Looking for a new mountain bike

[Rob_B]

I've been wanting to get a bike for pootling around for a while now. I've started to look at cheapy ones but am lost with what to buy.

I was thinking of looking locally for a second hand one to get a better bike for my money but I'm not even sure whats brands are decent anymore, looking around it seems like Muddyfox/Claud Butler now sell some cheapo rubbish so when did that change?!

So as for specs/budget...

My budget is probably about £150-£200, tiny I know but this is it unfortunately!
Mens frame, no rear suspension required, disc bakes a bonus (hate faffing with brake blocks!) other than that I'm open to suggestion. If, for my budget I can't get anything decent & might as well just buy a cheapy one to thrash then that's also helpful advice!

All help appreciated!

Rob

[herulach]

actually offroad? or just bumbling on? If its just bumbling, you don't need suspension at all.

[Rob_B]

Bit of offroad, will be cycling along the coastal path nearby for a bit of exercise (at least that's the plan)

[DannyM]

I know it's above budget a bit, but I saw this on HUKD a bit back, I had a GT bike and it was good quality and nice to ride.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/gt-timberline-20-29er-2013/

[Rob_B]

Cheers for that, £200 is the very max for me though I'm afraid. There is a GT for sale locally for £175 though but I thought that was a little over priced for the condition/model

[scaryjim]

One worry about buying second hand bikes nowadays - certainly for me - is that it'd be very hard to know for sure whether they were stolen or not (I lost five bikes to theives over the summer).

If it really is just a bike for bimbling around on have a look in Halfords - last time I was they were doing a full-suspension MTB for £150*. And lets be honest, a cheap bike is pretty much a cheap bike - you might find something decent in good nick second hand that you can be pretty sure hasn't been half-inched, but then you just risk making yourself a target for thieves.

*Scratch that, cheapest Halford full suspension is now £89 (I kid you not) - £150 will get you a hard-tail with disks. Scarily cheap prices, but tbh I don't see how you can go far wrong with them...!

[santa claus]

*Scratch that, cheapest Halford full suspension is now £89 (I kid you not) - £150 will get you a hard-tail with disks. Scarily cheap prices, but tbh I don't see how you can go far wrong with them...!

Given the intended use that £150 Halfords bike doesn't look half bad. It looks too nice and shiny though and needs a good kicking to bed it in

[scaryjim]

Yeah, for general commute plus light off-road it looks very good for the price. That said, I'm not a huge fan of grip-shift, personally. Then again, I'm not a huge fan of moutain bikes, so it might not be worth listening to me too much

I wish they did a road bike for a similar price. Seems you can't buy anything roadish for less than £200 anywhere Is it really that much to ask for an affordable steel framed basic road bike?

[Dooms]

I wish they did a road bike for a similar price. Seems you can't buy anything roadish for less than £200 anywhere Is it really that much to ask for an affordable steel framed basic road bike?

£200 does seem too low for a roadbike these days but Decathlon do a great £300 one (even wtih Carbon fork!):
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-...d_8274036.html

[Terbinator]

I wish they did a road bike for a similar price. Seems you can't buy anything roadish for less than £200 anywhere Is it really that much to ask for an affordable steel framed basic road bike?

Hipster inflation. I looked everywhere over the summer for a road bike and even on Ebay basic ones were coming in at £170.

[scaryjim]

I've just found one at sports direct for £130. Like everything about it except the gear levers. Replacing the brake levers and gear levers with even cheap integrateds would cost at least £70. Grrrrr.

[herulach]

If you can stand the god awful frame then the btwin original 3 is a decent deal at 199, includes a rack, full guards and dynamo lights for that money. My mum has one thats 7 years old now (4 years as my sisters commuting 20miles/day) and its been fine with nothing more than a new set of brake blocks.

[Rob_B]

btwin?

Thanks for suggestions so far, I'm not swayed either way yet.

Another Q - Are el cheapo disc brakes actually any good?

[herulach]

Sorry, decathlon own brand. Probably only useful if you're near one. Cheap cable discs are ime as much faf as rim ones. They tend to be single sided so you're still always adjusting to account for pad wear.

[santa claus]

That said, I'm not a huge fan of grip-shift, personally.
I wish they did a road bike for a similar price.

Agreed and agreed. Also, in addition to my ATB I wouldn't be without my steel-framed vintage road bike

[Rob_B]

Still looking for a bike, the belowlook ok as nothing 2nd hand locally yet

A few questions - Whats the deal with '29er' bikes? What benefit is 29" wheels? Also how are the jump bike frames, I only need an 18"-20" frame but they are about 14", comfortable to ride sitting down or not really designed for that?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_762375_langId_-1_categoryId_165499?_$ja=kw:skimlinks_phg|tsid:40392&cm_mmc=Affiliates-_-PerformanceHorizon-_-skimlinks_phg-_-TopLink#tab2

http://www.sportsdirect.com/bigfoot-...in-bike-932241

http://www.sportsdirect.com/silver-f...er-bike-932152