Eve All,

Mate of mine is looking to get a hardtail mountain bike new or second hand. It’s been a while since I’ve looked at anything around this price range any suggestions would be appreciated!!

Frame size he needs something around 18″ I reckon

Halfords boardman range?
Doubt even on-one could get one in at that price
Ediburgh bike coop triad range
Decathlon

There’s going to be a lot of compromise from your point of view in terms of performance and weight but there are still plenty of rideable bikes around.

Bikeradar used to be good for searching by price. See if they have a best bike for £500 article.

Cheers Jon i’ll take a look on bike radar…also forgot about the Boardman range i’ll take a look.

Kona Fire Mountain would be my choice at the moment, reduced everywhere.
Good spec and looks quite nice as well.

I’m not sure about the mechanical disc brakes on some of these, think he might be better looking for something with hydraulic..or do you think he’s pushing it at this budget..

Carrera Fury comes in at £440 just now, don’t bother trying to find a better bike for the money unless you intend to steal it 😉 Won every £500 bike test it’s been entered in, won a £750 test in WMB…

Hi Northwind, where can you pick up the Carrera Fury for £440??

Halfords. Though the offer might be about to end- there’s a discount on already then there’s 20% off at the checkout.

I see ..extra discount in basket forget the last comment..cheers!!

Up the budget a little bit (£610) and get a GT Avalanche Expert with U-Turn Tora fork, SLX and XT gears and Juicy 3s?

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b1s2p2231

or £550 for a Kona Caldera with similar (if he’s medium or large)?

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b7s2p1938

Cheers for the help guys..I’m gonna go with Northwinds suggestion and tell him to go with the Carrera.

Grum, the lad works in our a/c’s dept at work so I’ve got no chance getting him to up his budget..lol

That caldera is good value though, i’ll mention it too him as well.

Halfords have got a Voodoo bike for £480 if he can stretch his budget a smidge.
I think it’s the Hoodoo?

How do you get the basket discount? Is it just automatic or…

The fury is a bargain, my old man got one last time round and it’s superb. You will need to reassemble it though, I’m not being a halfords hater but the 2 recent carerras I’ve seen have been sloppily built. Hope your mate gets one in time and enjoys it.

Hi Tommmm

The offer ended on Monday but the guy in halfords said that they may have another as they try to clear the range ready for next year’s models.

I reserved one for my mate late Monday so he could decide on Tuesday whether to buy..he wimped out in the end, his loss!!

AH right cheers mate. Appreciate that. I was asking for a mate too, so I’ll tell him to keep his eyes peeled. Don’t think he’s in too much of a rush so that could be ideal. Thanks again.