I have only just been bitten by the bike bug, and about 2 month after getting a pretty basic carerra vulcan hardtail it was nicked. I need a new bike but know nothing, so any advice would be massively appreciated!

Cheers

Budget? Type of riding you do? Looking new or 2nd hand?

Depending on your budget. I would say get a frame and build a custom bike from cheap, good quality parts off here!

HC the guy says he's a newby building one may not be an option if he knows little about bikes

Depends on lots of things…. as mentioned above, but if your looking for a cheap(ish) & decent (new) cross country type hardtail, something along the line of the Carrera Fury, Decathlong Rockrider (8.1), or KHS Alite 2000 would be my starting point. Great value for money bikes without the 'brand name' to push up the price.

2nd hand bikes can offer more value for money but only if you have a good working knowledge of maintaining a bike, otherwise you could be looking @ replacing the drive-train and servicing the forks before too long, and not being any better off than you would buying new

Thank for the suggestions. I do have some knowlege of bike building and was actually thinking along that route. Although I havent been riding long I was hitting some trails quite hard, but nothing major. Budget around the £600 ish mark