Which hard trail?

custardshop

i recently had my bike (Kona - cider cone) stolen and the insurance company have paid out with a voucher that has to be spent in halfords. I don't want a full-sus bike i'm looking for a hard tail. i have a max of £700 to spend so went to halfords and they said the best bike i could get is GT Aggressor. I've read some mixed reviews on this so am now asking for advice on what is best for me. I ride regular cross country and some down hill & any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers

Andy B

If this...

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yrn_106167
is the GT they're on about then it's a good bike for the money.

Halfords can get almost any bike you want, a friend had her Claude Butler stolen & she got them to get one (on the insurance) from Halfords even though they don't stock them.

OllyUK

Sorry about being off topic but I just noticed this 'coming soon' to the carrera range.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yrn_106165

An £1000 carbon hardtail made by halfords..hmmm

custardshop

i've been back to halfords and they insist on the GT Aggressor XTC but after looking online for a bit i'm considering the marin b-17, the kona cinder cone or caldera or the gt avalanche any comments would be most helpful

iiJonnyii

a friend of mine has a gt avalanche, and his has really stood up to beatings..

The Big Cheese

The Avalance is a great bike for the money with reliable kit - nout wrong with that.

I would pick that over a Kona of equivalent value anyday

B17s are not so great spec wise (even though the frames are great)

I would go for the GT tbh - GT do make great bikes.

Marins spec only imporves around the £1k mark - underneath that not great value for money IMHO

Hopethis helps!

custardshop

if i go with the GT should i go with the avalanche or the aggressor?

easyg

This guy is right, for the money GT are definately worth a serious look as you get a good spec which brings me on to my point. To be honest at this budget the frame & manufacturer isn't as important (as most are good makers of frames) as the spec of the components that are attached to it. So look at these closely and compare to make sure you're getting the best bits for your cash. FOr example, Mongoose are renowned for speccing their bikes well for the money, but I'm not sure if there is a model at c.£700.

Focus and Cube are fast becoming more popular because of the specs that come with their bikes although I don't know anyone who owns one so be sure to really check these out properly, and test ride any bike you might buy if you can.

All the best, and Merry bloody Xmas!

The Big Cheese

custardshop wrote:

if i go with the GT should i go with the avalanche or the aggressor?

I would say the Avalanche

custardshop

just spoke to halfords who said that the avalanche would come with different parts as they are made specifically for halfords so differ from the spec on the gt site but they can't tell me what it will come with exactly and now to top it all off just spoke to evans cycles who say go with kona eveytime cause they are the best for enjoyment!!!!! AArrggghhhhh i'm ssssooooo confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

The Big Cheese

I would advise against buying from Halfords until you establish what kit is on the bike. Get a spec sheet first ans post it on here

teacherman

Caldera rides well BUT is heavy as sabbath, 29+ pounds and a really crap fork. I was shocked when I jumped on the scales with mine.

Don't know how that compares with GT but though.

Will Snow

OllyUK wrote:

Sorry about being off topic but I just noticed this 'coming soon' to the carrera range.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yrn_106165

An £1000 carbon hardtail made by halfords..hmmm

...again off topic, but have you ever felt cheap carbon??? i got my hands on a £400 frame, and i could squeeze the top tube and feel it flex. scary stuff...

chilledsandwich

Was in my local Halfords the other day and they had some of those C Boardman bikes. Can't find any info on their website but they had one at £700 that looked like it had a pretty good spec. Might be worth seeing if they can get you any details on those

OllyUK

Only certain stores do the cboardman range
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/?jspStoreD ... reId=10001

Edit: Full specs are on that site as well

aba2005

i'm sure its been said here before that the Halford's aggressor uses the same frame as the avalanche. I don't know whether this has changed this year though.

custardshop

does that mean that the aggressor is a good buy or not?

custardshop

Basically looking on the web these are the following bikes i like the look and sound of. (in no particular order)

Kona Caldera
Mongoose Amasa Elite 2008
Cube Pro LTd 2008
GT Avalanche 1.0 / GT aggressor XTC

What d'you think?

aba2005

It would mean its a good buy. From what i've been told the aggressor's are better specced version of their avalanche twin. Its some sort of deal that GT have with Halford's. Eg. avalanche 3 = aggressor XC3. The confusing thing is that there is a £200 aggressor that is totally unrelated to the avalanche.