Which Mountain Bike? £4/500

[arryb]

I've been a keen road cyclist for quite some time and have recently found out that a group of uni mates are also quite keen cyclists - although they all have mountain bikes....I'm having idle thoughts at the moment but what sort of mountain bike could I get for £4/500 so I can join them on some off road tracks - I'd ideally like front suspension and disk brakes, also, is it best/cheaper to build something myself or buy a ready built bike and what other kit will I need coming from a road bike i.e. pedals/shoes etc?

Open to the floor - Thanks, Arry

[GuinnessMK]

I bought a Cube Acid earlier this summer, and it's been great!

Hydraulic Disc Brakes, front and rear, front susp with lock out.

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

You'll not need much additional gear if you already ride, SPD pedals / spare inner tubes, new computer mount?

HTH

Mike

[r-kid]

Similar spec to the cube acid above is the Scott Aspect 20.

To date its been great.

[arryb]

Adding to this - is it possible to get front and rear (lockable) suspension for this sort of money?

[pedantlewis]

arryb said:

Adding to this - is it possible to get front and rear (lockable) suspension for this sort of money?

Possible perhaps, advisable definitely not.

[arryb]

pedantlewis said:

arryb said:

Adding to this - is it possible to get front and rear (lockable) suspension for this sort of money?

Possible perhaps, advisable definitely not.

Any reason it's not advisable?

[pedantlewis]

Sorry, yes, that was a pretty worthless response on its own wasn't it?

As I'm sure you're aware being a road cyclist anyway the most expensive bits of a bike are the frame and forks. A full suspension frame has the additional cost of a rear shock, these are not cheap. Or if they are cheap, they're not good. For example, a couple of years back I replaced the useless stock rear shock on my FS bike with a basic Fox Vanilla R. At the time this was their cheapest option and only featured adjustable spring preload and damper rebound. It cost me just under £200. The forks I have on my bike retail for somewhere above £300 (I think, they're pretty old hat now).

Even taking into account the economies of scale that a large manufacturer like Trek or Specialized has in their favour, you don't see FS bikes from them much below £800. If they can't afford to spec one up that they're happy to attach their name to for that money, neither can you.

For £500 I'd be looking solely at hardtails, you'll get a nice intro to offroading for that kind of money. Front and rear hydraulic discs and lockout forks should be feasible. You'll also learn to ride without the 'safety net' of FS, which means you'll choose smoother lines and think a bit more about what you're riding.

Contrary to everything I've just said, you can get some amazing bargains if you're happy to buy last year's stock. See Paul's Cycles for some decent FS bikes that almost fall into your price range having been heavily discounted (Giant Trance 4 is the main one).

Hope that's a bit more useful!

[arryb]

Thanks for that pedantlewis - makes perfect sense and I know full well it's better to go for higher spec hardtrail rather than low spec FS, just wondered what the general consensus was.

Thanks for the link too - that's the kind of thing I'm looking for - bought my 2005 Trek road bike as the 2007 bikes were coming out for £400 off a £1k bike with the only change from the 2007 model being that it had 1 extra cog at the back and a different colour scheme....

[neil_bolton]

Not got much to add (and secretly just seeing if I can get my name up on the forum list ) however, the phrase Snotters used is bang on.

Only beginners buy on kit/value choice only: they only do it once having made the mistake of buying a poorly performing bike with nice stuff on.

Get down the local bike shop (LBS) and try a few well established brands - see what 'feels' comfortable.

[littleandy0410]

Slightly over budget I know, but this is a great buy:

http://merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&productI...

Sorry!

[PooPoo]

I would bid on this with a £1200 discount.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...




.................Plus its mine

Edited by PooPoo on Thursday 6th November 23:13

[miguel38]

PooPoo said:

I would bid on this with a £1200 discount.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...




.................Plus its mine

Edited by PooPoo on Thursday 6th November 23:13

Erm.. why do you have a picture of you in the bath as your ebay pic?....

[arryb]

PooPoo said:

I would bid on this with a £1200 discount.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...




.................Plus its mine

Edited by PooPoo on Thursday 6th November 23:13

Unfortunately I'm only 5'8"/5'9"....