What bike for £300

stewart.d.campbell

Hi guys have been looking for a bike for my girlfriend and cant decide which one as there is so much choice around, she wants a full suser but at this price i thought a hardtail would be better, these are the ones i was considering but any other sugestions welcome, oh frame needs to be about 16 to 18ins as shes a bit short ha ha
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/kon ... e-ec000780

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Muddyfox-Boomsl ... 21&sr=1-10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coyote-Jake-Sus ... 75&sr=1-12

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDeta ... goryID=841

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0329682785

stevet1992

just to let you know all but the cyclestore.co.uk link dont work

just my opinion really but all bikes around £300 are going to be very similar in specs some may have sram or shimano but usually they are very similar

also it would be much more useful to peopkle that could help if you told us what she would be using it for

littleandy0410

How tall is she!? 18" frame would fit me, and I'm just shy of 6' tall.

Have a look on Paulscycles.co.uk as they normally have some good deals.

http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s2p0

Also have a look at Halfords, the've go a few gooduns: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCmd?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10151&state=c0%3Ds%253A9%253Biphrase%2Bbundle%2Btaxonomy%2Bid%2Bfrom%2Broot%253B%253Ass%253B165499%26q%3D10%26p%3D6%26a0%3Diphrase%2Bbundle%2Btaxonomy%252F%252Fv%253A0%26i%3Dsitemap%2Bid%26qt%3D1227737616%26qid%3DqM6PGAqLSYXaM%26vid%3DvYewEOmo7SVQw%26ioe%3DUTF-8%26qtid%3DnkwFTI4kY8O6n%26s1%3Dsitemap%2Bid%252F%252F1%26rid%3DrG3zmgcoIFu5G%26s0%3DPrice%252F%252F1%26t%3D0%26m0%3Diphrase%2Bbundle%2Bid%26mcmode%3Dtest&categoryId=165499&action=goto&rows=10&listCategories=165499&pagenumber=6

Vivid

UNDER £300

Decathlon RockRider 5.2 - £230: sets the budget standard with quality aluminium frame, adjustable forks, great 8 speed shimano gear and very competetive weight.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/rockrider ... -48722203/

Giant Boulder - £230: Giant keep the same formula as last year to again bring affordable XC quality to the beginner market.
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-GB/bik ... 449/32673/

Carrera Vulcan - £250
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1

Summer Skye - £300: specially designed for women, this bike combines a good frame and wheelset and a damped Rockshox fork - unheard of at this price.
http://www.summerbicycles.com/Bikes/Skye.html

£300-£500

GT Avalanche 3.0 - £330: perennial budget favourite gets a sleeker looking frame mated to 100mm forks and cable disc brakes.
http://www.gtbicycles.com/gbr/eng/Produ ... ture/#5726

Carrera Kraken - £350: Another well specced bike thats received lots of good reviews. Can only be purchased from halfords and also comes in a womans design.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... &langId=-1

Taken from supersonic What Mountain Bike thread.

Also do not get a full suspension bike with that price range. Form Before Function!

Andy B

Spec's on bikes even @ 300 can vary greatly

A full susser at this price will not be a great choice, you are right in thinking a hardtail is a better option.

Better to stick with a well known brand rather than some of those in your links (which mostly don't work!)

Have a look at the Saracen Element 3, it's an award winning bike (What Mountain Bike)

Carrera Vulcan Disc

GT Avalanche 3.0 disc/Aggressor 3

supersonic

And try them out for size! See what local shops have to offer.

stewart.d.campbell

Thats the links working now guys let me know what you think, oh and she will be starting with lite cross country and see how she likes it but want the bike to have a little capacity to go a bit rougher if possible.

dav1

as usual i would recommend the Giant Yukon (i think it went up to £340 this year with the price increases) great beginner bike IMO and MBUK called it the £300 benchmark bike in their test.

stewart.d.campbell

Dav1 wrote:

as usual i would recommend the Giant Yukon (i think it went up to £340 this year with the price increases) great beginner bike IMO and MBUK called it the £300 benchmark bike in their test.

Did it actualy win the test though or did something else.

stewart.d.campbell

That gives me an idea, what do the magazines say is the best £300 bike.

Vivid

Go through the bikes that are listed in my post above, all are recommended by people on this forum. Compare the frames and components to what she would like. Narrow down to 3 and then try each bike out and choose the one that feels right.

Muddy.Bail

there was an issue not to long ago that had £300 hardtails and the giant yukon 08 won it will be abit cheaper now aswell with the 09 model comin out so u have some extra dosh for gloves or a helmet

pemsey

Or you could look at offers on pre 2008 models and get a lot more bike for the money - better components etc. For example:

http://www.bikeoutlet.co.uk/products/Claud_Butler_Cape_Wrath_XC-38-11.html

Although as others have said it might be best trying a few for size and "feel" first

Northwind

Muddy.Bail wrote:

there was an issue not to long ago that had £300 hardtails and the giant yukon 08 won it will be abit cheaper now aswell with the 09 model comin out so u have some extra dosh for gloves or a helmet

Trouble is, at this time of year you're not planning to buy a £300 hardtail with £300, you'll be shopping for a discounted £350-£400 hardtail, so the usual reviews kind of go out the window

stewart.d.campbell

Ok have narrowed it down to these, which do you guys think is best.

http://www.dalescycles.com/2009_Giant_Y ... yukons.htm

http://www.chrispaulsoncycles.co.uk/pro ... b0s389p642

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gt/ ... e-ec000664

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/kon ... e-ec000780

Let me know what you think, also if you know of a realy good bargain heavily discounted bike let me know, cheers.

supersonic

They are all decent, similarly specced bikes. As above, need to try them out for what feels best, and for size.

Muddy.Bail

well the giant yukon 09 is a really good overall bike but i would say that the kona fire mountain has better forks anyway its up to you check the sizes and see whic one would be a better fit

milkywhite

Commencal Normal got to be worth a look on merlin for £225.

mtbikerboy

The rockrider 5.3 at £300 is another option. a step up from the 5.2 with 100mm fork, 27 speed gearing and tektro io disc brakes.

The commencal seems to be good value as well

stewart.d.campbell

Think im going to go for the gt avalanche as the specs look pretty similar and my girlfriend said she liked it best of the four, i would have gone for the kona but hey its for her.

Indigo Gorilla

Why not get a GT Avalanche 1.0 2008 from Chain Reaction Cycles?

Only £320. Fiar enough it has V-brakes but that doesn't really matter at this price point. I have one and it's been awesome value for money so far.

stewart.d.campbell

What do you guys think of this, good deal?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SARACEN-RECOIL-LE ... 240%3A1307

supersonic

It's ok for a budget full susser. But do you need full suspension? Is it the right size? (sorry to keep banging on about this, but trying them out is the best way unless you specifically understand the geometry, and even then...). And will you be able to build it as it comes in a box?

stewart.d.campbell

Ye i can build no problem but trying them isnt realy an option as i live right at the top of scotland and the bike shops that there are have a very limited selection of bikes.

stewart.d.campbell

Ok what about this as she did say she wanted a muddyfox, so what you think?

http://www.nationalcycles.co.uk/muddyfox-rift.html

supersonic

Very very poor. 21 gears, no damping in the shocks, heavy...

Most full sussers at this priced are total crap. That Saracen just scrapes through, the Decathlon Rockrider 6.3 worth a look. Apart form that, stick to a well specced hardtail.

stewart.d.campbell

So would the gt avalanche 3 or the saracen recoil le dual be the better bike, cheers.

supersonic

Yes, better specced than that horrible Muddy Fox.

mtbikerboy

Saracen Recoil looks like it can give the Rockrider 6.3 a run for its money for a trail bike. It has a more suitable frame due to the longer travel suspension, comes with hydraulic brakes. The rest of the lower quality parts would be easy to upgrade. i would just like to know how much it weighs-cant find that anywhere

llamafarmer

supersonic wrote:

Very very poor. 21 gears, no damping in the shocks, heavy...

Most full sussers at this priced are total crap.

Couldn't agree more! Does she want a full susser because she thinks it will be more comfortable or tougher? Because it will be neither and it will be scarily heavy!

My mate asked my advice on a sub £300 bike a couple of years ago - I said avoid full sussers at all cost and try a hardtail or even rigid bike from Saracen or GT. He ignored me and bought a full susser from Halfords because he thought it would be tougher. Low and behold, 2 weeks later he'd broken the wheels and forks, the rear shock barely moved he and was whinging that it was too heavy to ride uphill.

You had a shortlist of 4 really good budget hardtails in your earlier post, get her one of them and you'll have done a great job mate. And she'll actually use it!

stewart.d.campbell

Ok i will forget the full suser, is this a better deal than the avalanche 3.0.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=29070