The obvious choose apparently is the Boardman and there are some pretty decent reviews on here and elsewhere. I noticed On one do the Maccatuskil, with quite a decent spec, but I can’t seem to find that many reviews. What else should I be considering at that price?

Vitus from CRC, British cycling discount as well.

I was in my local Halfords on Friday and saw a bizango down to £300. I still don’t know how I resisted. Leaves a lot left for upgrades.

My post was gonna say get a second hand Bizango and then upgrade the components and wheels. Spacey beat me to it!….

Pinnacle?

Self build?

If you haven’t got any parts stashed away, by the time you buy frame, forks and wheels (if buying new) would be easy to blow through the budget

What do you want to do on it?

I’d go for a 2016 tarn if you can find one but that’s quite different to a boardman. What are you riding?

There’s a decent Cannondale Trail in the classifieds for £350. Lots left for upgrades…

200 quid more?

Bizango. awesome bike.

for less than a grand I’ve had a whole new bike then deore brakes and discs,
2015 rebas, new bars and a reverb.

managed to sell the suntours for 120 quid after much use. even so they are not bad at all.

wheels next.

Sonder Transmitter. Jack of all trades, Master of most of them!

Sonder is 650b+ not 29er?

It’s just for riding I guess! I have asked on here before about a cx bike but I think a 29er would be more suited. I imagine it’s mostly to be used on gravel/off-road tracks and in the mud also, nothing too gnarr, I’ve got my enduro gnarrpoon to make roost.

You can run both in it and have 2 sets of wheels ready to go depending on what I’m riding.
Edit – just got to be careful of tyre choice due to clearance in rear.

The Boardman would be a good call then. I had one for a while and paid well under £1k – they do regular 20% off deals plus 10% BC discount.

That allowed me to upgrade the wheels and tyres from the off.

FWIW I’m 5ft 8in and sized up to the large to get a bit more length. Standover was still fine.

I’d not buy a sonder for 29 purposes for the clearance reason you mention nicksnr. Great bike though.

Boardman would be a good shout.

@spacey where did you find the deal on that bizango please? On the website is still listed at £525 which is good but £300 would be great.

Sorry for slow reply. It seemed like the local store was clearing a bit of stock, there was only one with a hand written tag on it. It was in the Manchester branch near to Old Trafford footy ground. Was a 20″ which would suit me nicely but I already have a HT so walked away, impressive will power I thought!

Whyte 529

Or the 629 if you can stretch the budget slightly.

Have a look at the Cube Ltd, I had one for about 18 months and it ticks all the boxes, the frame is solid and it’s good to build on down the line.

I have to echo what a few people have said – £1k will get you a Bizango, then nearly £500 to spend on essential upgrades – dropper, nice pedals, bars and grips, narrow-wide chain ring etc., to make a nicer/ better spec bike than an off the shelf £1k bike IMO.

Ooh – have I just done a “post what you own”?

Whyte 529. I couldn’t find a better frame out there, so bought this, sold all the bits and started with frame only.
£1200 got me a full build with 1×11 XT, dropper, New Pike RCT3s & Hope Hoops.
I love it. Very competent bike with great geometry.