Best hardtail

Vladtheimpaler

Hi

Could do with some buying advice

I'm looking at a hardtail on the bike to work scheme.

Got the options down to these:-

Cannondale SL2 at £899
Trek 650 disc at £995
Cube LTD Team at £949
Merida Matts 700D at £1,021
Specialized Rockhopper SL Expert at £949

will be using the bike for some courses but nothing too serious

suggestions as to the best bike would be appreciated.

Thanks

rieko

You will probably be told to check out the Boardmans and others in the Halfords range. They are good bikes and great value for money compared to the more "glamorous" names.

My advice (for what its worth) would be to go to you LBS and try as many as these bikes as possible. I tried loads out and in the end it came down to the Cannondale SL 3 and the Trek and Rockhopper equivalent. I plumped for the SL 3 in the end as it seemed to suit me slightly better for some reason and i have not regretted my decision.

Admittedly, i could have gone for a bike at the same price with better components, but they didn't have that ride me factor that i got with the Dale.

John Moore

Trek

Vladtheimpaler

Thanks.
will look at that one tomorrow at All Terrain

The Rookie

Vladtheimpaler wrote:

will be using the bike for some courses but nothing too serious

suggestions as to the best bike would be appreciated.

If the 'nothing to serious' is true, spend a lot less, budget at about £600 and read all the 'hardtaails for £600' group tests then go and buy whichever floats your boat and save yourself £300!

Simon

jayson

Take a look at the merlin Malt 1 starting at £650 or the Malt 2 witrh a slightly better frame starting at £699, both great bikes and loads of scope to upgrade/change parts to suit ur needs and/or budget.

pte1643

jayson wrote:

Take a look at the merlin Malt 1 starting at £650 or the Malt 2 witrh a slightly better frame starting at £699, both great bikes and loads of scope to upgrade/change parts to suit ur needs and/or budget.

The Malt 2 got rave reviews in this months WMB (pg 74).

RockmonkeySC

Rockhopper is very good. Very light, excellent XC bike and some great deals around. A mate just bought a 2008 SL Expert for just a touch over £500. He has given it a LOT of abuse and it just refuses to break. I have lost count of the number of times he has binned it in front of me, all due to his incompetence, not in any way due to the bike!

Splatter

Rockhopper SL Pro - spend the extra on the best looking bike in the range

jacob2910

boardman pro

thisischris

KHS Alite 3000! Got mine a couple of weeks ago and after a pedal upgrade it was absolutly spot on!!

Northwind

If you can go to Halfords, they sell 3 of the best at this price point, with the Fury, Boardman and whatever the Voodoo is, Bokor? Bokor won the bike MBR test IIRC (the Fury wasn't in it) and the Fury won the WMB test IIRC.

nikstar1

Specialized is my fav - only cause I have one!

I would suggest going to a shop to take them all out for a test ride as it really is down to personal preference. You may also find that you fit a certain brand a lot better than others and therefore will have a far more comfortable ride.

Definitely recommend having a go on the Specialized though - even if its not right for you, its good fun!

flateric

The one you jump on, ride, and feels right straight away. Get a good frame, you can upgrade the components later.

Dgh

I've got a Trek 4500 in Spain (2009 model) and a Scott Aspect 20 in the UK (2010 model). Although the Trek is lower spec, it felt like a glove from the moment I first got on it and is a lovely bike to ride.

My wife's just bought a Trek and she likes it too.

Splottboy

Look at Fat Bird Dont Fly.

Nice Bottecchia Stelvio Hardtail for about £600.

Custom painted so have to wait a few week, but real nice.

Frame for £219.