What bike should I get for £350

Leon.currie

Hi was thinking of getting a mountain bike, I am a complete beginner and could do with some advice. I have seen a saracen mantra reduced to £ 359 and was wondering if this was a good bike or good value, not into anything too serious just want a decent bike. Also looked at a cube aim 26, is this decent or which one do you think is better?

croptonboy

Have you got links to the bikes?

Are you only after new or is 2nd hand an option?

Leon.currie

New was what I was after, no links, just bikes reduced in a local bike shop, they also had an avanti montari 26.2 , never heard of the brand so don't know what they are like, I see that realcycles.com have the same bikes at same price.

morepower

I would look on sites like Pauls cycles or Chain reaction for discounted bikes...
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p405 ... -COMP-2012
Is an example of a £500 bike that now fits your budget. The problem is you dont get a lot of bike for your money when you are on a budget that low but you do get to go out and enjoy what you have and if you like it then you can move up.

The other option is of course eBay and I got my Orange Crush for £465 and it is like new so I have saved close to £1000 on a bike that has had very little use and is almost like new..

slickmouse

Leon.currie wrote:

Hi was thinking of getting a mountain bike, I am a complete beginner and could do with some advice. I have seen a saracen mantra reduced to £ 359 and was wondering if this was a good bike or good value, not into anything too serious just want a decent bike. Also looked at a cube aim 26, is this decent or which one do you think is better?

nether are bad bikes, your struggling in that price pocket, to get anything that would be considered ''good'' by most on here, but youl get a reasonably well made if slightly heavy bike with mediocre suspension, that will be just fine if you not too adventurous what you do, where you go on it

400 quid will get you a voodoo bantu, which is a good bit better than anything else at that price range

bartimaeus

Your best bet is 2nd hand - but if you've little experience with bikes it can be hard to pick a good 'un. Do you have any mountain biking mates who can assist in choosing something?

I got my HT from eBay for £230 and it was pretty-much as new... with some 2nd hand Rebas for £145 it's now a great 'cheap' bike, but you are very much on your own in getting things sorted. I was lucky, and it was not my first bike... "some rust" turned out to be the chain (easily cleaned) and the limited travel in the forks was mostly cured by redoing the oil in the damper... thanks to BikeRadar, Youtube and some mates.

If you buy new then you get support from the shop - but £350 is a difficult price point. The Rockrider 5.3 from Decathlon is the choice on the Got £300-500 to spend? Want a new bike? READ THIS! posting.

BigD1980

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... ode=search

Bantu currently £359.99 in Halfords for 2011/12 or 2013/14 models.

slickmouse

BigD1980 wrote:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchCmdMobile?srch=bantu&submit.x=15&submit.y=15&action=search&storeId=10001&catalogId=10151&langId=-1&mode=search

Bantu currently £359.99 in Halfords for 2011/12 or 2013/14 models.

I stand corrected, hard to turn it down at that money ?

Leon.currie

Is the voodoo Bantu a decent beginner bike?, I also see halfords have a voodoo hoodoo for £100 pounds more, it seems to get great reviews and was wondering if it would be worth investing the extra for it. I would be primarily using it for forest paths, trails and single track and nothing overly strenuous.