Mountain Bike purchase - Budget £500 Voodoo?

[airrunner]

Hi all, I would be grateful for some guidance. I am looking to buy a mountain bike imminently, and have been suggested to go for the Voodoo Hoodoo £499. Curious for another perspective, would you choose that bike? And if not what alternative would you recommend. My budget is £500 max.

Thank you!

 

[airrunner]

At a strict limit of £500, I'd choose the 13 Incline Alpha over the Voodoo Hoodoo from Halfords, but then consider upgrading the brakes if the Clarks Evo don't work out (never had them, no idea what they are like) with the £50 savings.

Don't forget 10% discount at Halfords if you have British Cyling membership.

Don't forget to check Topcashback/Quidco for further discount.

Your employer might offer benefits such as buying Halfords vouchers with 10% discount.

You've just missed a Halfords "spend and save promo" that gave 10% discount, but they do other promos, such as flash sales on Thursday lunchtimes etc.

Appreciate the advice, not looked at the 13 alpha. Aesthetically it looks more appealing, but I noticed it has air driven forks. I assume that's your reasons over the Hoodoo?

 

[airrunner]

Hello airrunner,

Are you going to be using the bike for climbing mountains only or are you also going downhill?

Are you looking to use it for other terrains too or for strictly climbing mountains?

Hi Big Wayne - Not a great deal of down hill action, definitely more focused towards easy off road, forestry, some Road travel and the odd mountain here and there.

 

[airrunner]

And you thinking mountainbike and not a flat bar Cyclo-cross?

£500 pound is a good starting point if your prepared to do a lot of window shopping? . . . do you have any pieces of hardware floating around that you could chuck in or are you starting from scratch?

Give us a bit more detail, what sort of off road are we talking about? . . .

Something like this?

Originally i had not really had a clear definition of what i wanted the bike for. But having had time to ponder, i definitely feel i need a bike better suited to off road, hilly mountainous terrain. As that will be the majority of it's use.

 

[airrunner]

As well as the fork advantage talked about by others last night, the 13's frame is highly rated and worthy of long term upgrades, plus it does internal cabling.

But looking at Halfords again in the last few minutes, your choice has become more interesting, as the Voodoo Bizango has been reduced in a promo to £530.

Topcashback currently has a 4.2% cashback and a voucher code that reduces all bikes except old Boardmans by a further 10%!

Until I saw this Bizango update, I was going to say from the links given last night, the Aventi Mesh Deore was my pick of best bang for the buck (albeit I've just this second seen that only the 14" is in stock).

So that makes it either the 13 Incline Alpha or the Voodoo Bizango for me, if a hardtail meets your requirements.

I'm really thinking of biting the bullet and going for the 13 incline alpha, after everything said. Your points have swayed my view, grateful!

I guess the next thing to do is apply for the cycling club to gain the other 10% off.