Hi,

I’m just setting out in mountain biking and as such am starting from scratch I.e buying my first bike in years… I’m after a bit of advice and I’d be so grateful if you guys could help out, my budget is pretty low (£300) and I’m looking to buy a half decent bike to get me started mainly road use but occasionally on tow paths and fire roads to see how I get on for now .. I’ve got a couple of bikes that I’m looking at but my judgment is limited to what looks nice lol could somebody please point me in the direction of what’s best for my budget? I’m looking at Saracen tufftrax 2014, Merida matts 10v, Gt aggressor 3.0, diamondback overdrive 2013, Dawes xc21 , felt six 95 2014 or giant revel 4? There’s a couple of ridgeback ones and the Claud butler trail ridge 1.3 in the price range also. A lot of reviews seem to point to the tufftrax but I’m open to advice and opinions which I’d be grateful for .

Thanks, Dean

I’d put up a wanted Ad on here mate for a nice second hand bike… you’ll get a better bike for the money.

Good luck and welcome 🙂

Agree with weeksy, Classifieds is the way to go. Perhaps a CX would suit but, to be honest, get the bike that does one job only.

I’d either go secondhand, or buy a discounted 2013 bike.
My wife has a Merida Matts mountain bike which I bought with 50% off from Merlin, I think I paid under £250 and it has discs etc.

Try Pauls Cycles for last years models.

I’d either go secondhand, or buy a discounted 2013 bike.

Agreed. Worth a punt on the Classifieds, certainly. For a first bike, I’d be looking for a good quality HT (Get ready for acronyms! HT = Hard tail. A bike with front suspension only). Don’t worry too much about components, but concentrate on getting a good frame as a base to build on. The big brands (Specialized, Trek, Giant for example) all do excellent HTs at a budget end, and so would be well worth looking for.

Welcome to the end of your wallet….! 🙂

Just went to look for this and it has sold for £400.

Gives an example of a decent useable bike that can be found secondhand:
Singletrack Advert

If you are not confident buying second hand then you might have a mate to advise. Alternatively there are one or two folk on here who might be prepared to offer an opinion. 😀

Thank you all for your advice and your opinions are valuable . Is it the case that none of the bikes I listed originally are any good? I’d been tempted by 0% finance to help spread the cost but this is no biggie really . Cheers dean

Is it the case that none of the bikes I listed originally are any good?

They’re Okay, Personally would prefer the Giant or Felt
However as has already been said a second hand bike would get you so much more!

Look out for Deore brakes as a minimum.

For your budget, and intended use, I’d look at getting something with rigid forks (ie no suspension) as it will be lighter and more of the budget will be spent on gearing (and possible disc brakes). Plus any fork on a sub £500 bike is likely to be pretty hopeless, just add weight, and offer poor performance.

If you intend to use it daily on the roads then I’d consider a hybrid as you’ll get higher gearing, more suited to road riding.

If you have mechanical knowledge and are happy to do DIY repairs/maintenance then the classifieds could be worth a look (certainly if you can go and inspect the bike before handing over your cash). Be careful though, suspension forks can be expensive to fix if they are faulty, and things like wheel bearings, bottom brakets, headsets, chain rings, tyres etc all add up if you buy a bad ‘un. I bought a bit of a wrecker but already had a box of spares and time to fix it up, if you’re not that way inclined I’d go new from your local bike shop.

+1 for going secondhand…you’ll get something decent for £300 and then you’ll get sucked in and in 12 months time you’ll be splashing a grand on something with no gears or suspension and silly big wheels 😉

This obviously depends on your location but places like the Cannop cycle centre in the Forest of Dean sell their hire bikes off every other season. Check out cycle hire centres near you.

Have you seen this?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cube-acid

Edit: I don’t know the seller and don’t know anything about Cube bikes!