Decent hardtail <£500 - suggestions

pennywise

pennywise

pennywise

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7 Mar 2008
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So our cycle to work scheme has kicked off again and I'm looking to take advantage by getting a mountain bike both for getting to/from work but also for a bit of trail riding and general off-road stuff. My indecisiveness has got the better of me though and I've looked at so many bikes I've become completely lost. Basically I'm trying to set myself a budget of £500 for the bike itself, and it has to be from Halfords or Tredz (which ruled out my original choice of a Vitus Nucleus 275 VRS :( ). If anyone can recommend anything with a similar spec/price I'd appreciate it.
 
Not looked at Halfords bikes in a while but the Voodoo range usually get good praise (better than Carrera anyway). For under £500 there's 2 options - Bantu for 650B or Aizan for a 29er and better fork - they both have similar components to the Vitus, especially the Aizan. I started out on a Bantu about 5 years ago and it was a great entry level bike - frame was sorted and over time I upgraded tyres, brakes, etc. until I moved to a full suss. The only problem with Halfords bikes - no matter how good the spec is, if it's been built by a muppet it will be annoying, so it's a gamble whether it's a skilled/trained bike specialist or not... Either way, check over the bike before your 1st ride...
 
I bought a bike boxed from Halfords, the gears and brakes (hydraulic) were set up in factory and didn't need to be touched.
All I needed to do was put some air in the tyres as they were only half inflated, put the front wheel on, attach the handle bars and seat post, and put pedals on. can do it all with a couple of Allen keys.
Check tightness of all bolts and crank bolts.

Also gives you opportunities to grease the seat post and pedal threads to prevent seizing which I don't think Halfords do, at least not on assembled bikes I've bought.

Obviously you have to tbe prepared to do further adjustments as you can't guarantee its all set up perfectly from factory, but the bike was basically 90% built.. It's hard to see how Halfords could botch a build unless they've never built a bike before.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. I think the main thing I'm looking for is a bike with adjustable shocks as I'll be going over a fair mix of ground - rough forest tracks, gravel, normal roads etc. I'd give the Voodoo Bizango serious thought if I knew it was going to be on offer soon but I've arsed about too long so want to get something sorted preferably before the end of the month. Tredz has a far bigger collection than Halfords, so I've been looking at these few this morning:
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Saracen-TuffTrax-Disc-27-5-Mountain-Bike-2017-Hardtail-MTB_98545.htm
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Merida-Big-Nine-20D-29er-Mountain-Bike-2017-Hardtail-MTB_95793.htm

Or on the lower end of the scale:
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Saracen-TuffTrax-Disc-27-5-Mountain-Bike-2017-Hardtail-MTB_98545.htm

Any thoughts or opinions on these compared to those mentioned from Halfords? It also seems that stretching the budget to about 550-600 offers a lot more for your money (eg), is there anything really outstanding for the money (other than the Bizango) at this price?
 
If your upping the budget to £600 you may aswell get the bazingo for the extra £25. It beats all of those three on specs. One of those has cable gears, and 8 speed. When a little extra gives you a modern drivetrain, brakes, ok performing forks, decent tyres and a reasonably sorted frame.

And it acctually works well on the trail.
 
The carrera vulcan or the voodoo bantu are better buys than the sarecen and the Merida, respectively, if you ask me.
 
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Just bear in mind xct and Xcm forks are budget coil forks, you really want to try and get something with an air fork if your spending over £400

Edit, and hydraulic disk brakes rather than cable operated disk brakes.

Also the XCM is a slightly better fork than the xct. But that's not really saying much.

Mainstream suntour forks in order of goodness go:

Xct, Xcm, Xcr, Raidon, Epixon

The Raidon and epixon being air forks, and i belive some of the newer Xcr are air too.
 
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will be looking at saracen offerings myself tomorrow at the local bike shop after i trashed my 11 year old bike last monday and bent the forks and frame :) seems the forks at this price point are all very much the same tat one way or another.
 
Voodoo Bizango is a good bike if you can get one for £500 new, I'd personally forget the ride to work scheme and drop £400 - £500 on a barely used 2015 Boardman 29er Pro as they come with Rockshox Reba RLT's which are an excellent fork and retail at 300+ notes on their own. They also come with reasonable Deore shifters and an XT derailleur.
I've got the Boardman and done a few upgrades, it's a weapon now, I do the odd Eastern Region Cyclocross race with it and come mid field, I'm not the fittest so not bad result for a Halfords special.
My friend bought the Bizango and he is a faster rider than me generally in corners but the extra weight and the cheaper fork help me stay in front. On jumps and really bumpy terrain he has no chance of staying with me which I did tell him before he bought it. Now he want's something else..

The Boardman is a bit heavy standard but changing the stem, seat, seatmpost and pedals soon gets the weight down. I've got better wheels and tubless tires as well as an XT crank and down to 11.2KG including the bottle carrier on the scales at work. A full carbon bike won't be that much lighter plus the frames can crack in a crash and fail drastically later so I prefer alloy for off road use.
 
Was looking at buying a new bike for around £500 and had narrowed it down to the VooDoo Bizango - just about to purchase and I notice the new 2018(?) model is out albeit back at the full price of £625.

Is it worth going for this rather than the 2016 model? Main difference from what I can tell is the 11 speed drivetrain which I've no experience of.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/voodoo-bizango-29er-mountain-bike-2016
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/voodoo-bizango-29er-mens-mountain-bike
 
Phaser said:
Was looking at buying a new bike for around £500 and had narrowed it down to the VooDoo Bizango - just about to purchase and I notice the new 2018(?) model is out albeit back at the full price of £625.

Is it worth going for this rather than the 2016 model? Main difference from what I can tell is the 11 speed drivetrain which I've no experience of.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/voodoo-bizango-29er-mountain-bike-2016
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/voodoo-bizango-29er-mens-mountain-bike
Click to expand...

The new one is 1Kg heavier and is 1x11 gearing (with a 32T chainring instead of a 22/36T double 2x10). They have also changed the axle widths to "boost" width, 135mm vs 141mm.

I'd be inclined to buy the 2016 model out of the two, but I've only just woken up.
 
Nothing too strenuous to be fair, just rides through forests and maybe the occasional MTB park outing. It'll be replacing an ageing Trek 4300 :)
 
2016 bike should be spot on, £525 is a good price for the spec. You can always change the odd thing later if you decide there's something you're not keen on, but it will probably be sound.
 
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