Halfords Bikes Really?

stu100

On a budget to buy a new mountain bike and dislike Halfords with a passion however on visiting today for a nose they have some interesting deals and wondered if they were any good.
Voodoo Hoodoo looks nice £449
Carrera Vengeance £449 reduced to £329. Really? Any good?
Carrera Centos LTD edition £549 reduced to £329. Really? Any good?
Voodoo Bantu £399 reduced to £359. Any good?
Carrera Vulcan £479 reduced to £379. Really? Any good?
Carrera Kraken £499 reduced to £449. Looks nice but would rather not have a white bike!!

Okay theres my choices unless someone has any other good choices around the £400 marker. Id rather see before buy hence my trip to Halfords that buying online but dont know much about the above makes.
Thanks

SomeIdeaNoGear

Someone will be along to recommend you save up an extra £100 for a Decathlon Rockrider 8.1 in a bit, because it is the best bang for buck low budget mountain bike you can get:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2011-id_8168695.html

However, the Halfords bikes you've listed are all pretty good, I'd take the reductions with a grain of salt though, those prices rarely change throughout the year (it's almost like a DFS sale, you've got to be bloody unlucky to walk into the shop on the one day the are charging the RRP that they set themselves). Out of all of them the Hoodoo is probably the stand out from the bunch, nice frame, solid forks and recently got a 5 star rating on this site. Although I've heard good things about the Vengeance as well.

The best advice I can give is to at least sit on the bikes and see how they feel when you're on them, if it doesn't feel right even on a spin around the car park then you'll potentially be facing a battle to get along with it on the trails.

If you do end up buying from Halfords, I'd give the bike a check after picking it up from the store, there's a few tales about parts not being tightened properly on collection, although I've heard similar stories about some of the other large bike stores as well.

Hopefully you'll make up your mind soon and get out on your new bike to enjoy the best part of the year for riding, if only because the days are longer for you to enjoy the experience.

waby1234

The Voodoo Hoodoo is a bargain, there have been some further discount codes too, plus possible Quidco cash back. It's heavier than the Rockrider though.

Shotsaway

WMB really rate the Voodoo Hoodoo this month. Given it 5 out of 5!

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... o-12-46194

Emphursis

If you order online, you can use the discount code NUSMAY12 for an extra 10% off. I did that to order a Bantu (couldn't stretch to the Hoodoo unfortunately) for £323.

stubs

The Hoodoo or the Kraken toss of a coin or go for the colour you like.

waby1234

stubs wrote:

The Hoodoo or the Kraken toss of a coin or go for the colour you like.

Or sit on them and go for the one that feels best?

stubs

waby1234 wrote:

stubs wrote:

The Hoodoo or the Kraken toss of a coin or go for the colour you like.

Or sit on them and go for the one that feels best?

Sitting on a bike in a shop is no use for telling you if it will suit. Especially in a big store it wont be set up properly chances are it will be the wrong size and will tell you nothing about how it handles, going for a proper test ride is different but thats not an option in Halfords I believe. Checking online or in store to see what size suits your height and picking your colour is as good a way as any.

Last time I bought a bike in a shop I sat on it and it felt okay so I bought it because I was away from home, I needed a cheap as chips hardtail to quickly replace a stolen bike and the store was shutting soon and it was friday night and I wanted to ride saturday morning. I knew I had boobed about 20 mins into the ride but it was too late then. Someone on ebay got a bargain the next week. I have bought enough bikes over the last 40 years to keep Taiwan afloat so if I made a mess of it how is anyone relatively new to MTBs going to tell if a bike is right by sitting on it in a shop.

stu100

Excellent thanks for the input. Im swaying towards the Voodoo. £405 with the code, thanks Emphursis for that. Not bad. Im impressed with its reviews.

waby1234

stubs wrote:

waby1234 wrote:

stubs wrote:

The Hoodoo or the Kraken toss of a coin or go for the colour you like.

Or sit on them and go for the one that feels best?

Sitting on a bike in a shop is no use for telling you if it will suit. Especially in a big store it wont be set up properly chances are it will be the wrong size and will tell you nothing about how it handles, going for a proper test ride is different but thats not an option in Halfords I believe. Checking online or in store to see what size suits your height and picking your colour is as good a way as any.

Last time I bought a bike in a shop I sat on it and it felt okay so I bought it because I was away from home, I needed a cheap as chips hardtail to quickly replace a stolen bike and the store was shutting soon and it was friday night and I wanted to ride saturday morning. I knew I had boobed about 20 mins into the ride but it was too late then. Someone on ebay got a bargain the next week. I have bought enough bikes over the last 40 years to keep Taiwan afloat so if I made a mess of it how is anyone relatively new to MTBs going to tell if a bike is right by sitting on it in a shop.

Sitting on it is better than tossing a coin... That was my point

passout

Hoodoo