£300 - £600 MTB advice?

NoahPJCurtis

It's just been brought to my attention that I've offered £375 a few days ago on a Boardman and completely forgotten about it, so I need an opinion on what to do with it. It's local pickup only but the place is like a 30 minute drive away from my house so I'd be able to get there no problem, I just want to know if it seems like a good buy?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141224925134? ... 1432.l2649

rockmonkeysc

A lot better than the Voodoo. Really nice bike to get started on and with components worth taking on to new frames in the future if you want to.
At that price I would rip his arm off before he changes his mind.

chrisw333

yep or someone else will!

NoahPJCurtis

So a great price? I'm not really used to the whole eBay thing, never mind buying a bike on eBay, but I'd assume that a reason things go for so cheap (such as this) is because of the whole local pickup only thing, right? I mean I did a local search and this came up, I thought it looked like a great buy, so perhaps I'll go for this one. I think it's evident right now that I'm easily influenced and susceptible to the opinion of anyone that posts here but this seems like a great deal out of personal opinion and I don't want to let it go, it seems like the bike'd need minimal upgrades, perhaps only for preferences or overcompensation, so right now it seems like "why not?". Care to advise me on what to do? Should I just go all out for £475, wait to see if my £375 is accepted (in 6 hours), or should I PM the seller and get some more information/try to make some sort of deal? And if you'd call it wise to arrange a deal with the seller, what exactly should I be asking for here?

chrisw333

If you can sort a deal before the sale ends I would.

There's always risks with second hand bikes. But if in good nick, then Boardmans are excellent bikes at full price and a steal at this level.

It has 120mm travel, so whilst still light weight, the extra travel over most typical 100mm travel xc bikes is good to have over the rougher stuff.

You may need to budget for a once over from your lbs, just in case not all adjusted right. But in gereral terms Boardmans are great bikes for the money.

NoahPJCurtis

Total noob here, I'm cringing at my inner-response at every post since I don't even want to reply with the risk of sounding like a massive bell end but do Halfords do stuff like that? For example; would Halfords have a check over everything for me to ensure that everything's good to go? I'd likely take it to the local village store but I'm not entirely sure of what'd be best. I'll likely PM the seller but with 7 days left I can't really see much coming of it, perhaps he'll be a soft-hearted Welshy and after telling him that it's my birthday and all soon he'll flaunt some humanity, but it's ebay we're talking about so perhaps not. I'll leave it until after my offer has (likely) been declined though, right? Just in case?

Cqc

NoahPJCurtis wrote:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Spec-Hardcore-Hardtail-Like-Ragley-On-One-/161250542267?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item258b4802bb

This type, you mean?

I would go for this, swap the frame for a blue pig frame on eBay for around £90 , 2nd hand forks for £100-£150 and you'll have saved a lot of money, and the drivetrain, wheels and brakes on this are really, really good and it's much more hardcore than the board man

buddy_club

RockmonkeySC wrote:

The Bazingo is the wrong bike if you want to learn to ride hard Those big wheels are going to last no time and flex badly and throwing it through tight turns will be hard work. The fork will struggle to cope with aggressive riding and flex like a b*stard.
It's a good bike if you want to do long distance rides for minimal effort.
The best I can think of at your budget will be a Decathlon Rockrider but that's far from ideal.
Much better to save a couple hundred extra and buy a more suitable used bike than a bottom end budget xc bike which is going to make hard riding difficult, unpleasant and expensive.

Sorry mate but that is total b*llocks, i am not a lightweight guy, but I beat the crap out of my bizango an the wheels are as true as they were when I bought it, the rear hub had a small amount of play but I took it into halfords and they replaced it straight away. If there even is any then the flex is minimal and the same can be said for the fork. Although not as easy as the 26" bike I had before, i have no trouble getting it round tight turns, even when staying off the brakes. Fair enough for full on downhill it wouldn't last long but for general trail duties it will be fine....

rockmonkeysc

He said he wants to progress to downhill.
29ers are hopeless when you start pushing hard on more tech trails. The last one I rode was a Trek Remedy 29 on Enter The Dragon at BPW. It was horrible in the switch backs, wheel flex was noticable and holding a line in the rough stuff was difficult. And thats a 29er designed for hard riding.

97th choice

I've no complaints with my voodoo, been hitting local black runs pretty hard on it and it's held up well.

It's not flick able though, you need to ride pretty smoothly to get the best out if it. And it is a bit like riding a farm gate still.

rockmonkeysc

Nothing wrong with 29ers but they aren't as good as 26" for harder riding. 29" wheels were tested by dh teams and immediately scrapped for a good reason.
I do quite fancy a 29er xc bike though, either an Anthem or Process 111

buddy_club

RockmonkeySC wrote:

He said he wants to progress to downhill.
29ers are hopeless when you start pushing hard on more tech trails. The last one I rode was a Trek Remedy 29 on Enter The Dragon at BPW. It was horrible in the switch backs, wheel flex was noticable and holding a line in the rough stuff was difficult. And thats a 29er designed for hard riding.

Indeed he did, but what I'm saying is that for a beginner rider such as him, and to an extent myself, the flex in things like the wheel and fork would not be noticeable and would not be disruptive of the ride, you definitely get away with more on a 29er as well due to the 'rock flattening' capability of the wheels.

97th choice wrote:

I've no complaints with my voodoo, been hitting local black runs pretty hard on it and it's held up well. It's not flick able though, you need to ride pretty smoothly to get the best out if it. And it is a bit like riding a farm gate still.

I dont really understand what you mean by 'ride smoothly' but I agree with you saying that its not flickable.

Prowlus

A trail bike with dh capability for under £600 ? I should have sold you my 160mm Scott Ransom which I had modified with rear thru axle, avid juicy 7 brakes , shimano Xt crank hope hoops 26 inch wheels and crank brothers droppable seat post.
Unfortunately I sold mine last week on ebay already for £580 and replaced it with a spesh Camber and the current ransoms there are going for £800 to £1000

NoahPJCurtis

I was in London a while so this is a little late, but it's my birthday tomorrow and I visited Halfords around a week ago and mentioned to the guy there that I fancied a Bizango and he said everyone saying the 29" wheels is a bad thing is wrong, also that he has two, one brand new, and he may "know somebody" who'll be putting a Bizango up for sale for a low price, sadly I spent all of my current cash in London and I don't exactly know how low his price'll be but I guess we connected a little in terms of the conversation but I don't know whether to rely on this, anyway, I think the Bizango is going to be the final decision as of right now, even if this low price thing doesn't end up going to plan!

97th choice

Prowlus wrote:

A trail bike with dh capability for under £600 ? I should have sold you my 160mm Scott Ransom which I had modified with rear thru axle, avid juicy 7 brakes , shimano Xt crank hope hoops 26 inch wheels and crank brothers droppable seat post.
Unfortunately I sold mine last week on ebay already for £580 and replaced it with a spesh Camber and the current ransoms there are going for £800 to £1000

Most useful post ever.