Looking for a new bike for my son

matrixscaz

Hi I'm looking to get my son a new mtb for xmas as he is riding a heavy bike which is not up too the job. I willing to spend £300 he is a tall 13 years old.

any ideas??

matrixscaz

Big n Daft

What sort of riding is he looking to do?

Thats the most important thing in finding the right bike to start with.

BnD

matrixscaz

Big n Daft wrote:

What sort of riding is he looking to do?

Thats the most important thing in finding the right bike to start with.

BnD

Well he is doing trial riding with me and my brother so it would get thrashed around a lot and his exsisting bike ways the same as some cars lol .

We have started taking him to Llandegla Forest in North Wales and he is buzzing on the tracks around there.

Big n Daft

Ok so light-ish XC then?

Try the Mongoose Tyax Elite,

Widely thought to be the best sub £300 hardtail out there.

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=70320

Thats the Evans link but it is possible to find it cheaper somewhere else.

BnD

matrixscaz

Seems a nice bike not thought of mongoose will look into that more i think thanks pal

fozy

You can get the mong for the same price at wiggle with 10% of the value in accessories. My budget was £300 but i ended up spending £340 and getting a bike that was £425 rrp, a very good spec bike for the money, i would recommend looking at the £300 - £400 bracket and shopping around and doing some haggling. In my experience in that price bracket there can be a £100 price difference between sites.

fozy

Some suggestions

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... 5360026979

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... m1b4s2p722

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/index ... 6&brandID=

http://www.tredz.co.uk/details.aspx?id=10922

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/index ... 5&brandID=
(I got this for £340)

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDeta ... 7&catID=69

http://www.tredz.co.uk/details.aspx?cgi ... %26cat%3D0

fozy

Or maybe this

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 909m005805

Some food for thought hopefully. I would probably go for either the mong or one of the giants!

Big n Daft

Yeah, as i said you could probs get it cheaper/better deal elsewhere,

Put the Evans link up for speed....

The difference between the Tyax and a lot of bikes at this level is the damped fork, however i'm not sure whether the other options have damped forks, i'm pretty sure the Giants would have, the rest, i dunno.

Another to look at would be the Carrera Kraken, again a damped fork, its a touch out of your price range @ £323 but buy some cornflakes and get the 10% off at Halfords voucher, Bob's your mothers brother!

Just read a review which gave this 8/10....

Or a lot of folks recommend Decathlon bikes, not sure at this price range but the higher range get good reviews.

If at all possible it's best to try one of each for fit, geometry is different on most bikes and it can make a hell of a difference as to how they suit your lad.

BnD

fozy

yeah i would add the kraken to the list, but for £30 or so more you could get hydro brakes and better gears. Good bike though.

WillGTJumper

one of the low-end gt bikes; aggressor, chucker, avalanche