by hydraulic brakes, they're great. It's probably the only thing with moving part on my bike that has required the least amount of maintenance.

Bigus · 03-02-2012 05:16PM

Discs should be better in the sand as the rims are much closer to the sandy surface and will pick up sand if its damp.

Icyseanfitz · 03-02-2012 06:02PM

well id say sand is bad for bikes in general tbh, a lot of sand/salt/water etc. will just increase rusting on any metal component of the bike, wont affect disk brakes all that much otherwise

Giant revel 1 v Cannondale F9

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