£600 to spend on a hardtail

tempted

I'm a bit stuck as to what to do really. I live in a completely flat area (Lincolnshire), and will ride on roads during the week. At weekends, I hope to visit more MB friendly routes. I have £600 to spend, what would you recommend?

I've been drawn to the GT range myself, but a friend said the Cube MB's were very good. I have read around quite a lot, but still don't know where I stand with forks, brakes and gears! What would you recommend I spend my £600 on?

Any advice appreciated!

Thanks

stantheman206

If I had £600 burning a hole In my pocket I'd look at the carrera fury from halfords, either the latest 2012 model or a 2nd hand 2011 model which has a slightly better fork.

Ignore the stigma of halfords own brand stuff this is a quality entry level but.

Looked at one yesterday as a second bike for me and it looked well built too

type.rst

Or you could get a more expensive bike from Evans Cycles as they offer 0% interest on finance.

You could buy a bike for £850, put the £600 down upfront and the remaining £250 would work out as little over £20 a month for 12 months.

Just a thought.

drtobiasfunke

stantheman206 wrote:

If I had £600 burning a hole In my pocket I'd look at the carrera fury from halfords, either the latest 2012 model or a 2nd hand 2011 model which has a slightly better fork.

Ignore the stigma of halfords own brand stuff this is a quality entry level but.

Looked at one yesterday as a second bike for me and it looked well built too

The 2012 fury is not even close to being as good as the previous version.

Look at the rockrider 8.1 which is around £500 and wont be beat on spec at that price.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2011-id_8168695.html
The boardman comp is also pretty decent and light but just over your price range at £650 use code NUSMAR12 to knock 10% off to get it closer to £600.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499
The voodoo bokor at £679 is pretty solid if you want something a bit harder hitting and has 10% off if you buy online (wont stack with the NUS code though ).
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

supersonic

These are all good bikes - but the Fury is stilla great piece of kit.

rapid_donkey

I have had a Fury for 2 weeks exactly now, last week I threw it around the red route scar tree trail on 3 evenings, and have done 2 cross country rides, its a brilliant bike for the money. Im a big guy at 95kg's, got the fork sag set up for me with about 150psi in it, and Ive been overtaking people on Specialized, Giant bikes etc on the trail.
For £600 I would reccomend the Fury.
Unfortunately, as amazing as the bike is, the Halfords workers (I wouldnt call them technicians) arent. The gears on the front 2 chain rings stopped changing smoothly. My crank arm wasnt fitted properly, cross threaded I suspect, and when Halfords tried to take the crank bolt out they rounded off the bolt, so Im currently waiting on spares and for them to repair it, which I cant see them being able to do personally.
If you buy one, go over it with a fine tooth comb.

tempted

Thank you all for the comments.

I must admit I am a bit of a badge snob and fancied a more popular make than the Decathalon 8.1, but from everything I've read it looks brilliant value. I just need to get down there and have a sit on it etc.

Frosticles

Rockrider 8.1 without a doubt. Best bike out there for the money.

kammybear

Cube all day long.

Chainreaction are currently doing the 2011 Cube LTD for £650, down from nearly £1000! I paid £679 for my 2012 Attention and the LTD is like another 3 bikes up in the range. A right billy bargain!

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=57168

Deore XT and SLX shit all round for £664? (gone up £14 since yesterday!)

kammybear

I've just noticed the LTD has some kind of strange hydr brake mechanism....no discs....! Fucking cool or what!

BUY IT NAOW!1!

supersonic

Hydro rim brakes. Work pretty well.

The Rookie

rapid_donkey wrote:

Unfortunately, as amazing as the bike is, the Halfords workers (I wouldnt call them technicians) arent. The gears on the front 2 chain rings stopped changing smoothly. My crank arm wasnt fitted properly, cross threaded I suspect, and when Halfords tried to take the crank bolt out they rounded off the bolt, so Im currently waiting on spares and for them to repair it, which I cant see them being able to do personally.
If you buy one, go over it with a fine tooth comb.

The bike would arrive at Halfords with cranks fitted, so they aren't responsible for the initial issue, and if the gears were changing fine when it left the shop, what did you expect them to do, mess it up in the hope it would come right?

Coolnick

Boardman HT Comp? Lovely bike, decent air fork and components for price

rapid_donkey

.[/quote]The bike would arrive at Halfords with cranks fitted, so they aren't responsible for the initial issue, and if the gears were changing fine when it left the shop, what did you expect them to do, mess it up in the hope it would come right?[/quote]

It is part of the PDI to check the crank bolts are all tight and there is no freeplay.
As soon as a fault developed I took it back to Halfords, as per the manual so as not to void the warranty, and they rounded off the crank bolt trying to get it out.
You are trying to tell me there is no blame with Halfords?