A guy at work has asked my advice on these…

Orange Clockwork

[url=http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/p/17727/specialized-rockhopper-pro-evo-650b-hardtail-mountain-bike-2015-sale]Rockhopper Pro[/url]

Cannondale Trail 1

The Orange every time

Just because.

have they looked at Pauls Cycles, they usually have some cheap(er) dales

specialized are far better bikes than orange….purely for the aftersales. imho that is.

Yeah, but the Orange is real purty, and the Specialized is goppin’! Whats going on with that top tube?

The all look great … but I would get the Orange. HTH.

I’ve owned a Rockhopper and a Clockwork, (both 29ers rather than 650b though)

I found the riding position of the Orange to be about the best of any hardtail I’ve ever had (i’m 6’5″). The rockhopper is not bad at all but the clockwork just felt like a trail bike rather than having any XC aspirations.

Specialized customer service is fantastic and the UK helpdesk service is superb.

That said, I broke my clockwork frame whilst away in Australia for 6 months and Orange were absolutely brilliant.

Only caveat is, the rockhopper i had was a 2014 model and I think the top tube on the new one is minging. (Geometry is the same though I think)

Any of them is a brilliant first bike.

Which one does the beginner like the look of? Is there any chance of them getting a test ride on any of them?

A lad came through work with one of those Specialized the other day and it looked nice, dropper being a great bit of kit on it, but I still think I’d take the Orange.

Advice I’d give is to ride them all, what I bought is wholly different from what I thought I wanted. (Rockhopper owner here; it just ‘felt right’ in a way nothing else did.)

TBH, they’ll not got far wrong with any of those. You can get a very good “first bike for a beginner” for half that budget.

Tell him to buy a Bird Zero