Hardtail around £700

89gbuckingham

Hey,

I used to cycle a lot 6 / 7 years ago - mainly light / basic XC trials. I'm looking to get back into it again - I've got up to £800 to spend. Will also probably use it for commuting; around 16 miles a day - gravel paths & tarmac.

Most of the bikes that I've seen in my budget have SR Suntour forks; if I recall, these didn't have a great reputation in the past so am a bit weary of them. I know I'm not going to get anything to flashy for my budget; but should I really be trying to avoid them?

I've been look at the Trek X-Caliber 8; the 2014 model (http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec053723) is £650 with Suntour forks and a Shimano (Deore & SLX Shadow) groupset, and the 2015 model (http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec066117) is £750 with RockShox and a SRAM groupset (X5 / X7). From what I've seen the groupsets are quite similar and mainly down to personal preference, so is the extra £100 worth it for the different forks?

Is there anything else in my budget worth considering?

Cheers!

stevo1s77

There is a guy selling a Merida X-Lite size 18" on this forum for around £700 and comes with extras.

Or I'd look at the Cube Ltd 29 £695, Cube Ltd Pro 29 £749 or the Cube Ltd Race 29 £825 all the second are the 2014 models available from www.cubebikesnortheast.co.uk)

The Rookie

The low end Suntour aren't good, the Raidon and Epicon are much better, certainly as good as the low end Rockshox offerings.

Have a look at the Voodoo Bizango which is a really good bike for the money.

mikey2341

I got a boardman 29er pro for less than 700 new, I love it!