3 Options - Which would you recommend and why?

Smitherz86

Hi guys, im new to mountain biking and plan to purchase my first mountain bike this month. I know a little about bikes, well enough to know that i need to be looking at a hardtail as full suspension will not be needed or within my budget.

Basically i have approx £400 to spend and have found the following 3 options that i have read good reviews on. Which one should i go for, bareing in mind that i will be doing plenty of trails riding, the harder the better and also a bit of downhill when i can.

The 3 options i have come up with are

GT Aggressor XC 2 09
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_512545_langId_-1_categoryId_165499#dtab

GT Avalanche 2.0 Disc 2009
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gt/ ... e-ec016366

Claud Butler Cape Wrath D27 08
http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B2448.html?mv_pc=gp1

All a similar price, all have hydraulic disc brakes, all well known brands. All seem to have pretty budget forks, which i guess is to be expected. I know i probably need to go have a go with them, but if anyone could see a clear winner on paper its a starting point.

Thanks in advance!

Salsa

I'd have the XC 2 out of those, the Avalanche only has 24 speed whilst the others have 27, also I saw one of those in the flesh (so to speak) a few weeks ago & the colour scheme is frankly awful.
The Claud Bulter/XC2 are very close in spec but again having rode them both (serviced/repaired both) I preferred the XC2's brakes & feel plus frankly it just looks better

xtreem

Not much of a difference between them, so I voted the XC2 just because it looks the best.
But that's just me.