New to MTB - Advice please

theshrew

Im looking to buy a new bike as i want to start going off road. Trouble is im not to sure which are good / bad bikes or what the best thing to do is.

I dont really want to spend more than £600 hopefully less
Ive had a look at reviews and the Specialized Hardrock seems a good bit of kit for the cash.

Or possibly a 2nd had better bike. If i buy 2nd hand am i likely to be having to repair a load of stuff on it ? Do parts wear out quite quickly etc ?

Im unsure what to do - I dont really want to buy somethiing that i will need to upgrade in the near future when i get into MTB a bit more or have to spend a load of cash on a old banger.

What would you do in my shoes ? What bikes would you be looking at ?

flet©h

Are you new to MTB or new to cycling entirely?

If you are new to the whole sport and have no prior knowledge of how bikes work and how to fix them I would go down the off the peg route, Spech make good bikes in this category but I've never ridden a hardrock.

If you know how to fix bikes a bit then I'd go second hand and by the bits separately and build up your bike. I recon you could get £1500 worth of bike for your £600 doing it this way.

surreyxc

if you have the cash would def consider second hand. If it seems to good to be true i.e. £2200 bike for £600 why?, but you could get a really good condition £1000 -£1400 bike for £600. Just use common sense. You probably want a good frameset and wheels, then as you find out what works for you, you can change components. Most bike maintenance is pretty easy and requires little more than allen keys and screwdrivers.

theshrew

I used to ride bikes a lot when i was younger and have done one trial with a guide but that was probably 15 years ago. At the moment ive just got some old banger of a bike that im just using to try and get my legs and bottom used to riding again.

Ive been looking on Ebay at Rockhoppers they seem to hold the price not really a great bargain. Im pretty mechanicly minded so cant see any reason why i couldnt build my own if this could work out getting something better.

The trouble is i wouldnt have a clue what parts to buy or if they were good or not or where to buy them from.

mac_man

I've sourced three 2nd hand bikes in the last year, all of them for other people. All mint (bar a few cosmetic scratches in one case). All were half price, or less. And all were around a year old.

So yes.. there are major bargains to be had 2nd hand if you use your common sense. I would only ever consider mint condition stuff, which is easy enough to check.

And checking a bike is more straightforward than checking a car... you can see and feel everything that matters.

Most 2nd hand bikes will only be worth half their original value at a year old. And in some cases a 2 year old bike has a better spec than some new versions of the same model.