Please help me choose out of these hardtails.

[Marky Boy]

I am looking for a hard tail with a max budget of around £600. If have 3 contenders and am just after some opinions:

GT Zaskar Sport

or

GT Avalanche 1.0

or

Voodoo Hoodoo

[rhinochopig]

Are you limited to those shops?

For 600 quid I'd have none of these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod... or these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod... as the spec is better.

[Marky Boy]

Nope, not limited to those shops. Just limited by my lack of knowledge. The last time I had a MTB was around 1994 and the GT Zaskar was pretty good; so I kind of figured they are probably still worth a shot. I'm open to suggestions though.

I haven't heard of these makes before so don't really know what to think of them. Are they better just in terms of components, or are they frames better/lighter? Also I take it with the likes of GT and Specialized I'd be paying well over the odds just for the name?

Thanks.

[vwsurfbum]

a £100 cheaper, better forks and brakes http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2012-id_8168918.html...

[Sarkmeister]

At that price you really need to be looking at the Voodoo mentioned above, the Carrera Fury or the Decathlon one.

Personally I'd go for the fury.

[1 PST]

I bought a GT Av 1.0 around three years ago to do the London To Brighton 75 miles Off Road event and did hundreds of miles training for it and I still use it now and will be doing about 18 miles tonight both on road and off.
I have got a full sus Stump Jumper for the more off road stuff but the GT has been a great bike and still is.

[Gibby78]

I've got the Decathlon Rockrider 8.1 but the 2011 bike (only colours different) and I can't praise it highly enough, I tried so many bikes in the £5/600 range including the well reviewed CB cape wrath at James Cycles my LBS but the Rockrider offered so much more for the money spec wise, the frame seems really nice but as I like a more sit up and beg position for my commute I changed the seat to something slightly comfier and the stem to a shorter one (also slick tyres for the road) but I'd have probably done that no matter what the bike.

I tried the Cape Wrath, Specialized Rockhopper and Trek 3700 (I think) and ended up with the Decathlon one

[mike13]

I bought the Voodoo Hoodoo last year,needed a couple of minor adjustments at home,it's down to luck who sets it up at Halfords.Recent review in Bike radar gave it best buy around £500.Mine has had less use than i planned but if i was to go through the buying process again i would choose the same bike,although at that point i had not discovered Decathalon,impressed with their value for money.

[trashbat]

I've done about 25,000 miles on a GT Avalanche 1.0 frame from 2006. No other bit of it survives, all upgraded now, but the frame has been good enough.

[Gizmoish]

Bear in mind that you can get %10% off anything at Halfords by joining British Cycling, too.

I think the Carrera Kraken looks pretty good value, or the Hoodoo. Can't see the advantage of spending the extra £100.

[Marky Boy]

Thanks for the advice chaps.

I saw this morning that the Avalanche on Wiggle had another 5% lopped off of it, bringing it to 30% off. This combined with a 10% voucher I got from buying a £2 pizza express pizza brought the total down to £504. So I have taken the plunge on this

At this price the spec appears to be pretty decent, and as has been said the frame should be pretty robust. I would have like a better fork but ho hum, I can always upgrade it in the future.

Thanks.

[barker22]

Marky Boy said:

Thanks for the advice chaps.

I saw this morning that the Avalanche on Wiggle had another 5% lopped off of it, bringing it to 30% off. This combined with a 10% voucher I got from buying a £2 pizza express pizza brought the total down to £504. So I have taken the plunge on this

At this price the spec appears to be pretty decent, and as has been said the frame should be pretty robust. I would have like a better fork but ho hum, I can always upgrade it in the future.

Thanks.

cracking price that for the 1.0.

[Funkateer]

Another vote for the Avalanche. My 2008 model still gets quite heavy use, and I like it so much, it's about to get new wheels (Mavics). Air forks to follow next month, methinks.

[Tallow]

+1 on the Avalanche 1.0, I've got an '06 one and no complaints from me