I've asked before but… £500 for a bike for a mate

Not sure what happened to the post. Might have been pre-site rebuild. Anyway mate wants to get back into MTBing. Has £500 max, wants 18in, discs, hardtail, general trail bike. Longer TT preferred.

Giant seem to have some nice bikes but with RS Dart forks. Seem to remember they were quite horrid. Genesis 00 looks very nice indeed but again not sure what Suntour forks are like now.

Didn't see anything from Trek/GF that I really thought suited.

Any quick suggestions for me to google. Ta.

Oh doesn't want 2nd hand.

How tall is he?

16" on-one here for £475 – http://www.on-one-shop.co.uk/acatalog/info_A38.html?height=500&width=600

Hmm he's just under six foot and has an old 18in cannondale that's a bit short in the TT. Saw this http://www.evanscycles.com/products/genesis/altitude-00-2009-mountain-bike-ec017154?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle which looked a stonking deal.

Little more than he wanted to pay but great components and a nice frame.

it looks like they only have a large but 500 quid uber bargain!

http://www.realcycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b58s2p1563

Wiggle have a Kona Cinder Cone for about £510 or thereabouts

Easy
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/giant-xtc-3-item127576.html

Reduced from £750 to £550 and it is super. My mate has had his for 6 months and rode it at Mountain Mayhem with no issues!

Both those last 2 look great. Kimbers – that's a bit big but thanks.

How light is the commencel? The Giant is under 30 lbs.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_273339_langId_-1_categoryId_165499

You said general trail bike, that could mean different things but if he's after something less outright XC than the XTC, etc, this is basically impossible to beat at this price. Other than the name on the frame of course! But it's a proper bike at a silly price, works really well, spec is ridiculous too (there's some errors in the details speclist though). Bit heavier than the 100mm crowd of course because of the stronger build so not as good a pure xc bike.

Good forks.

edinburgh bike co op seem really good value at this sort of price point

Agree wholeheartedly with Northwind. Great bike, I tarted one up as my pub-bike but it is now the only bike of my collection I would not part with! £40 trip to the powder coaters and brand snops will not snear either.

Try here