My wife has decided that she may want a new bike.
We were going to save up for a few more years and get her an e-bike, but various other life projects keep getting in the way and her current mtb is on its last legs (2013 29er hardtail).
We probably will still end getting her an e-bike in the mid to longer term, but she’s decided to get a half decent but cheap ish full suss in the meantime. Budget is modest for new, but we’d prefer new for simplicity/ maybe finance and warranty etc and in fairness I’ve seen a few options.
Requirements:
budget £1500 max
0% finance a bonus but not a deal breaker
trail geometry and 120-140mm travel - all rounder
29er
size small men’s or medium women’s - she is 5ft 5-6 ish
Struggling to look past the Liv Emboldens for £1149 at Paul’s from my own research, but wondered if folks on here had seen any good deals that meet the above?
Cheers!
Boardman 8.8 £1215 at Halfords, the M/L might work as the numbers aren't huge but depends on fit preference.. 5'6 and up is their guide
Spesh Chisel FS?
See what RM Cycles in Kent have got.They often have some incredible deals.
Tredz have a nice ladies MTR in blue.
Have you checked Decathlon.Might be some good bargains there.
Marin Rift Zone 1 is £1499 everywhere at the minute. Not sure what the fairly budget X-Fusion fork/shock are like though but geometry looks pretty sorted.
Thanks for the suggestions, will check them all out in more detail.
Liv Emboldens for £1149 at Paul’s
They look lovely - very aligned to my wife's and daughter's favourite colour! But - emboldens are a flexpoint rear sus, so not a maestro system like 'proper' Giants. Depends on whether she wants the trail to come alive...
https://singletrackworld.com/advert/whyte-t130s/
Mrs NBT has one of these - hers is a 27.5 to be fair, so I suspect that will be too, but if the wheel size is not a killer then they're brilliant bikes. I have the T129 which IS a 29er
Sonder Cortex, there are/were some frames on ebay for £500 if you fancy a self build.
A few cheap,light strong kona hei hei's available out there as well.
Spesh Chisel FS?
I'd also have suggested this, but all the bargains are in the larger sizes, nothing small and near £1.5k out there.
I did look out for chisels as I’ve had plenty of Spesh bikes and never had a single issue with them, but as you said none in our budget in size small.
I also like the idea of the Whyte - but would need to be 29er (she prefers them, plus all our other bikes are 29 so makes sense).
She ruled out the Boardman - didn’t like the colour or the stand over (from the picture admittedly)
