[Closed] £500 hardtail

If you can catch Halfords in a sale you can get the Voodoo Bizango for under £500 sometimes- it wouldn't be out of place in a line of £1000 bikes... Stupidly good value.

2nd the Bizango, It's a very good bike, I have one.

I would describe the fork as reasonable or better. Gears are fine, the only changes I have made to mine are wider bars and shorter stem, and some thinner grips.

Thanks I'll take a look.

Sign up for Halford emails, they let you know when the instant/one day sales are on, so you can grab that bargain Bizango (beware it a popular bike, so stocks level might be an issue).
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/most-cost-effective-way-to-buy-a-bike-from-halfords ]Thread about Halford's discount options[/url]

I liked the look of the Bizango, but only doing 18" and 20" frame sizes is retarded.

Pinnacle Ramin 1 as a rigid fork is better than most sus forks in that price range.

I bought a Bizango about five weeks ago, mainly as I needed a hardtail to put a baby seat on. I've barely been off it, cracking bike, it's already done dozens of the Shropshire and North Wales trails at indecent pace. Unbelievable that it was less than £500. The only things I've changed are the addition of a reverb dropper post and superstar pedals, not essential but to my taste. Do a search for Halfords discounts, there are several ways to get 10-20% discounts...

You can get plenty for your cash at Halfords if you're clever. Negotiate the price.down(they will.budge) then goto hotukdeals and follow the instructions for getting their vouchers at 10% cheaper.

I paid £720 for a 2014 29er.Ht pro

I bought one a few months back - for just £450 🙂

Amazing bike from the start but mine came in quite heavy at 14.6kg (18") I've now upgraded the bar, saddle, seatpost, pedals for lighter weight parts (mostly chinese carbon) also XT cassette and KMC SL chain. Swapped out the Ardents too for an Ikon up front and a RaRa on the rear. Down to 13kg now for just £150ish extra. £600 total for a bike like this seems like a steal. Wheelset next.

Performance wise - it loves being thrown around the trail centres. The Cafall trail at cwmcarn is almost a weekly event being local. It eats up the trail on the climbs and is equally good on fast descents feeling like my 26" full sus at times and almost as quick. The fork can just about cope with the rocky stuff incl 2 ft drops/jumps. I did have a fall recently but that was me going too fast rather than a bike issue. The bike is solid - didn't get a scratch. Same cant be said for me 🙁

Of the stock components i'd say the best are the brakes, bar/stem (both surprisingly lightweight) and the grips. The saddle and seatpost are quite heavy though so theres a cheap weight saving to be had there. The Ardents are grippy and have a high volume so can be run at lower pressures. At 775g they aren't 'too' heavy but theres certainly a weight saving to be had there also. Switching to the Ikon/RaRa combo gave a noticeable improvement in performance paticularly on the climbs and acceleration.

All in all - I dont think i've ever bought a bike and been so pleased with the price:performance ratio. I'll not be blowing thousands on full sussers anymore 🙂