A mate of mine is after some bike advice. He’s big (Klitschko sized) so he needs something that can cope. Also, he’s not as daft as us so doesn’t want to spend a bucket load. Bike needs to be shop bought rather than mail order so he can try it. Riding will be mostly round parks with his lad, but he’s addicted to his road bike so I can see him joining the MNPR.

Budget is £600ish. Not interested in second hand or mail order.

Any (sensible) ideas?

Dune fat bike.

hard to look past boardman bikes for those criteria

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/905-mtb-comp-650b.html

under budget, and there’ll be a halfords close to you

if he’s really big, the 29er is slightly over £600

Halfords are doing 20% off all bikes, makes the Bizango £479 and the Marassa £239 before cashback! 😯