A friend is looking for a Hardtail trail bike for £500-650 new or secondhand. Has anyone seen any good deals?

He lives in the Cotswolds and is a good rider. The right sort of bike would be good for covering the miles on night rides but also capable of Welsh trail centres. Small frame, decent fork and gears, not too heavy, 27.5″ wheels.

Has anyone spotted or has a good candidate?

I have been eyeing up Giant Fathoms, look nice. The Bizango was a great riding bike when I had mine too

Calibre line 10 from go outdoors is £650 now. looks a good spec for the price

Bizango

Bizango is a 29er. Can’t remember what the 27.5″ equivalent is called but it had a good writeup in MBUK a few months back, won the grouptest. Think it was about £400.

Remembered, it’s the voodoo hoodoo.

I’ve got a Whyte 901 for similar in a similar part of the country. Cracking bike. Happy with longer days but also an absolute corker when gravity takes over.
The newer versions have way more clearance as well, which is my main beef with it.

The Voodoo’s seem to come up a lot. That was my friends starting point. I was a bit underwhelmed by spec, especially the fork but probably need to remember the pricetag.

Whyte’s look really good to me and probably achievable a 2nd hand prices.

If you’re looking for a true ‘trail’ hardtail to do just about everything, my Dialled Alpine is still for sale at around that price. With a shorter stem down from 70 to 50mm, it would probably suit from about 5’5″ to 5’10”.
Although it’s 26″, with 2.5 tyres the difference is negligible to a 27.5 with 2.2s.
Reynolds 853 steel, coil fork and good kit across the board. The frame is officially a 17.5 and is compact. Currently on Ebay.

Yes, check out the Calibre Line 10. Great reviews on YouTube etc and currently £650. Probably no better new bike at that price. Considering one myself!!

Second hand has to be the way at this price in my view.

E.g.

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2353812/

Yes, I bought a 2016 Genesis High Latitude for about that. It’s a 29er steel job and weighs 29lb tubeless – a couple of pounds less than my 2014 Anthem.

Fwiw: coming from a history of cheap hardtails a move to a Kona Shred seemed like massive step up. I’ll replace the forks because they’re soft and heavy but the geometry is good for me (6’6″) and I’ve had a lpt of fun on it.