newbie/ 1st bike

Felix-da-house-mouse

hi i am a roadie, no booing please :twisted: lol. but i would quite like to mtb aswell in the winters and any spare time i have, but i want to know can anyone suggest a good 1st bike for less than say £500 or £700? do i go for full suspension or just front? bearing in i would cycle round town on it aswell to get from a to b cheers

Big n Daft

At that price hardtail without a doubt.

Full suss will be heavy and compromised with substandard parts somewhere in the build.

Some to look at:

Giant XTC 4.5
Decathlon Rockrider, think its the 8.3
Carrera Fury
Boardman Comp (New range but a great spec)
Spesh Rockhopper
Trek 6500

There are loads of decent HT's at this price, best advice is to try as many as you can and see what feels the best for you.

Discopooh

In that price range I'd be looking for something good(full sus) but secondhand. Ebay gets some sweet stuff on if theres something local to you

supersonic

Full sus at this price isnt generally 'good' though, and buying off ebay is a bit of a lottery, especially if you are just coming to the sport!

Big n Daft

If your dead set on a full sus, you could always look at models which are brand new but a few years old in spec, but for gods sake, unless you really, really know what your looking for, don't buy off E-bay.

I'd recommend any of the well known online bike sellers, Wiggle, Evans, Chain Reaction and there is a few more out there, look at perhaps 04/05 bikes, there is some great bargains out there, without unfortunately the chance to try them first. (You pays your money you takes your chance)

If you want a bike from this years range, HT is the way to go.

Ticaboy

Try Winstley Bikes too, lots of good deals on at the moment. Seem to be a lot of GT iDrives, Trek and Konas tho'.

Ticaboy

Try Winstley Bikes too, lots of good deals on at the moment. Seem to be a lot of GT iDrives, Trek and Konas tho'.

Wolf

A full sus makes you lazy (yup, I am lazy) and aint gonna be good at the price, as SS notices. Second hand is a big no-no, mainly on full sussers!

Get a hardtail, great recommendations at the beginning of the post.

Felix-da-house-mouse

what doyou guys think of these http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=70056
or http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=70058

supersonic

IMHO two of the worst bikes on the market, poor parts and very heavy.

sacredny

If your set on the hardrock pro - cycle surgery have it for £369

Big n Daft

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! :shock: :shock: :shock:

There are far far better bikes in your budget than the Spesh.

They are overly heavy and not the best on components.

Bomb proof frames though, but at a price.

If it has to be a Spesh, get the Rockhopper disc or comp disc, they are nearer the top of your budget, but a hell of a lot more bike.

supersonic

Couldnt agree more ;-)

hednesfordxcer

dont touch halfords bikes, if they go wrong you'll have a battle to get put right, see THREAD on GENERAL page

supersonic

But not all are like that. I agree, many are bad, but some are ok, and some run better than some LBS I know.

Big n Daft

hednesfordxcer wrote:

dont touch halfords bikes, if they go wrong you'll have a battle to get put right, see THREAD on GENERAL page

Jeez i wished they'd sort it out, just so you'd stop spamming every single thread someone recommends a Halfords bike in with the same old, same old.

In black and white for you once more.

Every Halford's is not the same.

Every Halfords bike sold does not go wrong. For evidence of this see all the threads on the forum reference the bikes Halfords sell, how good a bike it is and how people enjoy it, as well as every other bike out there.

The fella asked for recommendations on bikes between 5 & 700 pounds.

Should we exclude every bike someone's had a problem with? Because if we did that he'd get the sum total of NO recommendations.

Felix-da-house-mouse

i'm really fusst what make it is, what do you's think about the new boardman bikes? obv the cheapest at £599? kinda thought i'd bring my price range down to 600 after spending 2k on a roadie 3months ago

Big n Daft

Very nice spec, the Boardman

Untested new brand, think we have one owner on the forum and he likes his.

I don't really understand this 'fussy about what brand it is' Sorry, but surely the important thing is to get a bike which is right for you and what you want to do with it?

As i said, the most respected bike makers in the world occasionally make a duff one, bad builds, bad parts, it happens to everyone. Just because a frame has got some super duper brand name on it, it doesn't mean its all going to be groovy.

If its not looked after, things will go wrong, if you use it for what its not designed to do (e.g. jumping a XC bike) things will break, not to mention accidents happen.

The single most important thing is to get a bike that suits you and the way you ride. Within your price range is great. Don't forget a bike is a tool, nothing more, it enables you to ride and have fun. You buy what you want at the end of the day, but for gods sake, don't buy a name, buy a decent, suitable bike.

God, i sound like me Dad!

Felix-da-house-mouse

sorry zippy
i meant to type i'm not fussy about the make,

Big n Daft

Heh heh.

Just read that again, jeez, i sound like a right tart!

Really sorry, it just annoys me when folks buy a bike for whats on the frame rather than if its suitable for them.

I'll go back under me bridge now!

P.s. Thats a heck of a nice road bike you have....now if i ever turn to the darkside......

olegit

I've just today bought a Trek 6000 from my local bike shop,new back into cycling in the last couple of weeks, £500 very nice machine good parts for the price,i believe.

Felix-da-house-mouse

come to the dark side, luke i am your father lol. zippy v's darth maul lol

adamross

i would go for one of the konas, there quality and rock solid but yh, its your own choice though

Big n Daft

Now see, i wouldn't agree.

Any 07' Kona within his budget has a poor component set.

Fire Mountain @ £400 does not even have a rebound damped fork for god sake.

Cinder Cone @ £650 is still stuck on a Dart 2.

Kona make nice frames, but let them down with sub-standard kit.

Check out the other bikes at £600 - £700, usually Toras or Mazo's, higher quality drivetrains, at least LX/XT or SRAM equivalents and decent hydro brakes as in NOT Hayes soles.

You might get some bargains as the prices come down, but i wouldnt look at anything less than a Caldera if your looking at Kona's. Saying that, the better bikes in this range will come down as well, so in reality your still in the same position.

davethejackal

What about a merlin malt2 with an XT build, £725 'normal price' but they have a sale every weekend which offers 10% discount bringing it down to £650 ish (£680 inc delivery).

Bike Details:

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/acatalog/Sale_Bikes.html

Sale Details:

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/acatalog/ ... _Sale.html

Ack just saw the sale doesn't apply to bikes any more ... but it did in July, may well come around again soon.

Felix-da-house-mouse

would anyone like a look at the boardman spec and advise meif its any good website is
http://www.boardmanbikes.com

thanks

supersonic

They are very good value, go to Halfords to see.

dart

I've just bought the Boardman Comp from Halfords, pick it up tomorrow. The guy that helped me out DID know his stuff and WAS helpful. I have had to take a bit of a punt as there were limited reviews out there, but the bike felt good and the spec was pretty good for the ££'s.
I'll get first hand experience of Halfords build quality tomorrow and can maybe offer some "objective" feedback, no axe to grind here. As for the Boardman Comp, watch this space.

Felix-da-house-mouse

tell me tell me tell me dart whatdya think?