£700 budget what to get

[Gazza1591]

Well i thought i would start a thread that will just be about advice on new bike and not a welcome post.

SO i have a budget of around £700 and after a hard tail. it will be used around the forest of dean, and malvern hills mainly. im newish to MTB XC so need a capable bike for a newbie and one i could possibly upgrade the more i get into it. i currently have a GT agressor but its an 09 and showing its age and i want a new bike.

so if you had a budget of £700 what would you go out and buy ?

i have been looking at the cube range as well as newer GT models

 

[Cubist]

I'll say anyway!

Your budget puts you in reasonable entry level territory, and will get you a decent bike with some compromised components that you'll want to upgrade as you progress. For me, the single biggest compromise will be the fork. Forget the Chainset, derailleurs or even wheelset, all of those can be upgraded relatively cheaply, but a decent fork aftermarket costs a fortune. For that reason I'd be looking at the big retailers like Halfords, Decathlon, or mail order stuff like Canyon, some of the German big turnover stuff from HiBike or BikeDiscount, Roseversand and so on.

So, if you want an opinion, it'd be look at the spec list first. You are looking to buy a bike with Rockshox XC forks at that price, unless you can drop on Recon or ( unlikely ) Reba or Sektor forks. Avoid the cheaper sprung forks like RS, or Suntour XC versions. Suntour epicon or any of their air sprung forks are decent quality, it's their coil forks that are shockingly bad.

Once I'm back on the PC rather than the tablet ill have a look round for some suggestions, but in the meantime have a look to see whether Canyon do a hardtail at that budget.

 

[Firestorm]

Mtb-directshop on ebay is selling KTM 29ers for 700 item no 321235391491

Its not a dodgy outfit, its my brother and he is using ebay whilst the main website is overhauled

 

[Cubist]

Just had a look at Canyon website. Te Yellowstone or Grand Canyon AL both within budget, the Grand Canyon is a thing of wonder for the price.

That KTM looks OK by the way, but the named kit on the Canyons, and the 1.5kg weight difference would swing it for me.

 

[Gazza1591]

what are the cube bikes like ?

was looking at this one ?
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-Attention-29-Mountain-Bike-2014-Hardtail-Race-MTB_66705.htm
will check the canyon out know

 

[Gazza1591]

and this one any good ?

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Talon-2-Mountain-Bike-2013-Hardtail-Race-MTB_56321.htm

 

[tigger]

I've broken your ceiling but I thought this was amazing value, these frames have a great reputation...

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/p...13_Bike_C004?gclid=CIDxgpPa3bsCFeLHtAodph8AHA

I think all the bikes mentioned so far would do the job, and 2013 models seem the way to go for value, a lot of them seem to have better spec than 2014 models.

 

[choplee]

I have a friend that is cube mad ... you do seem to get good value for money with them and they get good write ups, so i'm looking at prizing one of his cube mtb''s from him when he upgrades with another cube ....

 

[Gregcycle]

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...uctId_777757_langId_-1_categoryId_289005#tab2

Can't really go wrong with this. Do you have a preferred wheel size?

 

[Gazza1591]

Link just goes to the main website? But if it's t boardman it's to small tried it and can only go up to a 19'' I need 21

 

[Cubist]

A 21" MTB frame is pretty big. How tall are you, what's your inside leg?

what are the cube bikes like ?

was looking at this one ?
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-Attention-29-Mountain-Bike-2014-Hardtail-Race-MTB_66705.htm
will check the canyon out know

Not bad at all. It'll be pretty weighty though.

As will the Giant, but that said both are good bikes.

 

[Gregcycle]

Thought it might of aha, my iPads a bit buggered. Was meant to lead to the 2013 team for 679.99 can't really get much better value new, having said that there may be some offers worth checking at Paulcycles.co.uk. And about the sizing I'm 6'1 and a 19" full sus is fine for me.

 

[Gazza1591]

I'm 6,2 and leg is around a 37

What make of cube was it you were referring to? I did short list a cube and the giant linked above.

 

[Gazza1591]

Also am I right in thinking that the 2 bikes I have linked above the giant and the cube the giant has rhe better forks on it

 

[tigger]

Also am I right in thinking that the 2 bikes I have linked above the giant and the cube the giant has rhe better forks on it

Yes it is I think, according to reviews etc. Looks like you're reducing your buget a bit? As Cubist said, this Canyon is astonishing value if you still want to spend your original limit.
https://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3206