Something that won’t break the bank but will allow me to ride up and down the mountain. No titanium or monowhatever frames, something dirt cheap but is not in the argos or halfords sale! Saying that any recommends possible. I have seen raleigh do a decent FS but only in the US.

Ideas welcome.

buy a hardtail

not the latest model, but a well proven frame & decent kit..
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s1p1291
opps only for the very small though.

Have a browse of http://www.paulscycles.co.uk

How cheap? Decathlon Rockrider 6.is shockingly good for £360… Not as good as it was, it’s dropped to X5 instead of X7 but still.

Some deals here

Scroll down until you get to the first kona, ignore everything before it, and the mongoose otero, GT ruckus

I quite like the look of this for under £1k:

What tomthumb said.

I’ve not been anywhere on my £1800 Enduro that I haven’t been on my 12 year old £500 Kona hardtail – and that includes Jacobs Ladder and The Beast in the Dark Peak.

Yes it’ll be a bit slower on the HT, but the quality of bike you’ll get if only spending a few hundred quid will far outweigh the benefits of a cheap sus bike.

Halfords do the GT I drive 5 for less than a grand. Good bike with loads of potential for upgrade.

If you can’t stretch to that Trance on Paul’s check to see if they’ve still got the Yukon FX3 at £300… full susser, Dart forks, 2009 spec. Only big downside is the mechanical discs, but you’d prob get some LX discs off the Classifieds on here for £60 or thereabouts. Can’t believe the deal on that bike – and they did have them in stock as my old man got one the other week! Then again – the Trance looks like a heck of a lot of bike for the money. I think what it is is that Giant have an April – April model year for their sub £1k bikes, hence the deals on their 2009 stock ahead of some of the other brands – but I could be wrong.

£362

not the latest model, but a well proven frame & decent kit..
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s1p1291
opps only for the very small though.

I was thinking around £800, I’ve got a SS and a HT and love them to bits, though just wondering if there’s any frames for around that price or less, I could easily change most the components over from the HT, despite the shocks of course.

but looking more at that Trance, looks very very nice and I wouldn’t have to swap anything over.

For 800 you can get the Boardman comp from Halfords. I have the next model up and have been very pleased with it – the kit on it is excellent for the price, and it rides pretty well. Awful saddle though – that got changed after the first ride!

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtbfs/fs_comp.html

Whats the difference between these two frames

Giant Trance 3 07

Giant Trance 3 08

Both the same bike, I know one’s a year older but why did Giant change the geometry, has anyone rode both bikes? Are they similar? Both have the same shock.

DarkenedD: the new design, with the shock above the downtube, rather than through it, is a hell of a lot lighter (0.7kg ish?)

they hadnt done it before, because it took some hard thinking about how to do it without buggering up the maestro suspension magic.

cracking bikes. recomended.

giant do some cracking hardtails too, the XtCs are very good value, and the new trail centre Talon featured on the front page of STW looks like it could be fun, although those specific bikes seem to be poorly specced for the money?

Giant will give you the most bike for your money, in my opinion.

It seems the ‘Reign’, ‘Trance’, ‘Yukon’ support the same frame but I guess with different specs. Though most of the bike deals are with small frames, I’m about six foot, so I’m guessing a large frame size would be beneficial..maybe have to wait until autumn? I’m not sure when the end of year deals are out?

The Yukon looks similar to the Trance but its not the same maestro suspension, its a linkage operated single pivot.