Hi all looking for a bit of advice, been on the road for 25 yrs and have decided to give it up and venture into mtb’s been looking around and to say its confusing is an understatement! So I intend on riding at Leeds urban bike park and my local woods I’m not going to be throwing myself over massive jumps but wouldnt mind been able to go over some rougher terrain. So question is with about £1500 budget would you go hardtail/full suspension maybe second hand better spec? Help me I’m overwhelmed by it all!!!!

Not been there but if it’s mostly flow berms and jumps etc then a hardtail would be ok. Something with maybe 140mm travel forks and playful geometry (nothing too long and slack). It’ll be more fun to pump and rail corners on. There are literally loads of options out there for your budget.

If you plan to also ride anywhere bumpier / rockier etc then maybe go for a mid travel full suss. You’ll be more limited at £1500 for a fs option and it’ll be a good few pounds heavier than the hardtail. The Vitus Escarpe is just a little bit above your budget but a very capable bike for the price. Other than that I’d look for sale bargains at that price.

It’s difficult to advise from afar. I started off on a fairly cross country hardtail, and have moved on from there, not always successfully. If you go for a long travel, slack full susser for your first MTB, it’s likely to feel very alien. Are you in a club with a mountain bike section, or have mates that ride MTB? Maybe you could try and borrow a couple to try and see what you like. There is no one answer unfortunately, in fact there’s probably no hundred or thousand answers!

Probably a decent 29er hardtail
Have a look at Bird
I’d go for a zero 29 but they have a few different wheel size options in that price range

Leeds bike park looks great. Buy a sweet dirt jump hardtail. £1500 will get you something brilliant!

Ask about actual mtb on here and listen to the replies and you’ll be on a gravel bike within 6 months

Don’t listen to geex, he’s a nutter.

You’ll get a better hardtail for the money. You don’t necessarily need full suspension, it’s worse to ride if it’s not really rough. I’d suggest trying to demo some bikes.

Used Giant Anthem 29er. At your age you won’t be getting air, but will appreciate something a bit lighter with bigger wheels and a bit of squish. I think they are called XC bikes still and are race machines. The equivalent of comfort road bikes for the road. A 29 er HT would be A better value option too.

Thanks I’ve defo been drifting towards hardtail as they look a bit more of a challenge been looking at the Trek Roscoe and Orange crush any thoughts? also had the chance to pick up a 2009 stumpjumper in great condition for £300 but not sure about replacement parts with it being a 26.

How tall are you? 29ers are not all that playful for everyone and with a description of your intended use playful is more important than speed.

If he’s a roadie coming to MTB then he’s unlikely to want a ‘playful’ bike tbh. Just get something neutral and general purpose.

Don’t get a 26. They just aren’t as good!

Hardtails in general aren’t ‘more of a challenge’ they are just different. You can’t go as fast on really rocky stuff, but you can get down any trail more or less, you’ll just be going slower. FS can add speed if you are prepared to use it. If however you appreciate the pedalling dynamics of a bike, which many roadies do, then FS are compromised in this regard. For example, standing up to attack a short climb feels rubbish on an FS because it boings around – you learn to sit and spin which is less satisfying IMO. But I put up with that because I like the extra speed and climbing traction on rough stuff.

IMO if you have any road to ride on to get where you’re going, you’ll be better off with something shaped more like an XC race bike with angles that you’d consider more sensible coming from road.

Would tend to agree that XC biased bike maybe better but all depends. I like race bike geometry when riding a road bike but my MTB is fairly slack (66 degree) as I don’t want it to be close to road bike geometry and as for riding on tarmac I find that a few degrees in head angle makes no difference, it is the tyres (tread and weight) that make it harder work.

I’m a roadie coming over to MTB too! Not quite as many years under my belt as you, but I did take it all way too seriously!

Actually it was this time last year something in my head switched, I sold my TT bike and bought a hardtail!

One of the best things I’ve done! So much fun! I do still take the road bike out once/twice a week for a tear up. But have so much more fun dicking about on the MTB, away from the cars.

I had a budget of approx. £1k, partly as I didn’t want to commit too much, as I had never actually MTBd – as a kid I never did it, unlike most. I bought a Vitus Sentier VRS, it’s 27.5 (plus capable), slx etc. Nice.

I use the hardtail everywhere my mates take there full sussers. All the local stuff. Take it up the road to Tidworth. I’ve taken it away to Cwmcarn and Afan. I’m not into the jumps either! but happy with rough stuff, rocky descents, drops etc. Hardtail does it all, you just take a bit of beating. Although I will upgrade to a full suss in the next year probably.

I had a few mates that MTBd a bit. But I decided to join my local club also, and have learned a lot from them. Thoroughly recommend finding a local MTB club.

Yup if your , Leeds/Wakey way look up BadBrains mtb on facebook,Good bunch of folk apart from me😉

Used Giant Anthem 29er.

This.

I guess it depends on the motivation. If you just want traffic-free miles for fitness then your bike requirements are different to if you want to challenge yourself technically and stay on road for fitness.

If you’re a taller chap I think anthem 29er is a great shout.
Or…https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2553418/
Have a look on pink bike, there’s a nice Solaris, orange and a santa Cruz that all look amazing value.

Disagree on the 29ers not being playful statement… maybe 10 years ago, but things have moved on a lot.

My Hightower and my current Scott Spark RC are the most playful bikes I’ve ridden. I’d go as far as saying my Spark is the most playful one (even more so than my Intense Spider 275c).

A second hand Anthem sounds like a good start to me. Like a few people have mentioned, it depends on how you ride.

Starting out off road though, I think the Anthem would cover a lot of bases. Maybe a second hand Specialized Camber if you can find one?

After having a few hardtails, I always go back to full sus (just prefer them). Something like an XC race bike is just as efficient on smooth stuff too.

Lots to think about there thanks, I’m a member of a club so will ask around to see if there’s something to try. For the record 6ft & 45yrs, switch been made due to too many near misses and mate being involved in a serious accident. I do love the pedalling and getting the miles in. Going over to All terrain cycles to have a look next week but leaving my credit card at home 🙄

Ask about actual mtb on here and listen to the replies and you’ll be on a gravel bike within 6 months

100%!!! 🙂

I’d take some test rides then to see what you like.

Personally if I were you I’d probably avoid full on xc bikes – especially if you are looking to use it at a bike park. Equally if you go too long and slack you might find the handling very slow compared to a road bike.

Assuming you are avoiding full suspension you could have a look into this little list of hardtails as a starting point:

Sonder Transmitter
Orange Clockwork Evo
Vitus Sentier
Whyte 905
Bird Zero TR / Zero 29
Airdrop Bitmap
Cotic Soul (actually at the longer end of geo now)

I’ve listed mainly 650b as those are the ones I know about / considered, but don’t rule out 29er either.

My advice would be to get something cheap to start with and see if you like it – if you’ve not done too much mtb you don’t know if you’ll like it! Some weird people don’t after all!

I started with a cheap £300 hardtail (granted that was 8-10 years ago). A year later I was spending on something new and shiny, but I knew the style of riding I enjoyed and picked an appropriate bike for it. I’ve seen people buy bikes only to not get on with them and trade them in for a loss… Your budget is more than enough – for all the talk mtb doesn’t need to be expensive and, with all the changing standards, there’s some very good deals second hand these days… Don’t forget to budget for pads, unexpected repairs, etc.

Finally, lots of places will do big demo events where you get to try out all sorts of different bikes. They’re an excellent way of finding out what you like, and what suits you best.

If you can’t be arsed with all that I’d look for a hardtail with a 120-140mm fork. It will handle all the trails you do, with a shorter fork being more xc biased and longer fork more downhill biased.

Good luck and have fun!

Oh, and don’t forget that (as a basic rule) the more suspension travel a bike has the less interesting it is to ride on flatter trails. As an extreme example riding a full on downhill bike on a canal path is going to be pretty crap. Equally riding a xc bike on a full on downhill trail (as in lots of big challenging features and terrain) is going to be crap. Your bike should reflect your terrain and riding – if you aren’t going to be riding at mach chicken through big rocks and drops don’t be seduced by more travel… If you are going to be pottering around fairly take trails definitely go for something on the xc side of the spectrum…

(Or if you do intend on riding like an idiot like me than get more suspension…)

Sorry – tame trails…

I ride both rooad and mtb as do most on here .
I thing you should buy a quality used carbon XC bike.
Coming from a road based background I think the lack of speed V effort will leave you disappointed if you ride a ‘trail’ or ‘all mountain’ Full Suss bike.
Modern short travel 29ers with suspension lock out are fast and efficient. Light but also strong enough to deal with anything you will throw at them
Either HT or Fs would work for you, but a quality Carbon HT with a good set of tubeless wheels/ tyres will see you right. Trek Superfly or Scott Scale come to mind.
Or for a few more £££ SC Tallboy, Anthem, Scapel , Pivot Mach429 or Spark even. all great bikes and very quick across the ground

I think a sensible 29wr hardtail to start with as you’ll learn more quicky about line choice and traction. Also better value and more akin to a road bike (bit more fun) .

Giant xtc?

Editted, poor suggestion.

Fellow roadie and mtber here.
My opinion is that it depends where you’re going to be riding. My all mountain 130mm travel full fus is great for north wales, but its mind numbingly boring around places like Thetford where it is too “pedally”.
I had a 100mm XC Hardtail when I first started mountain biking and quickly learned it wasn’t great for any rocky trails.
I’d agree with slim boy Jim, go cheap and second hand to begin with, then decide what riding you enjoy before splashing out.

Just to add again I wouldn’t go for an xc orientated Carbon hardtail as a first bike – that won’t be as much fun at Leeds bike park / mucking about in the local woods as something more middle of the road and trail orientated.

Secondhand isn’t a bad idea if you are ok to check a bike over – I’d still try to get 650b / 29er wheels rather than 26er though as decent tyres are getting more difficult to get for 26” for a decent price.

You’d probably pick up a Vitus Sentier which is in my list above for a good price secondhand and I’d imagine quite a lot of them were sold. Orange clockwork 137 might be do-able for a good price too if you look around.

My hardtail has 140mm travel forks and modern but not slack geometry (66 degree headangle / about 450mm reach on a medium / 425mm chainstays / low stndover height) so it’s efficient to pedal round a trail centre but it’s great fun at bike parks and pump tracks and just messing around on.