Advice needed - which is the best Mountain Bike for £200

StevieM

Hi all

I'm looking for advise on what's the best decent Mountain Bike for around £200. All advise would be greatly appreciated as i'm totally clueless!! thanks

mf5

Hi,
I'd recommend looking second hand at that price, you'll get more for your money, the other option would be a decathalon or halfords bike. But you'll probably get something better second hand, try having a look in the classifieds on here

hbrashaw

Rockrider 5.2

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/rockrider ... -34963795/

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... er-52-8964

diy

At £200 you are best looking for a 3-5 year old branded hard tail from the likes of Marin, Specialised, Trek, Kona etc. You might even find some of the halffords specials (exclude appolo or rbk) are worth a look.

If you are buying know you will get a bike that it competent at cross country, dirt trail, but not really up to tougher conditions.

check out the famous auction site. be careful to check that the seller actually knows about the bike they are buying. You might even find a police auction worth a look as some of them dump their bikes via the same process as motorbikes and cars.

butcher of bakersfield

Second hand is a good idea if you have someone that knows bikes to check them over for you. Halfords occasionally have sales with 20% off - the Carrera Vulcan is worth a look, but still a little over budget even in the sales. And if there's any decathlon stores in your area, they're worth a look too.

You'll often find barely used bikes on ebay only used once or twice (cos people buy them, thinking they'll get fit, but can't be arsed and sit and watch Corrie instead) with massive savings off a new bike. Just depends what's in your area at the time. And like anything else, some bikes hold their value better than others.

Unfortunately, the price of new bikes have rocketed in the past few years.

rockmonkeysc

What is good for £200 would depend on what you want to do.
If you want to ride along flat cycle paths then any decathlon, Appolo or Carrera would do the job pretty well. If you want to ride off road then get on ebay & look for a used Specialized Hardrock / Rockhopper, Carrera Vulcan or similar, preferably with some better forks fitted.