Mountain Bike Advice

real

real

real

Associate
Joined
25 Jul 2003
Posts
935
Location
London
Good evening,

I am going to buy a mountain bike and would like some advice on factors to consider and hopefully some recommendations.

The bike will mainly be used off-road in fields, country lanes and on trails and I can also see myself getting into downhill in the not too distant future. A big decision will be whether to buy a hardtail or full suspension bike so I am particularly keen to hear views on that given my budget and potential usage.

Originally I had planned to spend a couple of hundred but after a small amount of research it seems like it will have to be nearer £500 to get anything decent; however, I would still like to spend as little as possible...

Thanks
 
£500ish?

New - Definately stick with a hardtail and something like the following:

Decathlon Rockrider 8.1 or the Carrera Fury.

Both cracking value for the spec you get and what you pay with the Decathlon in particular being a great value package.

Second Hand - Again look for a hardtail I'd say but you will definately get more for your money if you keep an eye out and give it time.
 
Thanks guys, a good selection of bikes for me to look at there.

Are those at the minimum quality and price I should be looking at and definitely worth it over a £200 or £300 bike?
 
i would say that £500 you get a decent starting bike, you get hydraulic disc brakes, forks that are reasonable, decent frame and often reasonable wheels.
£300 bikes get none of the above with the exception of the frame as often the frame stays the same, you will likely get rim brakes on it and trust me i would pay the £200 extra just for the hydraulic disc brakes as they are so much better.
if i only had £300 to spend i would look at getting a second hand bike probably a 2-3 year old hardrock or something like that.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Specializ...K_Bikes_GL&hash=item35b88c5866#ht_1160wt_1344
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Specializ...K_Bikes_GL&hash=item19cc7e3dd9#ht_1474wt_1344
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/specializ...UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item4ab2f78d2e#ht_500wt_1361
any of these.
 
As it's been said above if your buying new then £500 is definately where you should be starting. As the old saying goes, buy cheap buy twice.

The benefit or spending more to start with is mainly that you'll save money (long term) as parts will only need upgrading as they break rather than upgrading because they're not upto the job.

I've made this mistake before, bought a bike with rim brakes and decided they were not strong enough. Had to buy the disc brakes which set me back £70 second hand and new wheels as mine were not disc compatible. However with the wheels as I was buying new anyway I saw it as a chance to upgrade to something a little nicer and ended up spending around £170 on some handbuilt wheels from Merlin. So all in all £240 upgrading to disc brakes alone!!! Bike had only cost me £320 originally but it was reduced and I am happy with it.

Bought a new bike in August though and this time I made sure it came with a better fork than the last bike, similar quality wheels (may swap them over anyway) and made sure it came with disc brakes.
 
The Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc 2012 has been reduced to £450 and I am planning to order tonight.

A good decision or has anyone seen any other good deals in the past couple of days?
 
Yeah it was store collect only and even the store staff did not seem to know the reason.

Anyway I picked it up on Monday evening and had a ride Wednesday evening and today on a mixture of XC terrain. Extremely pleased with the purchase and weather permitting I shall be out again tomorrow :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom