Basically, I’m only 16 and wont be doing anything too extreme…just getting around no downhilling or anything like that. I’m thinking of getting a hard tail due to being abit cheaper and used is fine as I’d rather that and have a nice frame and so on than just being able to say it’s new…I’m looking at spending £200-£350 and a bike from like 05-08…. any help/ advice?
Also I’m around 6’1 what size should I be looking at?

The most important thing is to make friends with the staff at your local bike shop – they’ll help you out with the sizing and fit, may also know someone who’s selling the right bike for you.
Try a few shops, stick with the one where the staff seem friendliest and keen to help.

Also, have a look in the back of “What Mountain Bike” magazine – they recommend a couple of new bikes at about £350 that seem tough enough to last a while.

If you’ve got any mates who ride regularly, or can find someone local who knows what they’re talking about, secondhand is a really good idea, but can be expensive and even dangerous if you get it wrong. There really is some tat out there.

It’ll be a hardtail at that price, unless you get a real bargain, but a lot of people think that they’re more fun anyway!

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

hardtail and 18″+ frame

get to your local bike shop and try some out. If you can get one with sram rear mech cos shimano just ain’t as good! Sorry for the shimano fans but I have both and know which one going on ebay when i get back to the uk 🙂

I’d agree a decent relationship with your lbs is useful, but real bargains are to be found on the internet (new stuff obviously)… http://paulscycles.co.uk/ pop a max & min price (250-375) in this page to see whats on offer, and then see what you local shops are selling off.

Again to repeat RS comments, as it sounds like you new to this lark, you wont be aware of issues with wear – say in the drive train, if its fecked you end up replacing the whole lots, and so all of a sudden your spending money you haven’t got or would have bought you a decent new bike in the first place…

Anyway get out there and ride somehow!

totally agree!

I got a gt avalanche 2.0 when i got back into biking. Frame is great but I have pretty much broken most stuff. Front mech = dead, rear mech = dead, drivechain = dead. Forks crap = rock shox revs etc.

spent some money on it but it got me started. Better getting started than waiting months to buy a bike with still no experience.

If you love bikes you will spend money on it guaranteed! But that’s part of the fun of owning a bike!

Last thing. Don’t bother trying to replace bits on your drivechain. Just look after the whole thing best you can and run it into the ground. Then replace the whole job lot! I learn’t the hard way.

Good luck 🙂

Don’t spend too much-you’re only 16 and still get taller where the frame won’t fit you in 2 yrs time you lanky git. :O)

19.5″ min maybe a 20″ Gt Avanlanche with slicks for the city and chuncky tyres for the weekend?

Also consider theft and insurance if it is going to be used as a run-around too+servicing parts.

thanks, I’m going to look into the GT Avalanche and thanks everyone for the advice on the local bike store, thats just one of the problems, there only being one near by and its hardly the best really.

Bargains are out there, google your brains out looking, my mate bought a Kona Cindercone from Skyline cycles for £300 this week thats a whopping 50% off the retail for a brand new bike, it wouldnt have fitted you but just goes to show bargains are out there.

If you find something and want an opinion post it here.. you will get lots of replies!

And just ride the thing when you’ve got it, don’t read the internet, leave the magazines alone. Something uncool from Halfords will work fine as long as you aren’t reading quite how far behind the technological leading edge you’ve fallen. 😉

A secondhand one on that budget would be a much better bet.

I’m only 16

Also I’m around 6’1

😯

Anyway, you could well look at second hand stuff – it depends on what your finacial situation is. If you’ve got regular money coming in (a job, for instance 🙂 ) then you could afford to get a quite nice but used bike from the classifieds here and then you would have the means to fix whatever goes wrong with it.

Having said that, if you get a cheapo bike it’ll likely need work too after 6 months of riding… Stuff will wear out anyway.

Quite a few of the nice steel on-one type things coming up on the classifieds now and then, it seems. I’d prefer that to a low-end entry-level bike tbh.

I couldnt disagree more about a 2nd hand bike, could be a nightmare of mismatched bits n bobs all of them knackered. But then thats just my opinion and of course luck would play a part, and we have no idea if you have any knowledge of working on bikes.

Assuming you dont know loads about making them run nice, I would be looking at this sort of thing. (they got your size too).

If you see anything with hydraulic discs or 27 speed in your price bracket that would be good, but your more likely looking at 24speed and mechanical disks.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/4300-disc-2008-mountain-bike-ec001562