help buying Mountain bike for upto £500

Solar_flare · 30 Jun 2013 at 21:40

Hi all,

looking to purchase a new mountain bike, can spend up to £500, has to be strong, light weight and needs to have chunky tyres.....

any ideas?

cheers

supergluechris · 30 Jun 2013 at 21:47

I just bought a Fuji Nevada 1.6 from evans cycles. Great bike. Not had any problems yet

PapaLazaru · 30 Jun 2013 at 21:49

The B'TWIN range in Decathalon is good value.

doofer · 30 Jun 2013 at 21:49

Can anyone recommend a MTB Forum where I could get the best advice on what PC to buy? Thanks!

Solar_flare · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:05

thanks guys, will check them out.

Doofer you muppet, its in the general section... some of us have lives, unlike you - posting an average of 45 posts a month, bet you live with your mum

.

Castiel · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:10

I have a 2013 Specialised Hard Rock 29er....great bike and £500.

darael · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:19

http://www.tesco.com/direct/terrain...6-mens/211-8372.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=211-8372

Apart from weight, what's the difference between a £100 bike and a £500 one?

Edit: I'm not saying there isn't a difference, I just want to know what the differences are.

LordSplodge · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:19

Avoid the main brands like Specialised, Trek and Giant. You tend to get better equipment on the lesser known brands and pay less too! Have a look at GT, KHS, Focus and Boardman.

All mountain bikes have chunky tyres! How're for £500 you aren't going to get something very lightweight. Lightweight costs money.

LordSplodge · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:20

darael said:
http://www.tesco.com/direct/terrain...6-mens/211-8372.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=211-8372

Apart from weight, what's the difference between a £100 bike and a £500 one?

Quality of the components. That bike wouldn't last five minutes if used off road and not much longer on the road. Also, V-Brakes? 2008 called, they'd like their braking technology back.

rhysduck · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:22

Might be better to explain what you intend to use the bike for,

Oh and go and ask in the Big Bike thread too

G|mp · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:23

2010 Specialized Rockhopper, I paid £400 for it, does everything pretty well

G|mp · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:24

LordSplodge said:
Avoid the main brands like Specialised, Trek and Giant. You tend to get better equipment on the lesser known brands and pay less too! Have a look at GT, KHS, Focus and Boardman.

All mountain bikes have chunky tyres! How're for £500 you aren't going to get something very lightweight. Lightweight costs money.

Do you even lift brah?

LordSplodge · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:26

Castiel said:
I have a 2013 Specialised Hard Rock 29er....great bike and £500.

Your first 29'er? I've just got a 2013 GT Zaskar. Not sure about having 29" wheels yet. I have them on my road bike and that's fine. Not sure they have a place on a mountain bike but it seems to be all the rage.

rhysduck said:
Might be better to explain what you intend to use the bike for,

Mountain biking I'd hope. Unless he's one of those weirdos who rides round on the road all the time with a big heavy bike with massive knobbly tyres.

LordSplodge · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:29

G|mp said:
Do you even lift brah?

Not sure what you are getting at. You aren't going to get carbon Fiber and lightweight components for £500. You may get aluminium but its not going to be the thinner, lighter designed for XC stuff. And entry level components aren't lightweight either.

G|mp · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:31

I was referring to the brands comment, you can get very well specced bikes from Specialized etc for not much money nowadays. On certain forums buying second hand you can pick up bikes that were a 1.5k 2 years ago for £500. Normally well looked after by enthusiasts and upgraded sufficiently.

Just thought it was a bit of a sweeping statement that's all.

LordSplodge · 30 Jun 2013 at 22:38

G|mp said:
I was referring to the brands comment, you can get very well specced bikes from Specialized

Just thought it was a bit of a sweeping statement that's all.

I'm not referring to second hand bikes though. You pay more for the main brands because of their name. Take my Focus road bike. It has 105 across the board, the equivalent Specialised had a Tiagra/Sora combo. My KHS full bouncer has the same forks and brakes that a Giant has...but that Giant costs nearly a thousand pounds more.

Just trying to help out the OP with some suggestions. If he finds a Spec or a Giant that fits what he needs and likes the looks then that's great.

grudas · 1 Jul 2013 at 01:52

LordSplodge said:
Avoid the main brands like Specialised, Trek and Giant. You tend to get better equipment on the lesser known brands and pay less too! Have a look at GT, KHS, Focus and Boardman.

All mountain bikes have chunky tyres! How're for £500 you aren't going to get something very lightweight. Lightweight costs money.

wut? avoid main.. look at main brands? GT have been around for moons, so has focus and boardman? the biggest "wow" brand i've seen from newbies who know nothing about bikes

things like b'twin etc are lesser brands and normally have high spec machines for lower prices.. but those you mentioned are all "main" brands.

and specialized actually has some good spec'd bikes for the price.. and of course you won't get carbon stuff for 500quid cmon

arknor · 1 Jul 2013 at 03:21

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-81-2012-mountain-bike-grey-id_8168918.html
which is what I was going to order tomorrow but now xl is out of stuck grrr....