£500 budget

Do you anticipate regularly riding in places where that relatively heavy suspension fork is needed?

I collected a Voodoo Marasa yesterday from Halfords, having found them available locally on Wednesday night, £405 with British Cycling membership discount.

Yet to physically try a tyre swap from the supplied 700x40 Vee Speedster, but I'm expecting my 700x50 Schwalbe Century to fit with ease, whether my 29x2.35" G One Speed will fit safely is a close call.

50mm/2" tyres will easily cope with light off-road on the Marasa, low end suspension forks tend not to give consistent suspension; no lockout switch; heavy coill spring; lots of frequent servicing.

Unless you are going off road on anything more severe than a fire road or smooth trails then don't bother with suspension forks. They are heavy and at the budget end of things don't really do anything.
What do you mean by "never feel right riding a hybrid"?

If you are set on getting an MTB then at your budget the Vitus Nucleus VR is very well regarded and gets great reviews but availability may be a problem. It is similarly equipped to the 2 bikes you have chosen above but crucially has a much better air fork that will actually do something.

I believe that the used market is also doing well, but it would be worth looking there and trying to get a better bike for your money.

karljeff72 said:

Not too keen on hybrids as last year I bought a second hand Gary Fisher Utopia and spent a good few quid on it and took it out for a spin and never felt relaxed on it.

To me that sounds like you bought the wrong sized bike and you didn't tweak the existing setup and/or buy replacement bits that would have made the setup better for you.

I could have probably made either the 18" or 20" Marasa fit me, as I'm 178cm tall and have a low cycling inseam of ~82.5cm, I have a proportionally big torso. I went with the 18" and with the stem above all the 25mm of spacers at a +7 degrees, it feels extremely relaxed/comfy.
http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/stem.php tells me if I flipped the stem and put all spacers above it, reach would be extended by 14mm and the bars stack would drop 37mm.
I ran my Voodoo Wazoo 18" fatbike with a 110mm Specialized multi angle stem and if I transfer that over, the -16 degree config will increase reach by 65mm and bar drop stack by 42mm compared to current setup.

I left it fashionably late to try and then head out, but last night I fitted the practically slick 2.35" G One Speed to the front wheel, there's 5mm+ clearance to the fork blades and ~10mm to the fork crown. Might be a bit tighter for the rear wheel, will try at some point... Not intending to always ride with big tyres on, more likely to be using 25-40mm most of the time, but nice to know it's an option.

Good point!😂 Business is booming for the Scally's at the moment too. pinkbike buy and sell is the one my Buddy used to sell his Vitus, way more genuine sellers (who will provide receipts and paperwork) on forums compared to Facebook, Gumtree, etc.

I totally get the not so relaxed on the hybrid.
I've been riding mtbs for 30 odd years and only just this year got a hybrid.
It took me a few rides to be able to stand up on the hybrid and peddle when it was 2nd nature on the mtb.
Also the wider handlebars of the mtb always make me more relaxed.
I also find that looking behind on the hybrid is more difficult and needs more concentration than the mtb.
I was also not used to the toes touching the wheel at low speed turning.
But I absolutely love the speed of the hybrid and the next level of concentration needed that comes with it.
Maybe my bike is more speed oriented
Trek 7.2 fx.
And definitely just keep looking on ebay.
Thats where I found mine but took a few weeks.
If you save a couple of searches you can get notifications when new bikes are listed.
Good luck

I've just been out on mine today and I'm definitely getting more confident, I suppose its lots of things I'm not used to.
I'm going a lot faster and I'm on busy London roads with buses and skip trucks etc.
So I'm basically concentrating on staying alive.ha ha.
On my mtb I'd mostly be off road so I Don't have traffic to contend with.
Also not sure why but I can't take both hands off the trek without it straight away wanting to buckle underneath me.(front wheel turns straight away)
On all my mtbs I've been able to ride no handed with ease for a little hand and arm rest.