New to MTB, Low budget £200-£400

RAL46

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and seeking your expertise on what budget mountain bike to get. I've got my heart set on a mountain bike as I won't something to go down trails with. I live near a lot of public footpaths and trails, but nothing like downhill trails or anything extreme. I got rid of my cheap Dunlop full suspension bike a while back, I'll be honest I hated it... it cost my parents £70 and I still got my money back from when I sold it! It had mechanical discs (which didn't really stop me) and the gears always was slipping and clunking. I was happy to see the last of it, if you get my picture. So, I want to get back into biking as I ust to love it when I was a teenager. The PS4 is boring me and fed up of being stuck in the house, so its time for a bike. My budget is £200-£400, all I want is something which won't break if I give it some hammer down trails and requires less maintenance as possible. I just don't want to buy a £400 bike and only use it 3 times if you get what I mean. I've looked into buying a second hand bike, but don't fancy handing over hundreds of pounds for something which will break on my first trail. I'm around 5ft 10 and weigh around 11 stone, so frame size will have to be taken into consideration. I've read that hydraulic brakes are a must for a mountain bike as they don't require much maintenance and Shimano gears are a must aswell. By the way, I'm from around Derby/Alfreton area so any of you recommend any bike shops then please let me know! Thank you in advance and I will look forward to hearing your responses.

Here are some I'm quite interested in:
https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/gt-a ... 1232757901

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/gian ... 1232726597

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/mudd ... 1220423938

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... bike-black

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... ntain-bike

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 6919295446

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 4255408576

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 9491069832

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 9321383733

cooldad

This, change the saddle and you won't get better for the money.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... ntain-bike

cooldad

ps The Gumtree links are all pretty low end, without getting into condition, and your FB links don't work for me.

RAL46

cooldad wrote:

ps The Gumtree links are all pretty low end, without getting into condition, and your FB links don't work for me.

The Laura Trott has decent specs man. Its just getting rid of all the stickers and stuff to make it not look like a Laura Trott! I don't know what to do for the best, I'm giving myself headaches with which one to get!

cooldad

Just leave the stickers etc- they are under the clearcoat so won't peal off.

Anyway she's hot.