What GBP1,000 hard tail?

[satans worm]

OK, after a few posts on the cycle scheme and thinking about what kind of bike i want, I have decided to go for a GBP1,000 voucher to buy a MTB hard tail.
Being a bit shallow, I want to have a good make, even if a cheaper 'unknown' bike would be better

My choice so far is a Orange P7s at a grand, someone hase recommended a Charger Duster HI
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/charge/duster-...
, but i've never hear of them( my knowledge is around 7 years out of date!)

Would be interested in anything Cannondale, GT, Kona etc

Any recomendations?

Also, is it true the cyclescheme takes 15pct commision form the bike shop on every sale? Which means you can't buy a bike on discount (at say 15pct) as the shop would make no commision (as i understand it 30pct is the norm)?

Edited by satans worm on Monday 15th June 12:25

[John D9395]

My understanding is that the shop only gets 90% of the value of the voucher, ie looses 10%.

I have just bought a discounted 2008 bike in excess of £1,000, and the shop inflated the first £1,000 to £1,100 as they claim to 'not be makeing much on it anyway'. I still feel that I got a good deal.

Any bike at MRP, the voucher was worth pound for pound.

On a good note, I would imagine that this scheme has greatly increased the the bike shop sales way in excess of the 10% they loose per sale?

[anonymous-user]

personally the trek 6700 would be high on my list, it has had good reviews and seems well specced. its a bit racer-esque looking but well worth a look.

some bikes worthy of consideration:

the £999 boardman hardtail (cant remeber the model but its winning rave reviews in the mags)
rock lobster (from merlin cycles, totally bespoke to your requirements)
genesis altitude 10
specialized rockhopper comp
cannondale f4
orange evo8

the charge duster is a semi retro hardtail, designed in the UK for Uk trails and built in the far east, they are a lively steel frame and have a good following, well worth considering.

IMHO, Kona have yet to make an ally frame that rides as well as their steel frames of old.

[Rochester TVR]

I've got a Trek 8000 hardtail, great bike for XC stuff, very light too.

Its over your budget at £1250 but I shopped around and got it for £1000 at Cycles UK in basildon as they had just re-opened and were offering 20% off Treks.

[WildCards]

I bought a 2008 Commencal Supernormal at the end of last year on the scheme (from Merlin Cycles) They didn't inflate the price or mention not making money, quite the opposite infact, they called me to say I hadn't used the full value of the voucher and would I like to add some bits, which i did but the bits I added came to £10 over the thousand pounds, bloke on the phone told me not to worry about it he'd 'lose' it. I was well chuffed.

Anyway, if you can get one within budget the Supernormal is an excellent aluminium framed XC HT, very light, very racey.

[satans worm]

Now this looks really realy nice, but has anyone heard of 'cube' bikes????

http://www.cyclesuk.com/110-304008?sid=6aaa2c6ef72...

[v8 jago]

Yes i have. As far as i know they are good bikes but ive not heard any bad things nor do i know anyone with one.

[Nick_F]

Rock Lobster worked for me.

[longblackcoat]

Nick_F said:

Rock Lobster worked for me.

Yep, they're excellent, as are On-One, if you want niche British-designed frames.

For value though, you really can't look further than Boardman bikes. Yes, they're sold at Halfords but despite that they're excellent. Just don't ever go near them for servicing - buy the tools and do it yourself, you'll be better than most of their staff within a few hours.

[BOR]

satans worm said:

Now this looks really realy nice, but has anyone heard of 'cube' bikes????

http://www.cyclesuk.com/110-304008?sid=6aaa2c6ef72...

Yes. I have a Cube Stereo.

The LTD is rated as "Very Good/ Best Buy" by the german press. They are everywhere over here. Cube is a large operation,with economies-of-scale, which I think is reflected in the high spec for a reasonable price.

No known problems, except for long delivery times of some of the bikes. If the retailer doesn't have the bike in stock, you need to find out where it is coming from. In "Cube Time", 1 month = 2 of our months.

[Nick_F]

longblackcoat said:

Nick_F said:

Rock Lobster worked for me.

Yep, they're excellent, as are On-One, if you want niche British-designed frames.

For value though, you really can't look further than Boardman bikes. Yes, they're sold at Halfords but despite that they're excellent. Just don't ever go near them for servicing - buy the tools and do it yourself, you'll be better than most of their staff within a few hours.

I did, and a year ago the Rock Lobster came with full XT plus XC717 rims and Race Face Deus stem etc - which made the Boardman look less good value.

Not looked since, so may be different in 2009 spec.

[satans worm]

After a little searching i've seen this, with full XT group set it has to be a winner

http://www.cubecycles.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=80510

Ok, its white so doesn't look quite as cool as the black one, but full XT and reber forks for under a grand!!!

Did a little research and am happy with the Cube 'name', cant wait to order the bike now!!

[Mr E]

I'm possibly in exactly the same position, possibility of the CTW scheme here.

I currently ride a well used full bounce Kona - which if I'm honest is overkill for the riding I do these days. So, the sensible head says "buy a hybrid for the run to work, and keep the Kona for mucking about with".

So, obviously I'm going to be retiring the Kona and buying a decent hardtail.

My local shop is a Cube dealer. I should probably go and ride one.

[Mr E]

Nick_F said:

Rock Lobster worked for me.

Rock Lobster is just within budget and very nice indeed.

A bit of me wants to go back to chromoly.

[mk1fan]

Nick_F said:

I did, and a year ago the Rock Lobster came with full XT plus XC717 rims and Race Face Deus stem etc - which made the Boardman look less good value.

Not looked since, so may be different in 2009 spec.

Depends which ones you compare it with. The Boardman Pro has an X-0 / X-9 mix which is XTR / XT comparable. The current (£1000) Rock Lobster has an SLX groupset which would be comparable to the Boardman Team (£850) or even the Boardman Comp (£700 and has the same forks as the RL). Although Merlin do a 10% online discount (reducing the RL to £900), I don't think this applies to C2W scheme purchases. However, the Boardman Team still has a better spec, the Comp is worse though.

It does ask the question whether you want Sram or Shimano gears. Personally, I like Sram but my friends prefer Shimano.

Edited by mk1fan on Wednesday 17th June 11:06

[Nick_F]

Boardman looks better now, then.

[mk1fan]

Even comparing the Pro to your XT spec RL, the Pro has the better overall spec but the choice still needs to be made between using Sram or Shimano.

Doesn't matter how good a spec is if you don't like the componentry. A full XTR spec bike for £1200 is worthless if you'd only ride Sram gear.

[plfrench]

Another point is, does the Boardman have handbuilt wheels? I know the Merlin/RL stuff does, and I reckon this is worth a few quid premium.

[Mr E]

A white P7 is very tempting at this sort of price range

[anonymous-user]

plfrench said:

Another point is, does the Boardman have handbuilt wheels? I know the Merlin/RL stuff does, and I reckon this is worth a few quid premium.

define "handbuilt"? surely all wheels are handbuilt? i'll accept that merlin are well known for their wheels and the boardman wheels would be an unknown quantity in terms of build quality but using "handbulit" as a factor is a bit odd.