Newbie to MTB lokking for beginners bike.

2003boy

Hi I went out for a ride on a trail with my lad at the weekend on hired bikes and both of us loved it. As I quite like the outdoors stuff and am a reasonably keen runner I thought this would be a good thing for both of us to do together, hence I'm looking at getting a bike. (My lad already has one, a cheap Silverfox with suspension and disc brakes)

I know there are massive differences between the standard of bikes and parts but I've kind of settled on going for a Hard tail with lockable front shocks, as I will probably do road riding as well. As this is my first venture I think £300 should be my budget ceiling.

I'm looking for a few bits of advice:
Should I look at new or used?

If used what kind of deals and things should I be looking out for?

If new should I look at the Halfords Carrera brand, as they seem to get mixed reviews regarding quality and price?

supersonic

As a newbie I would recommend a new bike. Many reasons for this: you get to see it first, try it out, get advice, have it built, have a free service and easy to reach aftersales care. Plus a warranty!

For £300 you can get a competant entry level XC bike. Carreras generally rule the roost for this money, the Vulcan is good, the Kraken is fantastic. But also look at the Decathlon Rockrider 5.3.

gregwari

Hi

One of the MTB magazines did a a review of £300 bikes recently, chances are the reviews are somewhere on Bike Radar. I'd have a look at the usual contenders such as Specialized, GT, Giant and Trek, and for something a little less obvious try Mongoose or Vitus. For the money though, I'd keep away from any form of disk brakes, they're a distraction until you look to spend over about £500. Also, for £300 you'll struggle to get a fork that locks out. For what it's worth though, I don't think I've ever locked my front fork out in all the years I've been riding. Only other thing to consider is a good old trawl around the internet looking for a new bike, but a 2010 edition. There's a few good deals still out there....

diy

Personally I would look at used bikes - £300 will get you a 2-3 year old £1000 bike, there are lots of 1 year old bike to work scheme bikes that are mint.

look at ebay for pick up only close to your home - prices are high at the moment.

I just sold a 5 year old giant for £90 that only cost £140 new. But with pickup only you can often get a bargain.

But if £300 is a lot of money for you then you might want a warranty and the back up of a bike shop. Personally I'd take a risk and grab a bargain. I know quite a few of the bike shops dump their trade ins on ebay and they go for reasonable prices.

nozzac

Really? Prices on ebay at the moment seem to preclude those sorts of deals from what I've seen.