Best value bike

scoobywrx

Whats the best MTB around for around £500-£700 including any discounts you can find at the moment??

Andy B

What sort of riding will you be doing?

For general XC/Trail riding @ £ 500 the Carrera Fury is hard to beat (without getting a '08 sale bike)

SpinningJenny

my bike

2009 is so out of fashion now...

Thewaylander

Depends how experienced you are, as carrera is halfords i rarely recomend a halfords bike as there support is not really the best

SpinningJenny

yep, i agree.

*some* of the bikes may be fab, but the support... meh (rider - not all Halfords are the same, but in my experience, not so good)

The Spiderman

Or a Merlin Malt or Genesis Core 20 for £600ish.

scoobywrx

I mainly do (at the moment) 7 miles before work every day on trails/woods/single tracks with a few inclines and decents. Saturday morning much the same but 12 miles with the option of a longer weekend ride.

I have commuted the 18 miles all on country roads and might continue to do this occationally.

Any suggestions now?

The Spiderman

As my previous suggestion!

red09

Went to Halfords 2 weeks ago and picked up a GT Aggressor XCR for £599

within 4 days they had ordered it, received it and built it.

No problem and I rode off very happy with a great specced bike for the price.

Give Halfords a break, I think everyone jumps on the bandwagon and slags them off.

I can only speak from MY experience but a big thumbs up to Halfords.

Lets hope the 20% offer comes back on and makes more people happy riders.

canada16

Yes but you would not let them touch a bike that was worth £1000.+

Well I wouldnt anyway.

I always see the local halford guy scratching his head over a bike with stabalisers.. lol

They are ok for basic stuff, but unless you know the mechanic, i would not trust them to put on XT brakes, or build me a wheel

Northwind

I'd let my local Halfords work on anything, they're good, better than my LBS (though not so good with communication)

But it's all a side issue tbh, the Fury's spec is head and shoulders above most bigger trail bikes in the pricerange, and the Boardman range are mostly the same for XC, so even if you write off the shop for everything but warranty replacements, it's still a great buy- just think of it as being like buying online and forget about using them for servicing if you have any doubts, and take it to your LBS.

If I had £500 to spend on a bike, I'd be buying an 08-spec Fury without a second thought, they're that good.

deffler

The Spiderman wrote:

Or a Merlin Malt or Genesis Core 20 for £600ish.

Genesis core 20 £550 @ squarewheelz

scoobywrx

I do like the look of both the Boardman MTB and the Fury MBT now how do you split these two??

Mr Wu

scoobywrx wrote:

I do like the look of both the Boardman MTB and the Fury MBT now how do you split these two??

With a 5mm Hex key, few spanners and a hammer.

Northwind

scoobywrx wrote:

I do like the look of both the Boardman MTB and the Fury MBT now how do you split these two??

Boardman is XC-ish, lighter and faster, Fury is stronger- longer travel, stronger build. So it depends on your riding, if you like cross country and long distance and nothing too big or tough on the bike, then the Boardman, but if you like trail centres and rougher stuff then the Fury.

scoobywrx

Its looking the Boardman bike is for me. Don't think a serious trail centre is for me......more looking for mileage, woods and hills. C2W scheme brings the price right down too
Are there any other bikes that i need to compare alongside the boardman MTB??

keirtristan

deffler wrote:

The Spiderman wrote:

Or a Merlin Malt or Genesis Core 20 for £600ish.

Genesis core 20 £550 @ squarewheelz

+1 for the Core 20. At £550 it's an absolute bargain.

Northwind

keirtristan wrote:

+1 for the Core 20. At £550 it's an absolute bargain.

And yet has an inferior fork and wheelset to the Fury

keirtristan

The fork is slightly better having lockout but not really that much in it. Not sure about the wheelset, didn't look into it that much.

The Fury uses a lot of SRAM where as the Core has Shimano. Diferrent brakes as well, again couldn't say which are better either. To be honest I completely ruled the Carerra and Boardman's out as meant buying from Halfords.

I doubt there is too much in the bikes, it all comes down to personal prefence!

Northwind

keirtristan wrote:

The fork is slightly better having lockout but not really that much in it. Not sure about the wheelset, didn't look into it that much.

The Tora 318 has motion control damping, and the Fury gets u-turn while the Core doesn't. It's a bit lighter too.

You're right that they're both good bikes, no huge differences, just pointing out that the fury is the better specced and also cheaper. But no denying the Genesis is cooler 8)