Newbie with £500-£700

tefer

Hi,

New to the forum and very new to cycling/mountain biking.

Me and the other half have recently taken a couple of trips to some mountain biking trails in Scotland. I have enjoyed it, probably a bit more than her and i have been talking about getting a bike and she has said i should, probably to shut me up.

I have access to cycle to work offers and the one i am looking at is an interest free load of £500, i could then possibly add £200 extra for the right bike. I will probably use the bike to commute to work too, maybe not every day but hopefully the majority with trails a couple of times a month.

I have done a lot of reading and looking but i am so confused and uneducated i thought i would ask for help from the more experienced.

So far i have looked at:
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-560-mountain-bike-275-black-red-id_8364715.html

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-x-caliber-7-2018-mountain-bike-EV311870

http://vitusbikes.com/products/nucleus-275-vr-2017/

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/carrera-fury-mountain-bike

mattyfez

Vitus or fury out of those I think.

Not mentioned is the bizango which is also worth a look but is a 29er if that makes any difference.

Fury is 1x11, again personal preference really but has the best fork.

Vitus is probably best value, but at that price point see also the carrera kraken.

tefer

Thanks Matty,

I did see the Bizango and its the Hardtail of the year under £750 on MTB. They did say it was a bit sluggish in the gear change but it was still the winner, so that is another choice. As these are Halfords bikes i can at least hopefully get along to see the Carrera and the Bizango.

Any reason for not recommending the BTWINN?

A pal said the 29er would be quite tall, but i suppose you can choose a different frame size to combat that?

I do like the colours of the Carrera, had a really old one ages ago too. Some reviews have mentioned the Forks can be a bit flawed, but halfords have replaced ok.

I'll nip along to Halfords.

mattyfez

Any reason for not recommending the BTWINN

The forks and gears are simply not as good.

mattyfez

Some reviews have mentioned the Forks can be a bit flawed

I wonder if they checked there was enough air in the fork when building the bike, if you get a bike with an air fork the shop should pump it up to an arbitrary/standard amount, how much pressure you put in the fork depends your body weight when sat on the bike.

tefer

mattyfez wrote:

Some reviews have mentioned the Forks can be a bit flawed

I wonder if they checked there was enough air in the fork when building the bike, if you get a bike with an air fork the shop should pump it up to an arbitrary/standard amount, how much pressure you put in the fork depends your body weight when sat on the bike.

I am not sure Matty, i will make sure that they do this, i do worry about Halfords. Bought a budget bike a while back and it ripped the rear gearing off, might have been a brand fault but made me wary of Halfords

mattyfez

Tefer wrote:

mattyfez wrote:

Some reviews have mentioned the Forks can be a bit flawed

I wonder if they checked there was enough air in the fork when building the bike, if you get a bike with an air fork the shop should pump it up to an arbitrary/standard amount, how much pressure you put in the fork depends your body weight when sat on the bike.

I am not sure Matty, i will make sure that they do this, i do worry about Halfords. Bought a budget bike a while back and it ripped the rear gearing off, might have been a brand fault but made me wary of Halfords

When you say ripped the rear gearing off, that's designed to happen, the rear derailleur is held on with a sacrificial hanger bracket, this is designed to brake or snap off. It's a safety mechanism to prevent damage to the frame.

Whilst that's good, it does mean that rear derailleur are fragile, and should never be knocked or kicked or leant up against a wall or hard surface as it could bend the hangar and it will mess up the gear changes.

That's really worth noting, the rear derailleur is probably the most fragile part of the bike.

mattyfez

With regards to Halfords builds, it can vary from store to store, my local one is good and the people who are in the bike section seem like they are bike enthusiasts and know what they are talking about, but that's not nessesarily the case for all branches.

Most bikes are 90% built from factory before they arrive at Halfords, and all they do is pump up the tyres, put the wheels on and straighten the handle bars.
But they should also check seat height and if you have an air fork they should check the pressure, even if they pump it up too hard it's better than too little.

Assuming it's been shipped from China or Taiwan or wherever, they are not likely to pump the forks up properly for transit. So the forks will need to be checked as part of the bike build in store.

mattyfez

Part of having a bike is also needing to know some basic maintenance and what to do about things, bikes are not indestructible, they do require a bit of TLC to keep things running smoothly.

But don't worry, we can all offer advice and tips.

Apart from maybe cool dad, he'll give you good advice and then slag you off, that's his thing don't take it personal. Haha

cooldad

mattyfez wrote:

Some random words.....

Apart from maybe cool dad, he'll give you good advice and then slag you off, that's his thing don't take it personal. Haha

Only idiots like you, and it's for your own good.

I'm nice like that.

tefer

mattyfez wrote:

Tefer wrote:

mattyfez wrote:

Some reviews have mentioned the Forks can be a bit flawed

I wonder if they checked there was enough air in the fork when building the bike, if you get a bike with an air fork the shop should pump it up to an arbitrary/standard amount, how much pressure you put in the fork depends your body weight when sat on the bike.

I am not sure Matty, i will make sure that they do this, i do worry about Halfords. Bought a budget bike a while back and it ripped the rear gearing off, might have been a brand fault but made me wary of Halfords

When you say ripped the rear gearing off, that's designed to happen, the rear derailleur is held on with a sacrificial hanger bracket, this is designed to brake or snap off. It's a safety mechanism to prevent damage to the frame.

Whilst that's good, it does mean that rear derailleur are fragile, and should never be knocked or kicked or leant up against a wall or hard surface as it could bend the hangar and it will mess up the gear changes.

That's really worth noting, the rear derailleur is probably the most fragile part of the bike.

It stripped the teeth from the rear wheel gearing, they were like chocolate. Halfords did replace no problem. So the Fury looks like a good choice. The Vitus is not available again to November,