Where is the best place to get a mountain bike?

[skodagirl1985]

I'm looking to by a men's Mountain Bike as a Christmas Present. Just want a basic bike for no more than £100.

Can anyone advise of the best places to go or look on line? Had a look at the usual sort a places like Halfords, Argos etc.

Any surggestions would be great.

[expostmanpat]

Toys r us usually do a bike round this time for £89.99 or similar, Tend to have attention line bits on them but pretty poor quality but then they all will be in this price bracket tbh.

Search Results - Toys R Us - Britain's greatest toy store

The kinetic jobby

Or for better quality but less features (in that price range) try MOUNTAIN BIKES

Had a couple of bikes from them and no problems.

Edited 22 November, 2008 by postmanpat

[Blade404]

Or try your local bike shop(s) as they'll be able to offer better pre and after-sales etc than that of Argos or Toys R Us.

[piv34uk]

Just got my son one from Argos, Silverfox Black, 21 speed with front/rear disc brakes...£129 but had a £10 off voucher

Nice

Phil

Edited 22 November, 2008 by piv34uk

[pete8tch]

should be a range available really ..lol

[richie]

Going back to the title, try Snowdonia or The Lake District or The Brecon Beacons or The Alps or The Cairngorms.......................... :P

Or failing that, Google is quite helpfull

[Interphase]

If you get one from Halfords, get it checked yourself before you let anyone ride it. I got a great deal on a very well specced Carrera Kraken a couple of years back (fantastic biek for the money) but I had to strip it down and rebuild it before it I trusted it. I know there are some brilliant bike techs at certain branches, but there are a lot of kingsize military grade muppets too.

What I would recommend it so avoid suspension at that price. You can't even get a decent pair of suspended forks for that money, so anything springy and claiming to be suspension is likely to be very dangerous. The extra bracing on fully suspended bikes will weigh a ton too.

What sort of usage (terrain etc) is it likely to have?

[richie]

If you get one from Halfords, get it checked yourself before you let anyone ride it. I got a great deal on a very well specced Carrera Kraken a couple of years back (fantastic biek for the money) but I had to strip it down and rebuild it before it I trusted it. I know there are some brilliant bike techs at certain branches, but there are a lot of kingsize military grade muppets too.

What I would recommend it so avoid suspension at that price. You can't even get a decent pair of suspended forks for that money, so anything springy and claiming to be suspension is likely to be very dangerous. The extra bracing on fully suspended bikes will weigh a ton too.

What sort of usage (terrain etc) is it likely to have?

Mountains................

[skodagirl1985]

Going back to the title, try Snowdonia or The Lake District or The Brecon Beacons or The Alps or The Cairngorms.......................... :P

Or failing that, Google is quite helpfull

Lol:rofl: Never noticed the title till Skodaboy pointed it out.

[skodagirl1985]

If you get one from Halfords, get it checked yourself before you let anyone ride it. I got a great deal on a very well specced Carrera Kraken a couple of years back (fantastic biek for the money) but I had to strip it down and rebuild it before it I trusted it. I know there are some brilliant bike techs at certain branches, but there are a lot of kingsize military grade muppets too.

What I would recommend it so avoid suspension at that price. You can't even get a decent pair of suspended forks for that money, so anything springy and claiming to be suspension is likely to be very dangerous. The extra bracing on fully suspended bikes will weigh a ton too.

What sort of usage (terrain etc) is it likely to have?

Thanks for the advice here was looking at one with surspension for about £70 on a website. Will stay clear.

The bike will mainly be used for cycle path and on the road i think. Possible for getting to work in better weather comes in.

[andy2407]

Going back to the title, try Snowdonia or The Lake District or The Brecon Beacons or The Alps or The Cairngorms.......................... :P

Thanks - glad someone else was thinking what I was thinking!

[pete8tch]

should be a range available really ..lol

this was too subtle then ?

[andy2407]

this was too subtle then ?

For a Sunday morning - YES!!

[Captain Sisko]

We got a specialist bike shop in our town centre.

I think he's still there.

Try your local yellow pages top see if there's a bike specialist in your area.

Argos may be more convenient but they cant give you decent advice for a bike.

[richie]

Lol:rofl: Never noticed the title till Skodaboy pointed it out.

I aim to please

[richie]

Thanks - glad someone else was thinking what I was thinking!

All great minds think alike. What were you doing on my wave length

[loskie]

For that price you would be better off looking for a decent second hand one. You'll find a lot of people buy flash, expensive bikes and never ride them. They end up stuck in the garage till they decide to sell them. Should be a few available in the Edinburgh area. For £100 you won't get a decent new bike and the person for whom it is intended will probably not enjoy riding it.

Try the Edinburgh Cycle cooperative on Whitehouse Loaning they'll have plenty of for sale cards on the wall I imagine. Good place for advice too. It's a while since I was there but I presume it is still on the go.

[Interphase]

That's the problem - the sweet spot for budget bikes is about £150 but just below that you can get deals like the following:

Latest 2008 Dawes Range | XC1.0 £159.95 | Cycles | Bike | Mountain Bike

Mongoose Rockadile ALX Bike 2008 : Winstanleys | Bikes | Components | Accessories | Clothing

Bikes 2U Direct -- Mountain Bikes : Front suspension -- Saracen Element 1

All of which are decent and rideable bikes that should be able to cope with a few upgrades. If you're lucky you may even spot a few good Claude Butlers in the £120-£140 bracket which are usually pretty decent and carefully specced. Ignore the Halfords style 'but this was £250 and you can have it for £95!!!1!' offers because they may have been on sale for tha tmuch but it doesn't mean they were worth it..

[Bodie]

Best bet is look somewhere like BikeRadar.com or UK-MTB.com forums as you have a chance of getting a higher quality used bike rather than a sub standard new one!

[Lady Elanore]

I think that as Postman Pat said, don’t be fooled by lots of gears, suspension bits and clever brakes. For instance a £6K Fabia might make sense and be reliable, but a £6K Ferrari doesn’t and wouldn’t be. Last years Cycle models are often very cheap and you can still haggle as the shops need the space and the cash. Evans, Harry Halls or Edinburgh Co-op might be a good place. Also have a think about bikes like hybrids, as they are pretty good on cycle paths and on the road. I would advise you either look for a 2nd hand bike or try to raise your budget a little if the bike will go anywhere near mountains or rough terrain as cheap mountain bikes will not take huge punishment in this area.

Happy shopping:)

[bigal rallyred]

You could have a look on Gumtree, loads of 2nd hand bikes on there.

We got a Gary fisher hybrid bike from Evans Cycles for my wife and it had £100 off and wasn't too expensive to start with, I think we paid under £200 but there were models below in the range.

It might be worth seeing what edinburgh Bike Coop have in that price range.

It'll be sale time soon as all of next year's models will be available and they'll want rid of last year's stuff.

HTH.

[Bodie]

Just seen this while visiting one of the bike related forums.

BIKEmagic Classifieds - Giant Giant Rock SE

[Kenny R]

MacDonalds cycle shop in Musselburgh,if you are in East Lothian,are worth a look,not sure about prices,but the have a vast range,and are very helpful.

[Johnny50]

Another vote for Macdonalds in Musselburgh...although i'm showing my age as i still call it Petersons !

Pop next door and Kenny sill stick the kettle on too !

[skodagirl1985]

Where about in Musselburgh are Macdonalds?

I'll take a walk down there one day this week.