Buying Help Hardtail £300-£500

Mtaylor2012

Hi

As im new to the forum ill introduce myself, my names Marc im 23 and i live in Warwickshire. As a kid i used to be heavily into my Mountain Biking, Downhill and occasional Trials but unfortunately ive been out of touch with it due to passing my driving test :roll: and becoming lazy!

Ive decided i want to get back into biking and managed to convince my mates to join me too like the good old days! But as ive been out of the game so to speak for a while id like a bit of advice on what to buy. Im not looking to spend too much to begin with, but as long as i get the bug for it again ill upgrade fairly quickly im sure. So far these are the models ive been looking at:

Fuji Nevada 3.0 @ £459.99 http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuj ... 2#features

Felt Q220 2012 @ £379.99 http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fel ... e-ec032648

Norco Charger 9.3 @ £429.99 http://www.evanscycles.com/products/nor ... e-ec031670

Lapierre Raid 200 @ £464.99 http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lap ... e-ec031519

Looking to you guys as the people in the know... based on the specs could you advise on which one is best value for money? Im going to get used to things first, but not after too long i do plan on frequenting Cannock chase when possible on it! Any help you can give will be much appreciated

cooldad

Standard answer - look at Halfords- Voodoo and Carerra or Decathlon - Rockrider.

BigJimmyB

Look at Boardman also.

Specs on the bikes you've been looking at will possibly be inferior...

jolmes

Boardman wont do anything in that price range. Voodoo's are quite decent, just myself got a hoodoo 29er for £380 few weeks ago, being 6"4 and with legs like a bean stalk the size really suited me.

Mtaylor2012

Thanks for the advice, Where abouts did you get the Hoodoo from for £380, was is a older model or second hand? Looking on halfords at the moment there about £520.....

Is the Voodoo spec a massive difference on the Fuji or the Lapierre? Personally i dont actually like the look of the voodoo.....

jolmes

Used to work there so friend bought it for me on discount. Guess that doesn't really help you though, only real downfall on that is the 80mm travel which I nearly bottomed out on the 2nd ride and the hubs have some shockingly bad reviews, other than that its proved to be a really nice ride so far and yeah, the look of it took a while for me to get round but its grown on me.

Not sure for a spec comparison though mate, perhaps one of the more experienced guys will give it a look over...

chez_m356

if you can find one http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2012-id_8168918.html a far superior spec to anything else in that price range, or even 2 to 3 hundred pounds above that price range

Mtaylor2012

Thanks for that, How do they put such good equipment on a bike valued at only £500?! is it because the frame isnt a well known brand or is there something else to it?

waby1234

Simple bulk buying and economy of scale.

Mtaylor2012

Thanks for all the help guys, just out of interest..... Out of the bikes that ive suggested which is the best spec'd for its price?

The one you suggested on decathlon is nice, but im not a fan of the frame......

chez_m356

Mtaylor2012 wrote:

Thanks for all the help guys, just out of interest..... Out of the bikes that ive suggested which is the best spec'd for its price?

for that price range i think you could find better here http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s2p0

BigJimmyB

jolmes wrote:

Boardman wont do anything in that price range. Voodoo's are quite decent, just myself got a hoodoo 29er for £380 few weeks ago, being 6"4 and with legs like a bean stalk the size really suited me.

Might find something 2nd hand though....?