A totally daft question I know so I apologies now.

Friend is after a do anything bike on a budget < £900

so good for decent lenth road rides & MTBing.

I suggested he looks at rigid 29er or a CX bike, but I guess if it has to have front suspension it can.

Suggestions please.

I suppose it depends how good it needs to be at road or mtb.

A 29er hardtails will do the job as would a CX bike. The former better offroad, the latter on road.

If I was ever going to want to do ‘proper’ mtbing then I’d get the 29er and live with it being slower on the road as much as I love my CX bike, I wouldn’t want to be stuck with that as my only choice for a weekend’s mtbing with mates (on mtbs).

At the moment he does not have an MTB at all, just a crap ill fitting road bike.

He does want to go off road as well so my leaning (& personal preference) is to a 29er.

29er with carbon forks would be my suggestion – he’s not use to suspension and the carbon combined with wheel size will be better than steel rigid forks, lighter than suspension too

Your asking for a bike to do two jobs, you won’t get a good bike for both, what do you want to compromise on?

A road bike can go off road, but won’t be the most enjoyable tool
A cross bike will do both, but will have issues on harder off road routes, but will be fine on fire roads and the like. Also not quite as fast as a pure road bike.
A 29er will be best off road, but will drag on the road.

I’d go for a 29er hardtail all the way if he wants to spend reasonable time off road. That way he can have fun off road and lose very little on the road (assuming he doesn’t want to join roadie group rides regularly). Nothing stopping a decent length road ride but you have to accept it won’t be as fast or feel the same as a CX bike. I’d personally go for a sus fork to add that extra bit of skill compensation when needed and even cheapie forks seem to have lockouts these days… but again this is approaching things with a MTB bias.

£900 is a healthy budget too which is good and I’m sure there’s tons of bikes that must fit the bill whether is be 29er hardtail or CX that he leans towards. Wouldn’t know the best value off the top of my head.

I’d look at a Genesis CdF, and spend the change on tyres, guards etc.

A Fargo!

They’re ace, in a mad way..

Ok, so it’s a not an all out MTB, and certainly not an all out Road Bike..

But it’s spotty dog IMHO, and I love mine.

The best “one bike to rule them all” I ever had was a Bianchi hard tail on which I’d replaced the cheap, nasty and heavy Manitou forks with some rigid carbon ones. It was light and fast rolling so was actually relatively pleasurable to ride on road, but I still managed some epic days out off-road with it, just like in the old days when we all rode rigid MTBs 🙂

The trouble is, I’m not sure there’s that much choice on the market for genuine mountain bikes with rigid forks. This is well regarded I believe, and half the budget Islabikes Beinn 29

I made my own hybrid from a 1997 Raleigh M-Trax, – rigid forks but bombroof, springy enough and light.

Tyres are arguably the biggest compromise, so I always seem to end up with at least two bikes rather than two wheelsets or changing the tyres. Saying that – did get a lot of summer fun both on and off road with Big Apple 2.35’s on a Cannondale F600, similarly with a Kinesis Maxlight XC and schwalbe hurricanes. i find a frame size up (19″ where i would normally be 17-18″ for XC) works better on the road.

Two bikes is the answer!

I’d spend £450 on a second hand/in the sales hardtail and £450 on a second hand/in the sales road bike

As above, pick your compromise.

some sort of monster crossy/ drop bar 29er type thing might work.

s/h Singular Peregrine or Surly Cross Check? My Peregrine with 2.0 knobblies has taken in some pretty technical mtb ups and downs. I’ve been surprised what I can clear going up, and how comfortable I feels going quick on the way down. Not held up the others in the group on mtbs either (YMMV – your mates may vary!)

comfortable on long road rides with 28c too, they go on the same wheels, just need 2 sets of tyres.

or this!

£450 on a second hand/in the sales hardtail and £450 on a second hand/in the sales road bike

yourguitarhero – Member
I’d spend £450 on a second hand/in the sales hardtail and £450 on a second hand/in the sales road bike

This, by a mile.

cheers guys. I’ll pass on the comments.

Merlin Beone 29er comp (385 quid !!)

Decathlon Triban 5 (c500 quid)

What about, a light 29er with sus forks, make sure the headset has a split crown race, buy some Exotic carbon rigids. with the split crown race you can change the forks around easily and fairly quickly, for a fast light rigid bike or a full MTB.