FS bike recommendations- that can be had for around £400

My son is after a bike to ‘get into mountainbiking’ again

He’s never ridden anything other than 26 inch wheels and has had a few hardtails such as scandal and prince albert when I was trying to get him into when he was around 14 or so( hes now 18)

My initial thoughts are stick with 26 inch wheels to keep price down and thoughts are currently leaning towards Cannondale Prophet or heckler as they are single pivot

Any other ideas or violent diagreements with my thinking?

He’s 5ft 10 so probably looking for a medium prophet and closer to large on a heckler?

Any help offers of great deals gratefully accepted!

2nd hand Giant Trance worth keeping an eye out for

At that price point (for full bike) I’d be looking for something based on condition and fit above a particular model.

Look for something that has been well looked after and isn’t trashed, and that you cna go an inspect in person.

Obviously a multi pivot bike will be more expensive to sort IF it needs bearings, but look at condition now over other factors as a bike needing a new Drivetrain/pads/cables/BB/Fork etc. can be costly regardless of how many pivot bearings it has.

You should be able to pick up something decent thoguh, last year my Wife snapped up a Canyon Nerve XC with and XT/SLX drivetrain mix and Recon for £450, only needed new brake pads and tyres. Managed to get 12months out of it before having to do bearings, and now it’s good for another year or two, great bike for the money but she wasn’t specifically looking for a Canyon.

2nd hand Giant Trance worth keeping an eye out for

That’s what I was gonna say – very reliable frames and light at that price.