First Decent MTB Advice Required

MC2014

Hi Guys and girls,

As you can probably already tell I'm a beginner in the MTB world, but really keen to get into it and get up to speed.

Last year I did purchase my first MTB which was a Boardman comp 2011 for £650 (see link below), which felt a lovely bike to ride but due to other commitment's I had to unfortunately sell it shortly after.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_289005

So here I am now really keen to get back into it and need all the advice I can gratefully get off you guys.

A little about me, im 24 and 5ft 11", I have a budget of £1000 and I will be looking to use this bike on trails,cross country and downhill so im led to believe i need a good allrounder and a hardtail due to the budget.

I also have been advised to go for either a 650B or a 29er?

I have took a shine to the Boardman range after being informed that the spec of these bikes are real quality for the money. Unfortunately they are sold at Halfords who i will never let build me a bike again, so if i did purchase a bike from them id have it boxed and then take it to my local independent bike shop which is down the road and pay for them to build it correctly. Also Halfords apparently should be having a 10% off weekend around the 17th of this month and i can get an extra 10% off if i sign up with a British cycling membership to use at Halfords which all helps

Below are some of the Boardman Bikes i like the look of with links,

Boardman Mountain Bike Pro Hardtail 29er 2014 £999
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Boardman Mountain Bike Team HT 650B 2014 £850
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Boardman Mountain Bike Team Hardtail 29er 2014 £850 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Boardman Mountain Bike Comp HT 650B 2014 £650 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

This one is a clearance bike - Boardman Mountain Bike Pro - Medium 18" £800 (was £1000) but its a 26er?
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_289005

Also the two bikes below are supposedly to be highly rated?

VooDoo Bizango 29er Mountain Bike - 18" £600 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

VooDoo Hoodoo Mountain Bike - 18" £500 (Also a 26er?) http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65499#tab1

So what do you guys think? Is there any other bikes i should be looking at? is a 650b or 29er the right path? should i spend toward the top end of my budget to start off with?

Sorry for the long winded post and thankyou in advance for any help and time you put into this post

Martin.

buddy_club

The Bizango is a brilliant bike, but if you want to spend more money then obviously you may as well, i went from a shitty 26" to a half decent 29" so i cant say much, other than it handles everything i throw at it (big air, stupid crashes) and has been absolutely fine.

The bordman pro HT 29 is alot of bike for the money, but is obviously slightly more XC (100mm travel etc)

Are you only willing to buy from Halfrauds?

MC2014

so you would say 29er is defiantly the way to go? i here that mostly all 26ers will fade out eventually?

And no not just from Halfords, anywhere really i just here that for the money you cant beat the boardman range for quality and Halfords have the only selling rights for the boardman range apart from the elite range which are really expensive.

oxocube1

MC2014 wrote:

i here that mostly all 26ers will fade out eventually?

This is nonsense. 26" wheeled bikes will be around for the foreseeable future in my opinion as there are already so many bikes, components, parts, accessories etc. that are made for them and it continues to be the 'standard' wheel size.

If I were to ever change wheel size I would go for 650b as it has the advantages of both wheels sizes. Anyway without starting another wheel size debate....

Out of the bikes you have on your shortlist, the best spec for money is definitely the 2011/12 Pro HT. Excellent forks and a decent 2x10 SRAM drivetrain and brakes. If you are going to be riding 'downhill' as you suggest you may want to keep to the 26 or 650b for being more agile. However a 29er my make sense if you are going to be mainly riding XC and trails. So the 2014 Team HT could be a good compromise. It's downgraded slightly from last years model but still a good buy.
If you can afford the extra money, this is a great buy especially considering you should be getting around 20% off the price: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499
It's a fantastic looking bike in the flesh and is very well specced, particularly the forks.

Finally, you should build the bike yourself instead of paying for it to be done. You will learn a lot from it and it will teach you basic but valuable maintenance skills such as adjusting gears, setting up suspension etc. Spend the money you would be using for the build cost on a allen key set, tyre pump and shock pump. All vital tools for simple maintenance and you will need/have use of them for years.

MC2014

thankyou for the reply,

as regards to the wheel size thing, its just want ive heard that's all but have been highly recommended to go for a 29er.

yes that does look a good bike especially with £200 the £1000 price in the clearance but being a 26er i may be better going for one of the 2014 models with the option of 650b or 29er.

also a stunning look bike but even with the 20% off then it would be £1280 for a hardtail? would full suspension bikes start to come in at that price?

i don't think id have the first clue how to build a bike from scratch without worrying if i put something together wrong and it all falling apart when i sit on it.

coulddobetter

As the owner of a 2012 ht pro carbon I would go for the ht pro , spec is very good for the price . I also agree wheel size is irrelevant mine is 26 and I have no intention of changing because that's the thing to do according to people who want to sell bikes.if it was my money I would have the clearance 26 inch bike.have had 3 bikes from halfords all built without problems , not all stores are bad.

oxocube1

MC2014 wrote:

yes that does look a good bike especially with £200 the £1000 price in the clearance but being a 26er i may be better going for one of the 2014 models with the option of 650b or 29er.

Looks as though you may have almost answered your own question then . It's either the Team HT 650b or the Pro HT 29er, seeing as you are willing to spend up to £1000. Personally I'd go with the Team out of the two. It's a shame they don't do an alloy Pro 650b.

The Pro Carbon is stepping the price up a bit and yes you can get the Pro FS for the same price but it looks as though you want to spend a little less which is fair enough.

In terms of not having a clue with the build. It comes fairly assembled already. You will just have to put the handlebars on, saddle in, pedals on, front wheel in, and maybe setup the gears but they usually come setup dead on with the Boardmans. Just some basic use of a allen key set and a spanner for the pedals and you're away!
If you are looking to 'get into' mountain biking again it's certainly worth learning from the the start, and building your knowledge in time. There are thousands of videos on youtube for help and also on the parktools website. I really do recommend it!

rockmonkeysc

Here's something different to the Boardman, a 2013 Giant Trance X3
http://www.bicyclechain.co.uk/productde ... tAodNGYAdg

The spec isn't quite as good as the Boardman HT but it's a really fantastic frame. The components are all solid, just not the lightest.
It's a great fun bike to ride, light, solid and great handling. Very efficient rear suspension.
I would actually buy one of these over this years mode.

MC2014

coulddobetter wrote:

As the owner of a 2012 ht pro carbon I would go for the ht pro , spec is very good for the price . I also agree wheel size is irrelevant mine is 26 and I have no intention of changing because that's the thing to do according to people who want to sell bikes.if it was my money I would have the clearance 26 inch bike.have had 3 bikes from halfords all built without problems , not all stores are bad.

i think there's only 3 left in the northwest and midlands i need to make my mind up fast but at the same time i don't want to rush

MC2014

oxocube1 wrote:

MC2014 wrote:

yes that does look a good bike especially with £200 the £1000 price in the clearance but being a 26er i may be better going for one of the 2014 models with the option of 650b or 29er.

Looks as though you may have almost answered your own question then . It's either the Team HT 650b or the Pro HT 29er, seeing as you are willing to spend up to £1000. Personally I'd go with the Team out of the two. It's a shame they don't do an alloy Pro 650b.

just out of intrest why would you choose the team HT 650b over the more expensive pro HT 29er?

Also what do you think of this (link below) http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

MC2014

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Here's something different to the Boardman, a 2013 Giant Trance X3
http://www.bicyclechain.co.uk/productde ... tAodNGYAdg

The spec isn't quite as good as the Boardman HT but it's a really fantastic frame. The components are all solid, just not the lightest.
It's a great fun bike to ride, light, solid and great handling. Very efficient rear suspension.
I would actually buy one of these over this years mode.

really good discount on that! but i don't what it is there's something about giants than just don't attract me to them and ive no idea what it is.

HenryTheHoover

When I bought my Boardman the guy in Halfords opened the box right in front of me and it was just the usual pedals on, straighten the bars type stuff. No bike building as such was required.

supersonic

Building a bike is easy enough. fully checking it is a different matter.

MC2014

if I could get a discount from £1600 down to £1280, how would this bike compare to all the bikes ive stated at the beginning?

Boardman Mountain Bike Pro Full Suspension 650B 2014
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

buddy_club

MC2014 wrote:

if I could get a discount from £1600 down to £1280, how would this bike compare to all the bikes ive stated at the beginning?

Boardman Mountain Bike Pro Full Suspension 650B 2014
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Again, as with most Boardmans you get a good spec for a very good price with a discount like that.
Are you only looking at bikes from Halfords?

supersonic

It's all good stuff on there. Great fork, solid kit.

MC2014

Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated.

no not just at Halfords buddy club, but I tend to end up back on their website due to the good quality kits for the price.

Do you think it would be more beneficial for me to stretch my budget up to a bike like that instead of paying around £1000 for hardtail? buying a hardtail and then end up forking out for for a full suspension in the long run? so just strech my budget now and get a good full suspension straight off?

buddy_club

Ahhh okay mate, it depends on where your gonna ride it, a hardtail in most cases would be lighter at this pricepoint, but if you want to ride more technical or difficult stuff, then a full suspension would allow you to bomb straight ahead, whereas with a hardtail you tend to have to pick lines more to avoid being thrown about. Having said that, none of the technical stuff at Cannock, Llandegla etc is not do-able on a hardtail easily. If you think you will end up buying a full sus, then you may as well buy one outright, saving your money for possible upgrades. Decathlon have some good value bikes you might want to have a look at as well. In the end its up to you, try and have a go on a few bikes, even if it is just a little pedal around the shop in Halfords, im pretty sure Decathlon have some form of a proper test you can do.

MC2014

Thanks buddy club, good information there!

Im just dreading purchasing a hardtail then a couple month down the line realising "sugar" I should have brought a full suspension but like you say that's a decision im going to have to make.

yeah ill continue to do more research and have a look around, was just after some recommendations from people a lot more experienced than me

rockmonkeysc

Boardman hardtails are great but I have seen too many photos and posts on here about snapped boardman full sus frames. Some people have even broken 2 or 3 frames. Never heard of the hardtails breaking though.

MC2014

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Boardman hardtails are great but I have seen too many photos and posts on here about snapped boardman full sus frames. Some people have even broken 2 or 3 frames. Never heard of the hardtails breaking though.

really? that's intresting, has this happened with the recent models or older? surely if they have had many complaints about frames snapping say on the older models they would rectify this on the newer models?

rockmonkeysc

The 2014 frame is new. No idea if it's any stronger.

MC2014

RockmonkeySC wrote:

The 2014 frame is new. No idea if it's any stronger.

ok maybe thats something ill have to keep an eye on to see if anyone falls victim to this with the 2014 models.

buddy_club

Most bikes often have at least 2 years of warranty on the frame, so if one snaps they will replace it, but i have no idea whether or not they will take the bike back and give you a full refund so you can buy something else.

rockmonkeysc

They do replace them under warranty but I think you have to pay the labour for them to swap over components to the new frame.

buddy_club

There you go then

rockmonkeysc

With any bike if it fails under warranty you get a replacement but that's time without a bike and the inconvenience of having to get it sorted and the warranty only runs from the original date of purchase so if it breaks again after another year or two that could be the end of it. I would rather buy a bike with a better track record.
The length of warranty is usually a reflection of the manufacturers confidence in it (6 months for some Commencals, 5 years for Giant).

Kiliscott

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOO456EVO2 ... ntain_bike

MC2014

hmm yeah It would be a big inconvenience say if it were to snap, crack etc.

After much thought I think im going to do the sensible thing and not spend a fortune on my first bike and go for the Boardman Pro HT 2011/2012 which is in the clearance and I may beable to get 10% - 20% off the price too. It does seem to be a really good bike for the money and would be perfect for me to start off on Aslong as I can still get hold of one that is boxed because I don't really want Halfords to build it from what ive read about there poor assembly skills.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_289005

oxocube1

MC2014 wrote:

Aslong as I can still get hold of one that is boxed .

You should be able to get one boxed as we (yes i work at Halfords) had a recall about 1 month ago of any boxed 2011/12 Boardmans back to Head Office so that they could sell them via the website/delivery.

MC2014 wrote:

I don't really want Halfords to build it from what ive read about there poor assembly skills.

And it depends which store you go to. If a store has an experienced mechanic like myself, you'll be fine

MC2014

Just had a look on the website and apparently they have it stock in 4 local stores including the one in my town but I have seen that one and it is already built up. so ill give them a ring tomorrow and see which has it boxed for pick up.

And im guessing you don't live anywhere near my town knowing my luck ive got a really good local independent bike shop down the road from me that ill get to build it up for me.

Maybe you can help me with this question oxocube1....

When you have your 10% discount of all bikes ( which im led to believe your having one around the 17th of this month?), is this discount applied to all boardman clearance bikes also? and if so can I use my British cycling 10% Halfords discount ontop of that so that I get 20% discount?