New to mountain bikes = help

[Moorron]

I require some helping choosing a mountain bike which at the age of 30 i am looking into getting in the next few months as I enjoyed it in my early teens. To put it into perspective my last bike was the Raleigh activator so i am abit behind the times.

I went to a local bike to shop to have a look at what’s about and see what I like the look of. To help you see what I am looking at ive put a list together:

My target price which must include a helmet, lights, mudguards and maybe a speedometer is £400, but I am good at haggling the price so i am looking at a value of about £450 - £470 if you were to add it up.

It must NOT have rear suspension.
It must have front suspension
It must come in satin/matt black or grey, consider glass black
It must have disc brakes (new to me)
The cables running to the rear must not be on top of the top tube, for some reason I hate this.

When looking in the shop I liked these:

Specialized Hardrock Sport disc (2009 model?) (£380)
Specialized Hardrock Comp (with discs, model in shop wasn’t fitted with these but was £400).
GT Avalanche 3.0 disc (2008 model?) (£300)

I will use it for weekend road and off-road use, i am fit so it will get some abuse. A cycling friend came to help but we aren’t sure if the bikes listed above have any flaws or are a bad choice for me.

If anyone here could steer me in the right direction i am sure my bank manager would be happy to thank you.

Cheers lads.
Andy

 

[Shimmyhill]

I have the Avalanche 3.0 Disc, i was toying with that and the Specialized - both good bikes and most say the pick around the £300 mark.

You really need to try them as you will like the feel of one other the other. Also aim for hydraulic brakes - mech discs are rubbish !

 

[LordSplodge]

Avoid cable discs as they are crap. Good V brakes are better.

I'd go for the GT as my wife has a 3.0 and I have a 1.0 Disc and they are great bikes and not common.

I don't like the new black ones though!

As for lights avoid cheap ones. I'd go for some by CateEye as well as a wireless computer by CateEye as well. A reasonable helmet is about £30 but you could get the shop to chuck it in for free and a nice set of quick release mudguards will also cost around the £30 mark.

 

[Moorron]

cheers for the replies. Aslong as they arnt too bad i will test both and decide then. I dont think the disc 3.0 has hydraulics does it?

Cheers

 

[sneakyd]

The 3.0 have cable discs (Tektro I/O), they're not bad. You do notice the difference using hydro's. But for < £300 they are more than adequate!!!

BTW, I have the 3.0 2006 edition, great starting bike.

 

["andy"]

cant go wrong with any of the specialized range. its what id buy for that price, same with the GT avalanches though so it will probably come down to which you can get a good deal on.

make sure you try a good few helmets. the fitting between the different brands is pretty varied.