Recommend me a new bike!

[Original Poster]

So I am looking to get into mountain biking after recently quitting smoking.

I want to spend £500 - £550 and am wanting a HT.

It will mainly be used for -

Road riding
Going down the woods
A bit of (mild) downhill riding

It will not be used for jumps etc

Any recommendations?

[Original Poster]

Just to add -

I am 6 foot and about 16.5 stone.

[Sheets Tabuer]

£500, this is PH your 1st bike must be 2k.

Rockhopper
Hardrock
8.1

Some to start with.

If you are going to do most of your riding on the road I'd look carefully at the tyres, my bike flys in the woods yet I struggle to get 13mph out of it on the road.

[Original Poster]

Thanks for the suggestions!

With regards to tyres, I'd be looking for a happy medium to be honest, something I can have a chat with my LBS when I go to buy I think!

[CoolC]

Evans are doing the BMC Blast BL01 at a reduced £550 at the moment (from £700) but I can't get the website to work to put a link up.

It's what I'm looking to get with our Ride2Work scheme. Very well specced for the price.

[Original Poster]

Think I've made my mind up, a 2011 Scott Aspect 40!

[Beyond Rational]

Ouch, don't do that, get the 8.1.

[Original Poster]

Beyond Rational said:

Ouch, don't do that, get the 8.1.

What makes you say that?

Read excellent reviews and spoken with 2 mates who are very into MTB'ing that said it will be fine for me!

[Beyond Rational]

Forks that work, hydraulic disc brakes, cranks with an integrated axle and bigger external bearings, good mid level, 27 gear drivetrain instead of bottom of the range 24 gear components and overall 10% lighter.

[Original Poster]

Remember though it's my first bike, literally none of that will make a difference in the early days!

[CoolC]

CoolC said:

Evans are doing the BMC Blast BL01 at a reduced £550 at the moment (from £700) but I can't get the website to work to put a link up.

It's what I'm looking to get with our Ride2Work scheme. Very well specced for the price.

Evans site is working again now.

You'll do very well to get a better specced bike for this money.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bmc/blast-bl01... blast

[anonymous-user]

hydraulic disc brakes can be more trouble than they are worth on cheap bikes, they usually have cack seals and dont work any better tha ncable discs.
keep the fork seals prootected and they wont suffer too badly.

go for the one you like, if you upgrade later, you wont be in that quandry where you have already spent a significant amount on a good, but still not great bike. instead you have spent less money on a bike and upgrading makes a lot more sense....

[Gachet]

If you can run to £700 you can get this Rocky Mountain with £500 off:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/rocky-mountain-uk-project/...

[Original Poster]

That's my exact logic, get an alright bike that will introduce me to cycling thus making an upgrade to a much better bike far easier. Everyone likes an upgrade as well

[Burty88]

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/marin-... - Go 2nd hand, so much more for your money

[Beyond Rational]

For the sake of £50, if I was presented with a bike running largely Shimano Acera and one running SRAM X7, I would not hesitate to go for the X7.

These things may not make a difference to you now, but in a couple of months? I understand the upgrade route, but the £50 difference (I assume Scott is £449) buys a disproportional leap in componentry.

[Mr Will]

Beyond Rational said:

For the sake of £50, if I was presented with a bike running largely Shimano Acera and one running SRAM X7, I would not hesitate to go for the X7.

These things may not make a difference to you now, but in a couple of months? I understand the upgrade route, but the £50 difference (I assume Scott is £449) buys a disproportional leap in componentry.

I agree, buying then upgrading shortly after always works out much more expensive. At a glance, upgrading from Acera to X7 at a later date will cost you nearly £400, rather than the £50 it would to buy the better kit to start with.

[nammynake]

For your budget you will probably not find anything in the same league as a Canyon:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?...

Downside is that the bikes are mail order and so you can't try before you buy, although the sizing tool on their site is very good.

[anonymous-user]

Beyond Rational said:

For the sake of £50, if I was presented with a bike running largely Shimano Acera and one running SRAM X7, I would not hesitate to go for the X7.

These things may not make a difference to you now, but in a couple of months? I understand the upgrade route, but the £50 difference (I assume Scott is £449) buys a disproportional leap in componentry.

granted it does, but arwould you not feel slightly short changed when buying a new bike with better frame and forks that still only has X.7 or equivilent?

[subsea99]

This....http://www.wiggle.co.uk/focus-black-hills-disc-2011/

or http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod... (good equipment for price)

or http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod... (bit over budget)

or http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...

good value on those bikes