What Men's mountain bike would you get up to £1000 budget?

[craste]

Hello all.

I used to love riding my BMX as a kid (Diamondback Silver Straek, then a formula One) and knew all about bmx's and which ones were good/bad etc but that was many moons ago.

Now i wish to buy a mountain bike because I'm geting a bit porky around the waist and want to keep fit and I find jogging really boring.

My 3 year old sone has a little bmx bike so will want to buy the attachemet so I can have him in tow.

I'm 6ft tall and my missus can get that 'Ride 2 Work' discount.

My top line budget would be £1000 but want to ensure I get the best bike for my money.

Hopefuly some of you who are really into bikes can point me in the right direction.

[anonymous-user]

there are hundreds to choose from but to be honest, the trek 6500 with the rockshok tora fork is no worse than anything else for a grand. you dont really want to be going near full sus under £1000 so just get the hardtail that you like the look of with good spec. look for something with a longer top tube that might accomodate your size as this will help make you feel less cramped. something with a 23-23.5" top tube should be ok but nothing beats a test sizing.

[slomax]

pablo said:

you dont really want to be going near full sus under £1000 so just get the hardtail that you like the look of with good spec.

I wouldn't agree, If you are prepared to go for an older model and shop around a bit then you can pick up a real nice bargain. I paid just under £600 for mine (haro sonix) and it has juicy 3 brakes, tora forks, x9/x7 gearing and 120mm of decent sus at the back.
I think this is a real bargain though...
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/felt/compulsio...

[Mr E]

New, I'd look very hard at an Orange P7 - virtually timeless.

My local shop is currently selling Cubes, and you get a lot of bike for your money.

[Sarkmeister]

It entirely depends on what you are going to use it for. If you are simply going up and down canal towpath etc then a full suspension wouldnt be necessary. The best spec you're going to get for that price is a Boardman Pro HT from halford (but you wont be able to get that if your C2W scheme isnt with them).

The Genesis Core range of bikes are very nice, I'd take a look at one of those.

[P-Jay]

Hmmm, not sure how a custom build would work out with a C2W, but I'd go for a Cove Stiffee. especially if you can find one of the 'old' models cheaper you could have a reasonably nice build for £1k

[JulianHJ]

I'm in the same position as the OP and have narrowed my selection down to one of these:

Boardman Pro (999.99)
Cube LTD Race (1038.99)
Genesis Core 40 (999.99)
GT Zaskar Elite (999.99)
Kona Kula (1025)
Marin Eldridge Grade (999)
Orange Crush RTW (1000)

With the £1k cap through the scheme, I'd be relying on a retailer to discount slightly for the Cube or Kona.

My final choice is likely to be the Orange, via Leisure Lake Bikes as they have a RTW special direct from Orange which is reduced in price from £1100 with just a few changes.

[mk1fan]

craste said:

My top line budget would be £1000 but want to ensure I get the best bike for my money.

Depends what type of riding you're going to do and what you consider 'the best'.

You can buy equipment - helmet, clothing etc.. - with the voucher too so it might be worth setting aside some of the £1k for that.

As for the bikes. I would discount all full sussers except the Giant Trance models. It seems to be the only suspension design that can 'cope' with cheap shock units.

There are plenty of hardtails to choose from. It's hard to find a bad one. Most issues tend to revolve around a poor suspension fork rather than bad bike geometry. I'd look out for a Rock Shox Tora, Recon or Reba fork. And at this price the fork should have some rebound adjustment and possibly compression adjuster and lock out.

Your best bet is to test ride a few. Remember that a bike can be transformed from feeling unridable to the best thing since sliced bread by fitting the right length stem, bars, grips and saddle - and setting them all up properly.

Finally, bikes in Sales or discounted due to end of line are not available under the scheme. So a discounted 2009 bike is not available. That said, there are shops that are prepared to massage the rules of the scheme but don't count on it.

[craste]

thanks for all your help guys - much appriciated.
I'll be sure to check your suggestions out.

Edited by craste on Thursday 3rd June 18:10

[t84]

slomax said:

pablo said:

you dont really want to be going near full sus under £1000 so just get the hardtail that you like the look of with good spec.

I wouldn't agree, If you are prepared to go for an older model and shop around a bit then you can pick up a real nice bargain. I paid just under £600 for mine (haro sonix) and it has juicy 3 brakes, tora forks, x9/x7 gearing and 120mm of decent sus at the back.
I think this is a real bargain though...
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/felt/compulsio...

My mate has one, one of the bolts mounting the suspension sheared right though, he's only used it once on the road

[captainzep]

craste, don't rule out a hybrid. I only started cycling again a few weeks ago and I wanted a mountain bike because I thought everything else was either insanely specialised or a bit ghey.

A bike evangelist mate took me out for a ride and a chat. I'm glad I took his advice. The forest tracks and gravel cycle paths are fine to ride on and a hybrid is so much faster/easier to ride on the road/tarmac.

eta
Cycling's a funny thing when you get started, you can change quite quickly and 3 months later find your original (potentially expensive) purchase isn't well suited to what you want to do next.

Edited by captainzep on Thursday 3rd June 19:05

[craste]

captainzep said:

craste, don't rule out a hybrid. I only started cycling again a few weeks ago and I wanted a mountain bike because I thought everything else was either insanely specialised or a bit ghey.

A bike evangelist mate took me out for a ride and a chat. I'm glad I took his advice. The forest tracks and gravel cycle paths are fine to ride on and a hybrid is so much faster/easier to ride on the road/tarmac.

eta
Cycling's a funny thing when you get started, you can change quite quickly and 3 months later find your original (potentially expensive) purchase isn't well suited to what you want to do next.

Edited by captainzep on Thursday 3rd June 19:05

thats interesting - thanks for the heads up.

to be fair i will be mainly riding it on the path, gravel paths and through tarmac/dirt walk ways in Sutton Park so perhaps the hybrid bike would be better suited as I'm not going off road as such.

mmm somthing to think about...

The internet is great isn't it- you can really get lots of helpful advice and do your home work and make the right decision.

Edited by craste on Friday 4th June 19:59

Edited by craste on Friday 4th June 20:00

[Lemoncurd]

The Rock Lobster from Merlin Cycles seems to be a pretty good spec for the money - and you can get it through the C2W scheme.
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/custom-mountain-bike...

[Stevenj214]

craste said:

my missus can get that 'Ride 2 Work' discount.

I'm not sure you can fiddle your wife's Ride 2 Work voucher to buy a bike for you. The bike/equipment will be her company's property and the bike should be (mainly) used for her commuting.

[craste]

Stevenj214 said:

craste said:

my missus can get that 'Ride 2 Work' discount.

I'm not sure you can fiddle your wife's Ride 2 Work voucher to buy a bike for you. The bike/equipment will be her company's property and the bike should be (mainly) used for her commuting.

have since found out the Ride 2 Work scheme is no longer in use at my wifes company - wounded.

Never mind My budget is still the same - might pop along to evans cycles in brum today for a gander.

[Stevenj214]

craste said:

Stevenj214 said:

craste said:

my missus can get that 'Ride 2 Work' discount.

I'm not sure you can fiddle your wife's Ride 2 Work voucher to buy a bike for you. The bike/equipment will be her company's property and the bike should be (mainly) used for her commuting.

have since found out the Ride 2 Work scheme is no longer in use at my wifes company - wounded.

Never mind My budget is still the same - might pop along to evans cycles in brum today for a gander.

Ask your own company to register? I don't think it's a long process.

[craste]

Stevenj214 said:

craste said:

Stevenj214 said:

craste said:

my missus can get that 'Ride 2 Work' discount.

I'm not sure you can fiddle your wife's Ride 2 Work voucher to buy a bike for you. The bike/equipment will be her company's property and the bike should be (mainly) used for her commuting.

have since found out the Ride 2 Work scheme is no longer in use at my wifes company - wounded.

Never mind My budget is still the same - might pop along to evans cycles in brum today for a gander.

Ask your own company to register? I don't think it's a long process.

ha ha, I actually work from home so they will think I'm taking the piss!!!

[stuthemong]

if you go to evans take a passport/driving license and theyll let you take 'em out for a spin

[Nick_F]

Lemoncurd said:

The Rock Lobster from Merlin Cycles seems to be a pretty good spec for the money - and you can get it through the C2W scheme.
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/custom-mountain-bike...

Mine came with full XT and Rebas for £1k - and was supplied on C2W via Halfords.

[captainzep]

craste said:

ha ha, I actually work from home so they will think I'm taking the piss!!!

(1) It shouldn't cost your workplace anything -in fact they pay slightly less in terms of employers (NI?) contributions. Its seen as a very cheap and easy staff benefit as I understand it.

(2) Its not really about cycling to work. Its about healthier more physically active staff who have less sickness absence (in theory) and cost less to insure (-if health insurance is a staff benefit).