£600-£700 Hardtail Budget Newbie questions

Austrian Bren
Austrian Bren Posts: 3
edited May 2012 in MTB buying advice
Hi all,
Firstly apologies for another one of these posts.
I've been reading a lot of threads and reviews on Bike Radar and read the under $500 and $1000 guide but sadly a lot of the 2012 bikes I was looking at have not been reviewed yet.

I moved to Southern Austria from the UK last year. Amazing scenery, Mountains, lots of lakes and great bike routes, so I'd be a fool not to get a bike :)
What I'd like to use my bike for, well on and off road mainly but not for extreme off road terrain.

After reading a few reviews I have seen some recommendations from bikes from Halfords such as Hoodoo and Fury but Halfords dont ship here and I prefer to try/ride a few models out first before ordering anything etc.
Soo sadly Halfords bikes are out of the question i.e Voodoo Hoodoo, Carrera Fury & Boardman :(

Sadly bikes are crazy expensive in Austria but Germany is not so bad and I've found some good deals from most of the main UK dealers with reasonable shipping.

Any guidance or suggestions or recommendations would be really much appreciated.
Below are a few I had hotlisted.

Around £500:
£500 Rockrider 8.1: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2011-id_8168695.html
£500 Felt Q820 2011 http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1830/a56897/q820-black-2011.html
£560 Cube - Attention 2012: http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1766/a54528/attention-black-n-red.html

Around £600:
£600 Felt Q720 2011: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/felt/q720-2011-mountain-bike-ec024367
£600 Felt Q720 2012: http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1830/a60267/q720-hibachi-blue.html
£600 Specizlied Rockhopper 2012 http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Rockhopper-Mountain-Bike-2012-Hardtail-Race-MTB_48349.htm?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Product_Search&utm_campaign=Froogle02

Just over £600
£640 Merida TFS500-D 2012: http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1830/a61521/matts-tfs-500-d-black-white-red.html

£720 Cube Ltd 2012 (I confess I am drawn to this bike but is it worth the extra?) Is there a bike or few bikes that anyone could suggest is absolutely worth £700 or there abouts on getting?
http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1766/a54510/ltd-black-anodized.html

Sorry for so many links but its a bit of a minefield. Example i looked here and have no idea of what hot and whats not:
http://www.wheelies.co.uk/catalogue.aspx?sort=FromPrice%20DESC&psize=100&catid=73&sPrice=600&ePrice=749.99&pID=48349&pName=Specialized-Rockhopper&filter1=Mens%20or%20Unisex

Thanks in advance :)
Brendan

Comments

  • Chunkers1980
    Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
    Why are you posting again in a different section. Buy the RR and be done.
  • warpcow
    warpcow Posts: 1,448
    Look at the Radon bikes on bike-discount too. Most of them are ridiculously good value, and they usually loop different models in their 'deal of the day' offer, which gives you about another 100Euros off. Canyon are worth checking too, although I think they go under a different name in Austria (might be Switzerland) due to some branding conflict.

    I'd leave the Meridas and Felts out.
    Commie Meta SL
    Evil Sovereign
    Santa Cruz Heckler (gone)
    On One Inbred (gone)
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  • drtobiasfunke
    drtobiasfunke Posts: 95
    warpcow wrote:
    Most of them are ridiculously good value, and they usually loop different models in their 'deal of the day' offer, which gives you about another 100Euros off.

    Where is the deal of the day section?
    Radon team 7.0
  • Austrian Bren
    Austrian Bren Posts: 3
    Chunkers1980 wrote:
    Why are you posting again in a different section. Buy the RR and be done.
    Hey Chunkers, I asked admin to delete the other post as I wanted to post in MTB Buying Advice and not clog up the wrong board :) hence temporary duplicate.
    Thanks, yes seems a lot of people are advising the RockRider, I may end up getting one but nothing wrong with asking and finding out more about MTBs along the way..

    Many thanks Warpcow, I've been looking a lot at the deals, I'll check out the Radon bikes on offer. Found the Canyons but they were a little steep all well above €1k. It's still a bit of a minefield re parts/specs/brands but thats how you learn I guess :)

    My local bike place stock a lot of Cubes, KTM's and Scotts but all crazy prices and my German isn't that great ;) But I guess I could always upgrade the RR as time went by or trade in for better a model later down the line.

    I guess that's why my head turned when I saw the Cube Ltd 2012 for £720 seemed like a bargain as all the Cube Ltd models had been expensive. Are you paying mainly for the name with a lot of these bikes, as I read that each year the specs don't seem as good as the last. I guess Im trying to understand why peeps would go for a bike a few hundred quid more expensive if bikes like the RR, Fury and Hoodoo are better spec'd? Is it because people upgrade the forks and other bits over time??

    Many thanks again
    Brendan
  • Mikelancs
    Mikelancs Posts: 99
    Alternative for you have a look at the Whyte 801 at £699

    It's a bit different than the others and there not seen much on the trails!
    2012 Giant TCR Composite 3
  • danlightbulb
    danlightbulb Posts: 701
    That looks v.nice. Bottom of the rockshox range fork tho. Shame.

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