***Hardtail £500 limit****

smeev

Hi all,

I am considering buying a hardtail for my work commute. I have already got a Spesh Allez
elitie road bike which i have upgadred since i have brought it 2years ago. But the state of the roads buy my work place are terrible the say the least, i spend more time looking on the floor not to avoid crack & big holes. My RS30 back wheel is going to be striaghtend due to this fact. I am in a lucky position that i only live 2miles from work. Also am going to do some trial/park riding with my boy, so it will kill 2 birds with 1 stone....

So i looking to purchase something a bit more rubust. Have been looking at a Spesh Hardrock sport, Giant Talon 3, Gaint Revel 0 or a Cannondale SL4.
Is there much between these spec wise?? I do like the look of the cannodale.

Or any other suggestions round the £500 mark

Many thanks.

jimexbox

smeev wrote:

Or any other suggestions round the £500 mark.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/8-1-2010-141402412/

Rushmore

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/commencal/premier-plus-2011-mountain-bike-ec026749?query=commencal

8)

Rich9

2nd hand?

I'm thinking about selling my Cube hardtail to get a Boardman FS

imacnz

I don't know what size you need but Halfords have an offer on the Boardman Sport HT at £467 (Usually £549). You need to check availability but High Wycombe has a medium available. In my opinion this is a great bike with an excellent spec.
Cheers

jamescw

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/best-mountain-bikes-under-500-29451

Jayden115

Hi m8 I have been looking for the same thing myself but bought a decathlon rockrider 8.1 yesterday it was the best spec bike I see for under £500 it is £499 but at the moment they are £449 for the 2010 model as the 2011 is in the shop next week exactly the same just a different colour it's a really nice bike with good spec stuff on it that would be a lot more if it had specialised or any other name on it and the guy who sold me it was very helpful and threw in some spare pedals pump and few other bits and pieces for nothing aswell worth a look

JonnyPx

Jayden115 wrote:

Hi m8 I have been looking for the same thing myself but bought a decathlon rockrider 8.1 yesterday it was the best spec bike I see for under £500 it is £499 but at the moment they are £449 for the 2010 model as the 2011 is in the shop next week exactly the same just a different colour it's a really nice bike with good spec stuff on it that would be a lot more if it had specialised or any other name on it and the guy who sold me it was very helpful and threw in some spare pedals pump and few other bits and pieces for nothing aswell worth a look

Really?!! I was looking at the rockrider8.1 too, but on the website it says £499 for the 2010 model? How did you get it to 449, did you barter or something lol.

Jayden115

Haha no m8 the 2010 model is in the store at %10 off at the moment as they are putting the new 2011 ones in on Sunday well at the lakeside store anyway but I presume all stores are the same so if you have a store near you would be worth dropping in allways better than buying of the net as you can get a few bits for free in the stores which is helpful .

JonnyPx

Jayden115 wrote:

Haha no m8 the 2010 model is in the store at %10 off at the moment as they are putting the new 2011 ones in on Sunday well at the lakeside store anyway but I presume all stores are the same so if you have a store near you would be worth dropping in allways better than buying of the net as you can get a few bits for free in the stores which is helpful .

That's excellent, lakeside is my closest store too! How did you go about getting the free stuff btw, and what did you get if you don't mind me asking? And what size did you get ,if you would be so kind as to tell me your height? Sorry about the load of questions! :shock:

Jayden115

Cool I spoke to a guy called Scott I got a medium I'm 5'8-5'9 it has got the clip in pedals on it but I got him to put me on some freeride pedals and I kept the clip ins aswell he knocked some money of a Childs seat and put me on a bottle holder aswell not a lot but all better than nothing ohh and a little pump aswell he was a helpful guy and a really nice bloke so definetely recommend having a chat to him.

smeev

After much deliberation, i went for the cannondale trail SL4. Stunning looking bike & very nice to ride apparantly. Have only had the bike 1 day & guess what................i broke my leg playing football. ontop of that i may have busted my cruciate ligament in the process. Got to have an MRI scan in 2 weeks because the swelling is that bad. So they may be a cannondale SL4 & Spesh Allez Elite for sale soon.
As you may well gather i am very very very f**cked off

supersonic

Unlucky. Gives you time to take it back and get a better bike

pedalpower

I went to look at the rockriders the other day. I was a bit disapointed by the 5.3 - don't like the shifters or the brakes but the 8.1 is fantastic - great fork, external bottom bracket/crank set, nice shifters, Avid hydraulic brakes. However, for my purposes it's a bit annoying it doesn't have eyelets for a rack/mudguards or cantilever bosses. I'd like the 5.3 frame but with the 8.1 spec!

There was another model between the two, can't find it now, which had the Avid 3 juicy brakes and also no eyelets or bosses but otherwise seemed to be same spec as the 5.3 - didn't seem worth the extra really.

Just thought this might be interesting for anyone else.

Does anyone have an idea of what the frames alone (with or without forks) might be worth for any of these bikes if I was to buy to strip components?

p.s. I'm talking about the 2010 versions but sounds like 2011 aren't changed much

Wappygixer

pedalpower wrote:

There was another model between the two, can't find it now, which had the Avid 3 juicy brakes and also no eyelets or bosses but otherwise seemed to be same spec as the 5.3 - didn't seem worth the extra really.

Does anyone have an idea of what the frames alone (with or without forks) might be worth for any of these bikes if I was to buy to strip components?

p.s. I'm talking about the 2010 versions but sounds like 2011 aren't changed much

The bike your on about is called the 8.0.The 8.0 though is the same frame as the 8.1.
If you need mudguard and rack eyelets then it would have to be the 5.3.
Not many bikes these days come with Canti mounts at a higher spec.

rockmonkeysc

Try the Hardrock. Great bike, better frame than a lot of others at this price mine takes a lot of abuse, I have ridden 5 foot drops to flat abused it downhill trails and rattled down big steps and it refuses to break or spit me off. Still gets a fair amount of use even with my Giant Trance X & On-One Summer Season.