Buying a Bike from Halfords

bluenose2000

Hi all,

My work have set up a cycle to work scheme with halfords and im looking into going down this route to buy my first mtb. I have a budget of between £200 -£400. I would prefer to spend around £350 on the bike and the other £50 on accessories if possible.

The bike will be used on roads and down the local canal towpath which can be dodgy in places so i have ruled out just a normal road bike. I would also probably take it off road into wooded trails etc on occassions.

Is there any part of halfords range that anyone would recommend and also any to steer well clear of. I've read a few topics that seem to knock halfords but i find this quite a reasonable route to go down cost wise.

Any help and advice is appreciated as i last got on a bike around 10 years ago and wouldn't know the good from the bad and the ugly. I have popped into my local halfords for around 15 minutes in my lunchbreak and the sales guy said the carerra kraken and gt aggressor 3 were decent bikes for my price range.

Cheers

Bluenose2000

heghog

hi i have not used halfords now for the past 4 years but saying that my early mountain bike purchases were all from them,carerra kraken times two,my last purchase from them was a carerra full sus,i had a few problems with it which halfords were reluctent to put right i ended up buying a full sus frame from wiggle.co.uk a giant NRS 2 and transfering the components over from the halfords bike,with the help of my local cycle shop `tibbs cycles of canterbury`........sorry for going on a bit yes i think halfords is a fairly good starting point in your mountain bike adventures but like me you may grow out of love after a while.....i tend now to try and support my local bike shop not the big money making consortiums....hope this is of some help to you....enjoy your mountain biking thats the main issue.

vernonlevy

bluenose2000 wrote:

Hi all,

My work have set up a cycle to work scheme with halfords and im looking into going down this route to buy my first mtb. I have a budget of between £200 -£400. I would prefer to spend around £350 on the bike and the other £50 on accessories if possible.

The bike will be used on roads and down the local canal towpath which can be dodgy in places so i have ruled out just a normal road bike. I would also probably take it off road into wooded trails etc on occassions.

Is there any part of halfords range that anyone would recommend and also any to steer well clear of. I've read a few topics that seem to knock halfords but i find this quite a reasonable route to go down cost wise.

Any help and advice is appreciated as i last got on a bike around 10 years ago and wouldn't know the good from the bad and the ugly. I have popped into my local halfords for around 15 minutes in my lunchbreak and the sales guy said the carerra kraken and gt aggressor 3 were decent bikes for my price range.

Cheers

Bluenose2000

The Carerra Kraken is a good starting point from Halfords. I have had two, sadly both stolen. They have had good write ups in the comics and I found them to be competent machines for the beginner.

My son has the Carerra Subway one and he can get everywhere that i can on on my Trek 4500. It's a robust bike and eventhough it has only a double ring at the front, a fit light rider can het a decent trail rideing performance from the bike.

supersonic

Kraken would be my choice, excellent frame and forks. A worthwhile purchase over a 200 quid bike.

Big n Daft

Wouldnt a cycle to work discount bring a Fury into range?

£450 full price at the moment......

Just a thought......

bluenose2000

thanks for the advice folks its much appreciated. I managed to get the feel of the bikes in halfords on sunday and the kraken was a good bike. But i have to say that i have been swayed into parting with a bit more cash as the fury seemed just right for me.
I wasn't going to spend so much but i think its worth going the extra mile in this case.

Cheers and thanks

Bluenose2000

beski

Good choice, the Fury is an excellent bike for the money - enjoy 8)

bluenose2000

On a slightly different note if i may, when you guys are out cycling either just going to work or trails etc what is the essentials kit that you carry around with you all the time. Basically what would you not leave home without.

Cheers

Bluenose2000

Bazzowmb

Water, a spare tube, pump, tyre levers & a multi tool.

alfablue

Halfords will undertake to source virtually any bike under the cycle to work scheme (the will get Planet-X and On-One for example) so you are NOT restricted to the range usually stocked in their shops.

The Spiderman

Bazzowmb wrote:

Water, a spare tube, pump, tyre levers & a multi tool.

And a helmet!

bluenose2000

Thanks for the help so far but just 1 more question if i may. Just noticed that halford's have dropped the price of the carrera banshee to just less than the fury so i was wondering if its worth getting that instead of the fury or is it a case of its a full suspension and not worth the hassle. Anybody had any experience with these bikes at all?

Cheers

Bluenose2000

Atz

Cheap full sus isn't really worth it (see other threads for reasons). Also, as others have said, don't limit yourself to bikes that you've seen in Halfords (they WILL order in), get the one you WANT not the one they have.

dannyg

check out the bikes in the latest MBUK test under £500, the winner of the test is £300 and Halfords may be able to order it in.

Danny

supersonic

The winner of that particular test was the Rockrider, and I feel that other hardtails of the same price would be better. Banshee is a completetly different kettle of fish to the fury. Don't go on price - go on suitability and try them out.

fortune

id stick with the fury!

ive got the 2007 moddle and ive had it for 3 months, it is my 1st mtb for trail and XC and its been great, for the price it has really good spec! also its very light so if your not that fit you will be able to keep up and keep going on the climbs, its more of an XC bike so at 1st on the trails on the downhill sections you have to treat her nice untill you have worked out a good line and you can get the hang of "placing the front wheel" and also landing the drop offs lightly and then you can bomb down them no bother

some of my friends have £1000 hardtails and £1500 full sussers, we race on our local trails i beat them up the hill, yeh they make up time on me on the way down but i still normaly beat them :P

i was at the medira outsider festivle in aviemore a few weeks ago, and i didnt race but i did the 35k race track on the day off the race and i got and passed other 50 riders on the full sussers and hardtail XC racing machines

NOTE: you might wont to save up and buy a nice very strong wheelset, mine were buckled after a month...but hey i was thrassing them hard every day on the trails for hours on end

PhetPhan

hello,
i work in halfords and i would recommend the fury - its an excellent bike!!
and at the moment there is a 10percent offer on the back of kellogs cereal so added to its already discounted price its an absolute BARGAIN!!!
enjoy
Nick

bluenose2000

Right once again thanks all for the help im going to stick with the Fury it felt right when i had a little go on it so thats the bike for me.
Phetphan do you know if that kellogg's voucher is valid when using the cycle to work scheme because if it is then i will be very happy. Also if possible could you recommend any basic kit to get as im a complete novice to this and have around £80 to spend on gear.

Cheers

Bluenose

PhetPhan

as far as i'm aware you should be able to yes! worth a go anyway.
with £80 you should easily be able to sort yourself out with quality lights, lock and mudguards. with enough left over for a bottle and cage. if you get these when you buy the bike the staff will put them all on for yer.

bluenose2000

Hi all,

Just wondering if the gt aggressor xc1.0 is any good as its now the same price as the fury and would you recommend it over the fury.

Cheers

Bluenose

supersonic

Both good bikes, the Fury better specced, the GT harder riding bike.