new bike for Canada... ideas...?

Hi, I know this question is always floating about but just wondered what kind of feed back I would get as I'm undecided on what to spend my hard earnt cash on yet…
My plan is to visit Whistler start of Sep for probably 2 weeks then spend the rest of my remaining 6 weeks travlling around BC and riding as much as possible.
I currently ride a hardtail DMR Trailster set up for most types of riding…
I'm into what we call Down Hill over her (prob extreme xc in Canada!) some dirt jumping and general riding/bombing about
plan on buying a full susser to use for Canada and back at home but what to buy!?
Think I'm going to buy in uk so I can get used to it over here, have ridden full sus before but always good to have as much experience as poss I think…
prob not going to be used for the dirt jumps but just want a good free ride bike… think about 6 inches of travel would be ok for me… oh and at a price tag of

you are just going to have everybody tell you to buy the bike they own themselves….. For that price you will have lots of options. You can rent almost any bike in Whistler, so my advice is to try a few out and then decide on which one suits you the best (oh and I am not going to tell you to buy the same bike I ride)

Tricky as Whistler you could ride a really big bike and not have to worry about pedalling uphill. However a lot of other places in BC you'd be better off with a 'lighter - All Mountain' bike, depending on whether you prefer to ride or push uphill?

(personally I like to ride up and down)

coilair . . . .

i don't know what prices are like in the UK, but you might do well to buy here - vancouver has a pretty competetive market for bikes and you can score some wicked values rides, esp a bit later in the season.
for two weeks at the whis, you might do well to just rent a biggie (deal on two weeks rental?), then purchase something smaller for all-rounding, or just use your HT.

but i don't ride whistler that much, so i could be wrong…

max

you are just going to have everybody tell you to buy the bike they own themselves….. For that price you will have lots of options. You can rent almost any bike in Whistler, so my advice is to try a few out and then decide on which one suits you the best (oh and I am not going to tell you to buy the same bike I ride)

Yeah you should totally buy a 2003 Norco Launch.:lol:

My personal feeling about bike rentals is it is like flushing money down the toilet. Free demos are great, but $100 to ride for a day is better spent on purchasing a better bike in the first place.

Although its not optimal, I ride my DMR @ Whistler and always have a good time. The rental bikes there are very high quality but they are as stated $100/day. If I were you I would bring my DMR over and give it a shot. If you find it rough try to find one of said deals or rent. I'm pretty sure you'll find Norcos, Konas, etc at better prices than the UK so if you have the means this is a very viable option.

A 5x5 or 6x6 bike with a granny gear is what you need.

Too many good bikes in the category to list.

Ok, cheers guys…
looked at rentals, they are fully expensive!
was thinking of something like a Kona Stinky…
I can get an 05 model here in the UK for [HTML_REMOVED]#163;1100
would like to take the DMR but is is a bit 'aged' now and worried it mite not take the abuse, also if it doesnt suit my needs and I require another bike I don't want to have to sell ii as it's not really worth my selling it…
Bikes I was looking at were Norco, Kona or Specialized
Would like something thats possible to ride up the gentler hills…

cheers again

Russ

100$ per day is quite exepensive but cheaper than the bike rental in France (about 90[HTML_REMOVED]#8364; per day).
Be carreful on Specialized bike because Spe doesn't has bike between the Enduro and the Demo (or BigHit) and I think that the Enduro model is not the perfect bike for the Whistler Bike Park and the Demo is Downhill bike.
I think that Norco or Kona has model which can be OK for your ride (strongs, reliable and which could be uphill).

If you go into most bikes shops, you can usually convince them to give you a 2 hour rental (if you stress and be aggressive that you are interested in buying the bike). Probably would have to go on a slow mid week day though. Likely set you back $25 or so per bike, but for between $100-$200, it would sure be nice to convince yourself you bought the right bike. That way you can try a run or two on each bike you are interested in. The nice part about Whistler is that you can demo a wide variety of bikes including Rocky Mountain RMX's, Demo 9's, Norco A-lines, Norco 6's, Banshee screams, various Kona's, Coves (if you are willing to drive to Vancouver) etc. etc. If you have a few "target" bikes in mind, just post it, and I am sure somebody will directly you to a bike shop that rents them.

I spent 3 weeks demo'ing various bikes for an entire day. Yeah it cost me over $600, but I got the bike that I wanted in the end (Demo 9).

You can easily pick up an 06 stinky for that in Canada (or equivalent). I believe the retail on that bikes is the same as you indicated you can get an 05 stinky for.

Buy mine!

(kidding)

everybody I meet from England talks about how much cheaper bikes are here than there.. I would just buy one here.. if you want a do everything bike. Definetly a Specialized SX trail, or SC Nomad would be awesome.. you can get a killer bike here for ~3K CDN..