Which brands would you say offered the best value bikes?

Andy B

Which brands would you say offered the best value for money in these categories?

Sub £500 hardtails

£500- £999 hardtails

£1000+ hardtails

Sub £999 full suspension bikes

£1000 - £2000 full suss

Mostly aimed at XC/trail riding

I think I know the answers, but I'm curious to see what the forum thinks are the best value in those categories

Anonymous

Limited experience so I can't say what's actually best value, but I felt for £999 my GT ID5 was great value for a full sus in that range.

Frame is quirky and a little heavy, but it's the components that are the value. Add the value up and Halfords (who sold it at the time) must have been barely making any money on it, or they got the frame for virtually nothing. Certainly not crap components. Not high spec either, but in no way was it full of the cheapest budget stuff, just the best stuff they could get for the price.

Even looking at hardtails that sell for £600 to £800 and the GT still had better components than some do!

Northwind

At the lower end, Decathlon and Halfords. Higher up, I think probably Canyon, Specialized and Giant.

NatoED

I'd rate cube much higher than specialized ( who's frames are made by giant since 1992) . Boardman's offer much greater value than specialized by a long shot too.

97th choice

Not being picky but why be quite specific about sub 1k bikes and then go 1-2k full sussers - that is way too large a group with numerous price points to be meaningful.

That said, does anyone pay rrp anymore? For example If I had 1300 I'd be either buying a discounted zesty or a pitch.

Northwind

NatoED wrote:

I'd rate cube much higher than specialized ( who's frames are made by giant since 1992) . Boardman's offer much greater value than specialized by a long shot too.

Lumping Boardman in with lower end here. Specialized's lower end offerings often aren't all that great on value but things like the Pitch Pro etc are.

NatoED

but the boardman carbon mtb's are better equipped than some bikes twice the price . so that would surely move them up to "top end " status?

Northwind

Not really representative of the range those. The new range might change that though but the main body of the Boardman range is targeting the £1000-and-down market, and that's where they're most succesful.

Andy B

Boardman/Voodoo/Carrera and any other 'own brand' bikes are not a viable option unfortunately, even though they do represent good value sometimes

I picked the price categories fairly roughly I guess the full sussers could be split into sub £1k, £1k - £1.5k & 2k and above

Not asking about discounted bikes, only at full RRP

Not a bike for me either

The Northern Monkey

Andy B wrote:

Boardman/Voodoo/Carrera and any other 'own brand' bikes are not a viable option unfortunately, even though they do represent good value sometimes

just out of interest.. why's that?

Shotsaway

NatoED wrote:

I'd rate cube much higher than specialized ( who's frames are made by giant since 1992).

I'm pretty sure that it is Merida that makes the Specialized frames. Merida also make the Boardman and Carrera frames.

Anonymous

Most of the best value are going to be own brand or deals specific to big chain retailers. They're the ones who can knock out the value for money.

Not to be confused with quality of course.

In the higher brackets I'd guess that value for money is harder to judge. People pay whatever they feel they can afford or it's worth based on reputation or status.

Shotsaway wrote:

I'm pretty sure that it is Merida that makes the Specialized frames. Merida also make the Boardman and Carrera frames.

They made or imported GT also (import I assume given mine said made in Taiwan). At least when the exclusive deal was in place.

cooldad

This is like all the what bike threads in one. Too subjective, way too many variables.

Andy B

cooldad wrote:

This is like all the what bike threads in one. Too subjective, way too many variables.

Maybe a few variables, but I'm asking for an opinion on which bikes you feel offer the best value that are not own brand bikes & I want to get a feel for which bikes are considered to represent good value at those RRP price points

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Andy B wrote:

Boardman/Voodoo/Carrera and any other 'own brand' bikes are not a viable option unfortunately, even though they do represent good value sometimes

just out of interest.. why's that?

because we couldn't stock them in our store.

I guess what I'm doing is giving folks the opportunity to have a say in which bikes they would like to see in an LBS

As there's far too many options for one person to look at so I hoped that the collective knowledge of the forum might be able to offer a few ideas to help narrow the options down a little

Anonymous

Of brand, not "own-brand" bikes, do you just get given the bike as a whole or just the frame and you spec up the components?

See that's where I see the value, in the components. Top end, the money is in the frame, but that's different from value. So I'd say it's down to the retailer to provide the value, not the brand.

Andy B

deadkenny wrote:

Of brand, not "own-brand" bikes, do you just get given the bike as a whole or just the frame and you spec up the components?

See that's where I see the value, in the components. Top end, the money is in the frame, but that's different from value. So I'd say it's down to the retailer to provide the value, not the brand.

generally retailers do not have a say in the bike specs, unless it's a full from the frame up custom build, or own brand stuff

The Northern Monkey

deadkenny
Yeah agreed, like i've said a few times on here before, "what makes a frame good?".

The majority don't have a clue, or like me, just see each frame as being different and not really to be compared. Its the components where you make/break a sale (imo).

Take my Boardman for instance. For the cash other brands struggled to come close on a spec to cash ratio.

Northwind

Saracen seem like a good one now- good value, good looking, and getting a lot of media attention.Especially if you want to carry bigger bikes. Also you're less likely to have local competition.

Andy B

Saracen is one brand on the up, then again the only way for Saracen was up from where they were a couple of years ago.

Sorely tempted by the new Kili Flyer 853 cromo in that awesome Aqua colour for my next bike

Northwind

Andy B wrote:

Saracen is one brand on the up, then again the only way for Saracen was up from where they were a couple of years ago.

Ooh I dunno, we've got 2 horrible old Saracens in the garage and they're definately not built for going up, the hardtail's 40lbs

getonyourbike

hmmm Saracen Ariel X frame

Saracen
Boardman
Carerra
Voodoo
Decathlon
Canyon

Shaggy_Dog

It depends on what you 'value'

Some people value component quality, some people value technical innovation, some value something more elusive such as ride quality.

Andy B

Other LBSs in the area stock

Giant
Scott
Specialized
Trek
Merida
Kona
Mongoose
GT
Bianchi

Thewaylander

i'd say on the full bounce set up's Specialized offer supperb value.

Cheaper down, boardman and so on and these new budget type companies are bring good bikes to the masses, but the frames i have looked at are good but not the best for the cash making a sacrifice to give people the spangly specs they desire.

Keith1983

Andy B wrote:

Other LBSs in the area stock

Giant
Scott
Specialized
Trek
Merida
Kona
Mongoose
GT
Bianchi

So presuming you'd like to stear clear of these brands I'd say that Claud Butler in general offer pretty good value for money. The biggest problem with them is that they are terribly unfashionable. The same could be said about Raleigh, although they seem to be trying hard to get more brand recognition. If it was me and I wanted something other than mentioned above I would go for Saracen for MTB's and Raleigh for Road bikes, although they both do all kinds ofcourse.

Andy B

We already have Claud Butler & Cube

Raleigh is a no go, too much local and online competition with prices not far off trade in some cases, the brand has been annihilated by motor factor type shops knocking them out cheap as chips

We're thinking of something a bit more premium brand than Claud Butler, in the upto £1k hardtail range and upto £2k full suss range

CycloRos

Andy B wrote:

Other LBSs in the area stock

Giant
Scott
Specialized
Trek
Merida
Kona
Mongoose
GT
Bianchi

so lapierre it is then. I do like their range of bikes not as good value as they used to be but then what is.

Raymondavalon

Curved ball question!

I've watched great spec bikes plummet from £2,500 to £1,350 on Wiggle when they've been in Wiggle's warehouse a little too long (12 months+)
Now that's great value, as I bought the very bike I watched drop in price over 5 months

NatoED

Shotsaway wrote:

NatoED wrote:

I'd rate cube much higher than specialized ( who's frames are made by giant since 1992).

I'm pretty sure that it is Merida that makes the Specialized frames. Merida also make the Boardman and Carrera frames.

Merida Used to make carrera frames until they launched their own range in the UK , they do make GT frames though .

Specialized are made by Giant since 1992 .
Carrera frames are made by kinetics engineering .

tim_wand

I.M.O

Canyon
Rose
Planet X
On One
Ribble
Ghost

either German, Mail Order or Both

except Boardman then you pay for having to deal with Halfords Fu%kwits

Andy B

I guess that quite a few posters haven't read the topic through.

Canyon, Planet X, On One and any other deal direct companies are out of the equation, as are own brand bikes such as Boardman, Carrera, Voodoo....