Halfords MTB Offers

[GERARDPPM]

Hi, new to the forum, i hav been doing some searching on these bikes:

Carrera Vulcan Disc Spec 09
Carrera Vengeance Disc Ltd 09
GT Agressor XC3

I am looking essentially for a mountain bike mostly for country road use and the odd excursion of road, which bike do u think would suit most. The Vulcan Disc Spec has lock out forks which if im right is designed for road use and could be the better option?

Any help would be appreciated on these bikes.

 

[Bman]

I have the GT Aggressor XCR and a colleague has the XC2. Both very nice bikes

 

[Cubist]

thanks for the help, much appreciated!

Gerardppm, the MTB section of the forum is about the slowest to get a reply, don't sweat it!

You say the "odd excursion off road". By this do you mean that you will occasionally hop onto a towpath or gravelly track, or will you be hooning it down some really technical bridleways and trails?

If you intend to get into MTBing for real, then spend as much as you possibly can on a well-specc'd XC bike. If not, and you really are mostly on country lanes and the odd track, then a hybrid with fat tyres or even a cross-bike would be a much better bet.

If you are intent on a MTB, then the vulcan and the Aggressor are both good buys at the moment. The Vengeance has as far as I can make out, better brakes and forks, but on 24 speed gears. That it was originally priced at £599 is eyewatering in terms of a reduction.

You aren't likely to find a better bike for the money than either of the three you have mentioned.

 

[freakybacon]

Any of your suggestions should do the job. I have a carrera kraken 07, used for commuting with slick tires and occasional off roading - completed the Holme Valley mountain bike challenge & the Calderdale mountain bike marathon with it. The spec of mine is similar to the latest Vulcan- mechanical discs AFAIK. Lock out forks are useful for my commute.

 

[GERARDPPM]

Thanks guys,

No, i wont be ony any techinal tracks or anything, but i do want a MTB and not a hybrid.

Think i will go for either the aggressor or the vulcan as both have lock out forks. At this most of time i'd prefer the aggressor but is almost £100 more expensive includin if you take the 10% voucher. I wonder is the extra £100 worth it.

 

[GERARDPPM]

My minds defo made up now, halfords have just reduced the aggressor xc3 by 10% £315 now :-)

 

[Cubist]

JFDI springs to mind.....have fun!

 

[Mr Pig]

No, i wont be ony any techinal tracks or anything, but i do want a MTB

You realise you're just going to be dragging the extra weight of suspension forks and disk brakes around for no reason? Not to mention the knobbly tyres. It's like buying a tractor for the school run...

 

[Norm]

No, i wont be ony any techinal tracks or anything, but i do want a MTB and not a hybrid.

Not sure why you are so certain on the MTB rather than a hybrid but only you know what ticks your boxes.

Looking at the spec of the Aggressor, it says "aggressive tread XC tyres". I'd recommend getting some road tyres with less aggressive tread, like the Schwalbe Land Cruisers discussed in this thread. Switching to road tyres increased my speed by over 10%, faster and easier all for £20. Save the XC tyres for the seriously boggy stuff.

 

[GERARDPPM]

Dont see any 26 x 2.1 in them tyres

 

[Norm]

You don't need to stick to the 2.1" width, narrower stuff will make it even quicker on tarmac. I went down to 26x1.5 for road tyres.

 

[GERARDPPM]

You don't need to stick to the 2.1" width, narrower stuff will make it even quicker on tarmac. I went down to 26x1.5 for road tyres.

will they fit on the wheels?

 

[punkypossum]

They will fit fine, I'm running 26x1.75 semi slicks on my mountain bike that had 2.1 knobblies originally.

However, if you want to change the tyres already, you might as well go for something like the GT Zum which has a mountain bike frame but with the slick tyres...

 

[Lisa21]

My bike is the Carrera Vulcan and I couldnt be happier with it. I ride on roads, cyclepaths, country lanes and hairyscary forest trails and it is always 100%

If I needed to get a new bike it would be the same one again.

 

[GERARDPPM]

Its all ordered, im not to bothered by the extra drag of the tires, i'll get more of a work out.