MTB Buying Advice please.

paddywhacked

I can see this question has been asked before, but I'm hoping you good people are generous enough to help a buffoon like me.

Getting back to Mountain Biking, want to spend as little as possible to get the best kit I can, £300 - £600. I have good access to trails, some fire roads and some more technical (when I improve). a few questions.

29 or 27.5, does it matter so much?

Geometry - after sitting on a few brands it's clear that some bikes are better suited to me in terms of reach and stand-over. Whyte seems to be a good fit (but at my price range, kit seems poor i.e. 603), as does Boardman. I prefer the longer top tube, it helps me get the right posture.

Really like Vitus levels of kit and price, can anyone offer advice on fit?

Any other suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance. Paddy

winter_zombie

hi

somebody asked this only a week or so ago and this was my advise

""well if it was me it would be down to the following

B'Twin Rafal 720
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rafal-720-mo ... oCLb7w_wcB

Boardman Mountain Bike Comp 27.5" (because halfords have 20% boardman bikes. and i own a boardman and love it)
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... -comp-27-5
VooDoo Hoodoo Mountain Bike
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... ntain-bike

so you have the new rafal 720 that everybody is talking about at the moment because of its specs .
you then have the halfords boardman comp, its a great bike for the money and the boardman bikes range have won awards from "what mountain bike" over the past 4+ years from best value bike in its range (boardman HT Pro)
then again their is also the voodoo hoodoo bike again from halfords and again this also won awards and its a firm fave on here by many owners.

so that would be my top 3 choices in this price area, i know most will say that the rafel is the best buy because of its amazing specs but im not a big fan of decathlon bikes because of a bad experience but thats nothing to do with the bike itself.""

but my only other advise would be spend the most you can on your bike,

wmorgs

Was in go outdoors and this seem good spec near top of your budget:

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-gau ... ke-p343871

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... iew-50615/

winter_zombie

wmorgs wrote:

Was in go outdoors and this seem good spec near top of your budget:

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-gau ... ke-p343871

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... iew-50615/

i think for the asking price of £600 its not a bargain. the voodoo hoodoo,boardman or rafal are all better buys.

but it all depends on what we want and expect from a bike.

paddywhacked

Great advice, really appreciate it.

winter zombie wrote:

hi

somebody asked this only a week or so ago and this was my advise

""well if it was me it would be down to the following

B'Twin Rafal 720
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rafal-720-mo ... oCLb7w_wcB

Boardman Mountain Bike Comp 27.5" (because halfords have 20% boardman bikes. and i own a boardman and love it)
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... -comp-27-5
VooDoo Hoodoo Mountain Bike
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... ntain-bike

so you have the new rafal 720 that everybody is talking about at the moment because of its specs .
you then have the halfords boardman comp, its a great bike for the money and the boardman bikes range have won awards from "what mountain bike" over the past 4+ years from best value bike in its range (boardman HT Pro)
then again their is also the voodoo hoodoo bike again from halfords and again this also won awards and its a firm fave on here by many owners.

so that would be my top 3 choices in this price area, i know most will say that the rafel is the best buy because of its amazing specs but im not a big fan of decathlon bikes because of a bad experience but thats nothing to do with the bike itself.""

but my only other advise would be spend the most you can on your bike,

paddywhacked

Thank you, I'll take a look.

wmorgs wrote:

Was in go outdoors and this seem good spec near top of your budget:

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-gau ... ke-p343871

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... iew-50615/

paddywhacked

After plenty of searching I settled on this; https://www.evanscycles.com/norco-charg ... e-EV243542

It was on offer for £599 from Evans Cycles. Seemed like a good deal. I'll post something after a couple of rides and let you know how this mid 40's buffoon is getting along.

jdee84

Was thinking of getting that rafal 720 listed above but while i was trying to decide on whether to get a mountain bike or not they sold out.

Does anyone have an opinion on what this GT bike is like?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/gt-zaskar-elite-2016/

winter_zombie

jdee84 wrote:

Was thinking of getting that rafal 720 listed above but while i was trying to decide on whether to get a mountain bike or not they sold out.

Does anyone have an opinion on what this GT bike is like?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/gt-zaskar-elite-2016/

can you not get your local store to order one in ?

i used to race on a zaskar LE back in the 90's it was then a god of a bike but now i dont really know if this at this price is good. at £700 area you have a lot to shop around with.

depending on your needs,

jdee84

winter zombie wrote:

jdee84 wrote:

Was thinking of getting that rafal 720 listed above but while i was trying to decide on whether to get a mountain bike or not they sold out.

Does anyone have an opinion on what this GT bike is like?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/gt-zaskar-elite-2016/

can you not get your local store to order one in ?

i used to race on a zaskar LE back in the 90's it was then a god of a bike but now i dont really know if this at this price is good. at £700 area you have a lot to shop around with.

depending on your needs,

Thanks for the reply i suppose the problem is that i don't really know my needs, i ve only done mountain biking 3 times but my thinking as it was with my first road bike is i might as well get something thats reasonable good rather than going totally bottom of the rung and wanting some sort of upgrade within a year.

I'm in northern ireland so theres maybe half a dozen trail centres so i'm just thinking of those really.

i was hoping to get a bike throw cycle to work, on the cyclescheme website a review of belfast decathlon says that they ordered a bike that was out of stock in from southhampton the one i want is in stock in a few stores in england but the belfast store said that they couldn't order from a stroe due to an upcoming stock take whatever that has to do with someone wanting to defintely purchase a bike from them.

So I ve started looking at other options i had thought of either of these from decathlon

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-74 ... 26407.html

thought probably no need for full suspension on a first mtb and no wise on a cheaper bike?

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-90 ... 66620.html

then chainreaction have quite a few previous years fugi bikes discounted? but theres so many from previous years and such large discounts could it be too goo to be true?

and theres this on rutland http://www.rutlandcycling.com/366467/pr ... #clFinance

yorkiedave

Have a look on www.cyclerepublic.com additional 20% off mtb until tomorrow. Boardmans Pro 29er for £679 or boardman comp for around £420

jdee84

Has a 29er got any downsides compared to a 650?

What's the thoughts on the full sus 650b team?

Are their sizing guides accurate that a 18inch frame would be suitable for someone somewhere between 5'8 /5'9 with a 32'' in seam?

armsterarm

Love my new SE Big Mountain Bike. Works great on pavement and I've taken it on a few easy mountain bike trails. Kinda a pain to calibrate brakes and deraillers but I had no experience since I rode as a kid so YMMV. 250+ miles so far and still works great. I especially like the downshift trigger that let's you drop down several gears at once when you hit a hill. For the price this is a great all around bike that performs well and looks great. My next purchase will be a mountain. Bike as I've fell in love with with some of the trails. Great bike but I wouldn't recommend for some of the more rough mountain bike trails as the frame needs to be shorter with larger tires.

cooldad

armsterarm wrote:

Love my new SE Big Mountain Bike. Works great on pavement and I've taken it on a few easy mountain bike trails. Kinda a pain to calibrate brakes and deraillers but I had no experience since I rode as a kid so YMMV. 250+ miles so far and still works great. I especially like the downshift trigger that let's you drop down several gears at once when you hit a hill. For the price this is a great all around bike that performs well and looks great. My next purchase will be a mountain. Bike as I've fell in love with with some of the trails. Great bike but I wouldn't recommend for some of the more rough mountain bike trails as the frame needs to be shorter with larger tires.

No it's not. It's half a step up from a BSO. But better than the rest of the garbage in that link.

Fortunately most don't seem to be sold in the UK.