Various things, moving house to the middle of loads of trails, needing an emergency commute bike, wanting to ride with 2 wheeled riders means I could really do with a 2 wheeled mountain bike. A bit skint though, so I'm looking at spending <£300, preferably around £200, or any less is better.

For that money, I know I want a hardtail. I'm 5 foot 9 and a bit. For general cross country riding, nothing too crazy. I live in Belper in Derbyshire, which is quite hilly, so I want gears.

If it had disc brakes, or at least disc compatible hubs, that'd be a nice bonus, but obviously not the end of the world if it is going to mean the rest of the bike is a dog, or going to fall apart quickly. From my point of view cable discs are better than hydraulics (I hate maintaining my maguras).

Oh also, I might want to tow a trailer with it so anything that makes that hassle is a problem, but I'm guessing modern trailers are fine on most bikes?

What would you buy? Something new, or something second hand?

What size am I likely to need (at 5 foot 9ish)?

Feel welcome to advertise stuff you have, or point me at things in classifieds (I don't really have an idea of what is a good deal or not).

I've seen the Decathlon one for £300, which gets very good reviews and seems to fit the bill, although obviously it is at the top of my price range, and I imagine I could get better 2nd hand?

cheers,

Joe

Halfords have got an MTB in the sale at the moment for 300 quid ish with hydraulic disc brakes / rockshox suspension etc.. can't remember the name. carrera something…

wanting to ride with 2 wheeled riders means I could really do with a 2 wheeled mountain bike.

is there a side to cycling i havent heard about, i feel i may be missing out on offroad trike action?

how much of a hurry are you in?
if youve got time, you could build a pretty tasty classifieds bike up for 300 quid, i reckon.

i would see if i could get a rigid fork, to keep weight, maintenence and cost down.

you get more bike for your money second hand, and at 300 quid, a new bike will probably be of the level that if you ride it more than casually, within 2 years everything bar the frame will have needed replacing.

i would get on the classifieds, and either find a whole bike, or if i had the time:

an on-one rigid fork and frame set:
basic LX level groupset
some boring but reliable cartridge bearing wheels.

V brakes are dirt cheap, so are "adequate" until you feel up to splashing a bit more cash on some avid BB5s or 7s

i would use conti travel contact tyres, for mainly road use, but "acceptable" light offroad capability

What olly said.
Stay away from decathlon, the SO got one for Xmas 2 years ago and it's an absolute piece of shite…

is there a side to cycling i havent heard about, i feel i may be missing out on offroad trike action?

Been one wheeled off road for the last 8 years now.

Halfords have got an MTB in the sale at the moment for 300 quid ish with hydraulic disc brakes / rockshox suspension etc.. can't remember the name. carrera something…

This one?

How much of a hurry are you in?
if youve got time, you could build a pretty tasty classifieds bike up for 300 quid, i reckon.

I'm almost tempted, but I think I'd have a nightmare building up a new bike – it somehow took me almost 2 hours to fit a new front derailleur the other day.

Joe

think of it as a project then joe, also was good to take up a challenge.

you COULD, buy an on one slot dropout scandal frame, which accepts both gears and singlspeed.

then build it up as Cheap as humanly possible to start with, so it rolls and gets you to work, then add bits as you go along….
i think there is a build option there on one, cheap rolling stock, with the idea of upgrading over time….

Stay away from decathlon, the SO got one for Xmas 2 years ago and it's an absolute piece of shite…

gf has got one of these (except 08 version) and it's really quite fantastic!

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/rockrider-5-2-black-34963795/

I'd go with something like this and when time and money are right, start upgrading the wheels and brakes to disc – the frame and fork are ready.

although if you can get to a halfords, that deal above is killer!

you COULD, buy an on one slot dropout scandal frame, which accepts both gears and singlspeed.

Blimey, I reckon £200 for the frame, before I've even considered getting a pair of forks, wheels etc. is probably going to blow my budget well out of the water, even buying 2nd hand? To be honest, I probably haven't got the time to do a build, given how slow I am at fettling bikes.

There's no point having a singlespeed, I think I do need gears, I mean even as an emergency commuter (only in case my proper road going bike breaks down again, or I do the offroad commute – the primary purpose is for riding offroad) it'd be a pain – there's 1000 ft of climbing on my commute, and imagine towing a loaded trailer up a 15-20% incline (the road next to mine, on the way to quite a few places is that steep) on a singlespeed. Ouch.

Joe

Carrera Vulcan Disc is going for £300 @ hafrauds at the moment, m8 just bought one as a starter bike, pretty good value & a pretty good solid mtb.
Can't see any significant changes between it (admittely only had a glance) and the Vengeance linked to above for that extra £70.

Carrera Vulcan Disc is going for £300 @ hafrauds at the moment, m8 just bought one as a starter bike, pretty good value & a pretty good solid mtb.

The Vulcan disc is £279 at the moment. We've got two of them in our house, and they are reasonable bikes, if a little heavy, and the frame is good enough to make it worth upgrading the components when they wear out. The cable disks do work, but need a bit more tlc than hydraulics – which I think are the major upgrade on the Vengeance. You could lose a couple of pounds and make it way more responsive just by swapping the tyres for something sensible.
[edit] Whoa! – just noticed that the Vengeance is now £299 – you won't do better unless you go secondhand. Buy it.[/edit]

Oh, and respect to the only man ever to attempt Mayhem solo on a unicycle. I am not worthy 🙂

buy something with cable disks and bin them straight away if you don't like maintenance!

They never get hot enough to bed in properly, then they wear down at an apreciable rate so you have to tweak the pad clearances a couple of times in an all day ride, then on the last decent of the day the accumulated crap sucked into the cables means you cant enjoy it as to all they do is alternate between dragging and innefective when you squeeze them.

Cheep hydros go for £40-£50 in the classifides, and you could probably sell the old rotors for £10 a pop!

I had a similar budget and brought a Carrera Vengeance last week. Been happy with it so far on my 14 mile commute, brakes are good, weight is not to bad, forks are pants but I expected that, I'd recommend it.

Oh, and respect to the only man ever to attempt Mayhem solo on a unicycle. I am not worthy

Awesome. 😯