Rightoh, its C2W time, and I figured (being limited to halfords) I'd pick myself up a NS Core 2 – £950 for a nice and strong (key point – my current xc bike is a 45 lb cannondale) hardtail with reasonable forks. Only problem – there's none in a large size in the country, and the distributer recons it's going to stay that way this year.
So, what else is there? a quick look suggests
Giant Aggressor Elite – very unknown (not a single review, and none in-store), and a bit lightweight – that 'all mountain' wheelset looks like it'd last me 5 minutes
DMR – nothing with gears in their 'bikes' section
Kona – Five-o fits the bill, but i just.. don't like it. Its a shame, I can't fault it but it just doesn't do anything for me
Identiti – nothing with decent forks available
And that's about it – there aren't any other big hardtail brands I can see there. Have I missed anything? I'm no-where near leisure lakes or the bike chain (I'm in Brighton) and they don't do halfords c2w mail-order. Has anyone had luck getting halfords to build them a bike based on a frame (you can still get the NS Surge frame-only)? Gotta make a decision fairly soon as our benefits deadline is soon :S