hellooo – I’m after people’s opinions/advice. I’m looking to buy a new mtb but am getting seriously confused about what to get.

My budget is around £800 and having read various reviews etc it looks like I’m going to be better off with a h/t rather than a low specced full suss.

The majority of my riding will be on fire tracks/bits of singletrail – some technical bits but not overly technical unless I take it to a trail centre which I hope to do a few times a year.

I hate hate hate climbing, so need something that’ll be a bit forgiving on that otherwise I’ll get the rage.

I’m not a massively experienced rider (can you tell?!) but I do spend the rest of the days after I’ve been out riding grinning and would like to do more of that!

Specialized Rockhopper Series or Trek 6000 series, at that price point the big boys have got it dialed in.

Personally i really rate genesis for ‘entry level’ hardtails, id say just pick the best of those you can afford.

ie http://www.evanscycles.com/products/genesis/latitude-00-2012-mountain-bike-ec031861

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtb/ht_team.html

also have a look around on bike radar for recentish reviews at your price range and see what is getting good reviews

Thanks guys – yep the Boardman is on my list at £850 as I read good reviews in one of the mags. Am also open to buying second hand as this may be a way of getting a better specced bike perhaps.

http://www.whytebikes.com/2013/product.php?xProd=38&xSec=66

or if you’re willing to risk buying abroad:
http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2539

I was in a similar situation to you the other year and had a similar choice between the likes of the boardmans, Genesis, Cubes, Specialized, etc. I ended up going for a Merlin Malt 2 (http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/bikes/mountain-bikes/merlin-bikes/merlin-malt-2-bike.html Which basically had everything I wanted at the price I wanted.

Merlin are also awesome chaps to deal with.

Oh dear. Just seen that Merlin do road bikes as well and that their own label base model is cheap too. How much would the wife kill me if….

ooooh liking the canyons, and they do one in pretty colours – dammit – out of my price range. Yes, yes I’m such a girl, I know.

Spend a little bit more and buy one of these, they are awesome:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p3493

This seems great for £699.

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s2p3484

that GIANT XTC 2 for £699 looks great.

& get over your fear of climbing, if no climb then no downhill. You get used to the hills and welcome the challenge eventually.

buy a second hand dh bike. your allowed to push a dh bike up the hil. lol

I am about to advertise a basically immaculate Whyte E5 which would go for around £1000. It’s a little bit more than your budget, but it’s in fabulous condition and has XT gears, Hope brakes and hubs, Easton carbon bars and stem so it’s a lot of bike for the money.

I’m selling it for a friend who has only used it half a dozen times as he is very ill and now accepts he is too ill to use it. It’s a 17.5″ so will fit from 5’6 up to around 5’10.

if you’re local (ish) to me I’ll chuck in a free skills session or two as well.

Email in profile if interested.

ha ha ha – liking your thinking watsontony! But yeah, you’re right – I should get over the climbing thing.

Realllly liking the look of the giant anthem x4. Might have to hunt around the loft to see what I can sell on ebay to make up the price difference!

@cakelover – as we get towards the end of the summer there will be more clearance bargains. Shops may be getting a bit worried that 26 inch wheel bikes might not sell with the current trend (obsession ?) with 29ers. Do you have a decent LBS you can go into, I suspect you can get a decent deal done and it supports your local businesses, we can’t buy everything off the internet.

Your hatred of riding uphill will subside as you ride more, earn those turns as they say.

Another couple of hundred quid and you can get a Cube Reaction GTC – carbon flyer 🙂

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/a54438/reaction-pro-white-n-red-n-black.html?lg=en&cr=GBP

ok – so after today’s ride I think my hatred of hills is because of my current bike, realised it doesn’t quite change gears like it’s meant to so am probably running on half the gears that I should be.

Ideally I would like to get it from a local shop, we have a few around here so I think I’ll pop into them over the next couple of weeks and see what they’ve got. I did notice a lot of the 2013 bikes are coming out now so fingers crossed I might get a bargain.

Sounds like you just need to get your gears tuned properly 💡

Difficult to look past a Boardman if buying from the UK or could check out offerings from Canyon or Radon in Germany. Personally wouldn’t buy second hand, though not saying if you’re careful and know what you’re looking for a bargain couldn’t be found.

Don’t know your size but what about this (not my listing BTW):
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOARDMAN-MTB-PRO-2012-MEDIUM-18-/290761071558?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item43b2b5dbc6#ht_828wt_1398

@cakelover – could be a gear technique thing, for climbing what works for me is to ride most of the time in the front middle ring then when I get to a decent sized hill I change down at front and up at the back, if/when it gets too much it’s easy to change down at the back.

Why is no one suggesting an On-one?
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FBOOINX526/on_one_inbred_x5_26er_bike

heheh I like the name too!

@jambalaya – as soon as I hit hills I’m straight in the granny ring, unfortunately now when I try and change back out of it the chain keeps coming off and getting stuck. Perhaps I just need a new chain or get someone to look at my gears?

I’m 5’7″ – seems to vary between manufacturers as to what size to get, some are a small and some a medium.

I’m currently riding a 15.5″ frame which is probably a little on the small side for me but I’m kinda used to it.