Best Value Hardtails

Anyone one seen anything recently that they feel represents excellent value?

I’ll kick off with On One Scandal and Vitus Sentier vr.

Having been looking for a while they certainly seem to be. The Saracen Mantra Trail LSL looks good to but short on stock.

On One / Planet X knocked £200 off (making them £1500) the Hello Dave a month or so back and were fairly quick delivery times which prompted me to buy one. They are back to £1700 again and 90 days delivery now but I feel mine was really good value.

The Ti version of Hello Dave looks really good value.

Value to me depends on getting the best bang for your buck at a certain pricepoint.
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes/mountain-bikes/forme-curbar-1-hardtail-mountain-bike-2022-greyorange__9380
Deore 10 speed drivetrain (other than chainset) for under £700
Trek do some great Hardtails for less than £800 such as the Xcaliber 7, Rockshox fork, Deore Drivetrain and a nice frame.

i believe the Ragley Big Al 1.0 is pretty good value. £1400 gets you modern geo, Deore 11 speed drivetrain and brakes, a dropper and a Bomber Z2 fork. Oh and proper tyres (Maxxis).

I bought one and havent felt the need to change or upgrade anything (although i have changed the rear wheel, as i ripped a spoke out and ruined the rim).

Sonder Signal ST with Sram 12 speed SX for £1300 or the 12 speed Deore version for £1500

Both availible from March/April

Signal St SX Eagle

Signal St Deore

Very happy with my custom built one (SLX 12 speed, Hope E4’s, Pike’s, DT Swiss EX1501 wheels)

The Ragley Big Al looks very good. Shame they are not in stock. Hopefully their 2022 bike will be out soon and just as good.

Sonder signal St is a nice frame but the sx kit and recon fork would put me off. I’d want the slx and rev.

I have a Production Privee Oka frame that I am just about to sell …

Stif squatch is pretty “good value” considering the overall parts spec

Canyon stoich ( think that is what it is called)

Stoic – yes very good value but bot actually available until Summer in most sizes

I bought a Scandal just over a year ago, £1000 on 10 months 0%.

Really please with it, but as per the Sonder further up mine is now rocking enough bits on it to have doubled the original price. But still good value IMO.

Stif Squatch is a beautiful bike, I’m just put off by the really low bb. I wish they’d do a new Morf.

Stif Squatch, I have one on order, hopefully ready soon, not cheap but good value for money when you look at the specification.

On One Vandal. Ti gnarly hardtail for just over 1000£ at the time. Added a dropper and xc wheelset for 200£ and I’m living the trail/xc bike dream 😉

mattslegg

The Ti version of Hello Dave looks really good value.

The Ti Dave (Loco Moto) is a great bike – love mine.

Pretty happy with my Sentier 27VR, half decent fork, 11sp, dropper and decent tyres. Only thing I’ve felt the need to upgrade is the brakes.

Pretty happy with my Sentier 27VR, half decent fork, 11sp, dropper and decent tyres. Only thing I’ve felt the need to upgrade is the brakes.

I don’t have one, but that’s the sort of thing I’d be looking at. I think the Boardman range are probably the best value for entry level bikes.

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/boardman-mht-8.6-mens-mountain-bike-2021—grey—s-m-l-frames-365918.html

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/boardman-mtr-8.8-mens-mountain-bike-2021—s-m-l-xl-frames-371014.html

Merida Big Trail 600 when you can get one

Orbea Laufey H10 – Got one a couple of weeks ago, price matched which made it £1500. Mix of Deore/SLX and a Bomber Z2 fork. As my first 29er, it absolutely flies!

Took it to Cannock last weekend and it was very impressive, I’d not been for nearly 2 years and it was a real hoot around the dog/monkey.

The Bird Zero AM looks like great value for money https://www.bird.bike/product/zero-am-shimano-11-speed/#configuration
Completely customised so you can build to whatever budget you have

Stif Squatch is a beautiful bike, I’m just put off by the really low bb. I wish they’d do a new Morf.

It is low but I’ve not really felt it’s been an issue. My FS has a pretty low BB too though so might just be what I’m used to. Rode it for a bit with 175mm cranks, was a bit more likely to pedal strike but still totally rideable. Was much better value a few months ago too!!

Yup, was also concerned that the low BB would be an issue on the Squatch but it just feels fantastic. Best cornering bike I’ve ever had, and super compliant.

Voodoo bizango 2022. Its really quite good

My Shand 🙂  Ok its expensive but its also damn good value as it will last eleventy billion years being made of good quality metals with all parts infinitely repairable / rebuildable

Keep your eye on sunset bikes. It’s about this time of year that you can get a great price on last year’s stock. I got my orange p7 s for £900 3 years ago. Bloody bargain!

Sentier geo is a bit more modern, I sat on a Boardman and it wasn’t as good.

Bird AM Zero (the frame at least).

Needed a new frame when all the spendier ones were out of stock (Pace, Orange, Stanton..), chanced my arm on the Bird, thought It’ll do for now. No intention of changing now.

Edit – Just had a check. The Bird cost more than a Pace (dont remember that being true) . Lol. Anyway, I like it.

Vitus Sentier (£1199.99) is definitely up there for value. Vitus are updating the spec for 2022, but I don’t think they can really improve much on the existing value for money. A base-spec Pike fork would be amazing if they got a bulk deal on a SRAM drivetrain/suspension combo.
https://vitusbikes.com/pages/vitus-2022-update

The only drawbacks with the Sentier are the now slightly older geometry. The Ragley Big AL 1.0 (£1399.99) has a better frame and parts, but also costs £200 more.

Another, much more involved option, would be to buy a Sentier and then transplant it to a Stif Squatch frame, and sell the Sentier frame. Would cost an extra £350+ after swapping it all about and selling old frame, but you’d get a great frame and parts for it.
Stif Squatch Frame

Just had a check. The Bird cost more than a Pace (dont remember that being true) . Lol. Anyway, I like it.

IIRC the headline price for Paces now is Ex VAT

In true STW style, wot I got!

Ragley Marley 1.0, Bomber Z2s, 11spd Deore, Brand-X dropper, Nukeproof wheelset and Maxxis tyres.

Was just what I wanted, a solid, workman-like spec with no corners cut.

I paid £1500 for mine but I think they’re back down to £1400 now.

Orbea Laufey H10 – Got one a couple of weeks ago, price matched which made it £1500. Mix of Deore/SLX and a Bomber Z2 fork. As my first 29er, it absolutely flies!

@domtrax Glad to hear you’re happy with it – and were actually able to buy one! I’ve had one on order with Epic Cycles since mid-August and it still hasn’t arrived from Spain yet. I’d have liked to ordered locally as LBS only a few miles away is an Orbea dealer but he can’t get stock; he placed an order for 400 Orbea bikes for the 2021-2022 season and was told he’d get 35…

Great feedback on here lads, keep it coming.

I’m loving the look of Ragley big Al and also the Stif Squatch frame with a Vitus Sentier as a parts donor.

I’ve done that exact Sentier -> Squatch swap myself before.
The Squatch frame fixes all the frame geo issues with the Sentier.

Downsides are the frame cost, and you’ll need to press in a new headset and squatch takes a 30.9mm dropper, but Sentier comes with a 31.6mm. So you’ll either need to shim, or sell it on like-new and buy another 30.9mm. It does take a fully slammed 200mm dropper though.

You would also need to budget for some new cables and brake lines.

i believe the Ragley Big Al 1.0 is pretty good value. £1400 gets you modern geo, Deore 11 speed drivetrain and brakes, a dropper and a Bomber Z2 fork

The Ragley Big Al looks very good. Shame they are not in stock. Hopefully their 2022 bike will be out soon and just as good.

I picked up a frame only and moved parts across so it ended up a fairly high end build with Pikes, DT 1501 wheel set and mostly XO SRAM. For £350 it really is a bargain – welds are basic but functional (the cross brace on the seatstays looks slightly skwiff on mine but its just cosmetic), bolt on guides are nicely done, metal head tube badge and eye catching paint job. Geometry is modern without being too radical. Long rather than super long chain stays, sensible reach, seat tube not too steep so it rides well on the flat rather than just being a winch and plummet bike. Delighted with it. Light too – the steel version is a few hundred £ more and nearly a kilo heavier (IIRC)

One of these as a cheap complete build off the shelf would be a great buy and more than worthy of upgrading parts over time.

As TJagain says. What do you class as value? If you buy a Shane and Curtis and ride it regularly for 5-10 years then it was good value. If you buy a cheap On-One and ride it twice the. It wasn’t very good value no matter the price.

It all depends on how you define ‘value’. As there is a difference between Value and cost.

What sort of budget are you looking at? How much will you ride it? What are you planning on riding, everything, bimbles, XC?

I’ve got a Vitus Sentier 29. Very happy with it, spec seemed good for the money. Been riding xc/trail stuff and it’s been great. Even rode it at Exeter bike park last weekend which was very good fun 🙂

Keep your eye on sunset bikes. It’s about this time of year that you can get a great price on last year’s stock. I got my orange p7 s for £900 3 years ago. Bloody bargain!

Doubt they’ll be doing any discounts this year, they’re having a real struggle to get enough stock for long enough to keep anything on display in their showroom!

As TJagain says. What do you class as value?

Quite. When I bought my Sonder Transmitter frame it was £300 and a bargain at that price because it rides far, far better than it has any right to. It’s now £100 more and still arguably ‘good value’ for the same reason, but slightly less ‘good value’ than before.

I honestly have no idea if the full builds represent value or not because I generally buy a frame and add bits old and new.

If you’re comparing build kits, then things get more complex. Personally I don’t really care about drivetrains as long as they’re functional, but decent suspension components and wheels that don’t weigh a ton and/or self destruct are important and make far more difference to ride feel. I’d rather have, say, a Pike up front and a Deore drive set-up and brakes than a budget fork an XT or XTR let alone some SRAM drivetrain with a £300 20-speed, dinner plate cassette. When’s the last time you thought your cranks were lacking?

Anyway, ‘value’ is basically a moving target and relative to performance, durability and expectation as much as RRP. What might be value for one person could be extravagance to someone else and vice versa.