Mountain Bikes

[subucni]

If I remember correctly the Carrera Fury is on special offer at the moment for around £250 and that is an excellent bike, with a full deore groupset.

if this is true, it's certainly worth checking out, the groupset was the first things i looked at when i looked at your choices from evans and they weren't that great. in my opinion the groupset on cheap low end bikes is the most important thing!! skimp on the groupset and you'll be forever slipping gears, and the groupset is one of the hardest things to upgrade later on as you often have to upgrade more than one thing at the same time to make it all match (i.e if your chain is slipping on your rear cassette because it's worn and you buy a new one, you "should" buy a new chain too as it may have stretch causing some of the problems too etc....) I haven't actively read a bike mag in ages but i'm sure alivio/acera groupsets are still going to be complete carp, i'd look for deore or deore lx as a minimum (but not likely to get that on a 2004 model that cheap) so i'd really look into buying an older model.

Tips:

Buy old models

Get a good groupset (If buying old, go Deore, LX, XT, XTR all good if you can get them)

Definitely take a test ride if possible

If you're buying from a local bike shop, make sure they are well established, in my experience they tend to pop up and disappear again all to often (usually leaving me with no easy warranty back up)

Good, well respected brands : GT, Specialized, Kona, Orange, Giant, Marin (you may even be able to pick up the first version of the old B-17 for £250 now, awesome allround full sus bike. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ayphotohosting nice and cheap but probably overkill for what you want to do with it) and Personally i wouldn't go near Cannondale, i know to many people to have had problems with them and their stupid head tubes.

If you buy from one of those brands, you wont have to worry too much about frame quality as they will all be top notch, and if you're only doing the riding you've mentioned they should all be covered by warranty anyway if you find a crack.

Don't even think about disc brakes, they'll only be cable operated ones at that price and work worse than a set v brakes.

Do you really think you need suspension forks right away? if you're only riding fire roads they might not be essential but more of a luxury. Maybe you could save a bit of money for other components by going rigid and making them your first upgrade later down the line. Plus any sus forks on a bike at £250 could be more hassle then they are worth

Get a splined bottom bracket if you can, could save you a lot of money by not chewing up cranks, again another groupset component that needs both parts upgrading to prevent the same problem happening again.

Can't think of anymore right now

:edit:

Make sure your spokes and wheels are pre-stressed if you are buying brand new, nothing worse than buying a new bike only to have to take it back for a service 2 weeks later because the spokes have stretched a little and the wheels are falling apart.

I think i'm gonna have to get my bike out later for a ride, i wish i lived within riding distance of work. Damn! i ride a DH KHS, may post a pic later.

[0iD]

For £250 - stick with a hardtail, i.e front suspension only. Full sus is heavy rubbish for anything under £500 IMHO.
Butuz

Sound advice imo. buy the best quality you can afford, my old Sintessi Thruster frame has lasted me for years now & regularly makes trips to the US.

Use a Litespeed singlespeed for day-to-day riding, sold my Foes last year cos I couldnt use it enough Not much DH action in East Anglia.

[Rave]

I ride cross country so I have a set of deore hubs with Mavic X517 rims laced with DT Revolutions spokes and standard brass nipples. This is a light but strong wheel set and has been very reliable. Also important is finding a good wheel builder. I got mine from a company called merlin cyles do a google for them, based in Lancs I think.

Hey snap, except I have XT hubs. Fitting a £100 pair of wheels to a £250 bike would be a bit nuts but it'd probably be money well spent....light wheels absolutely rock.

Rich :¬)