Newbie bike question.

Quattroste

I've just come back from a holiday in northern Italy and the place is just bike crazy. Both my wife and I have decided that we would like to take up cycling as a way of keeping fit and getting out and about. We live in Blessington so I would be looking for a bike that would be good on the road but also good to go on the lesser challenging mountain trails.

I will be able to purchase a bike throughout the work scheme so €1000 is the budget.

Can you suggest some mountain bikes (all rounders if they exist) that I could investigate? Please bear in mind I don't know much at all about bikes but I do like to start with good quality materials so I give myself the best chance of enjoying/success. I hope that doesn't sound pretentious

Icyseanfitz

first decide whether you will be using it mostly on a road or off road, and then buy accordingly, there isnt really any decent bike that perform great on both trails and roads,

i suppose you could buy a mtb and stick slick tyres on it for the road but it still would be nothing like a road bike, and then you cant use a road bike on any trails

Quattroste

OK let's say off road. I'd most likely cycle to the trails on road but I want to be able to cycle trails. Just not the mad stuff just yet

markcroninbsc

Id say if usein the bike to work scheme and your completely new to cycling then you need to use some of the money for cyclin gear, HELMET, etc. very easy to drop a couple of hundred on the accessories so your probably going to have about 600-700 for the bike.
Local bike shops are the best place to get advice, but if it sound like he's not interested and is just tryin to make a sale then try a different shop cause he's probably tryin to rip you off aswell. they're feckers some of them, recession isnt hurtin them as much as the rest because of the bike to work schemes so they dont seem to be willing to do any sort of deal at all, you want to be askin for a nice discount on top of the bike to work, afterall your spendin 1000 euro , 2 if the mrs is buyin too.

The 600-700 euro is a fairly ok amount to spend on a mountain bike but your still talkin reasonably close to entry level (for somethin thats usable off road).

In my opinion Giant do the best overall quality/value packages at that price range for mountain/road and hybrid bikes. Its been a while since i looked properly tho, but i did buy a giant avail for the mrs last year and i was lookin around at mountain bikes of around the same price for meself.

Best advice tho is to goto the local bike shop and avoid halfords

Lumen

Predictable answer...

Grand Canyon AL 6.0 @ €999
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2054

...although I'm quite tempted by...

Yellowstone 3.0 @ €599
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2050

..although I don't think that has fork lockout for the road, so maybe...

Yellowstone 4.0 @ €699
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2051

markcroninbsc

Lumen wrote: »

Grand Canyon

canyon would be ok if the italic font was facing in the right direction. really takes the look off any canyon bike i think.

Lumen

markcroninbsc wrote: »

canyon would be ok if the italic font was facing in the right direction. really takes the look off any canyon bike i think.

You're completely insane.

markcroninbsc

Lumen wrote: »

You're completely insane.

haha im only messin really, but you'll never look at your canyon the same again will you? be honest now

Quattroste

Thanks for the answers. Now dont slate me for this but how come some bikes have both rear and front suspension but you recommend ones with only front?

Would I be right in saying that front and rear suspension in bikes less than 1k would be sh1te?

Lastly why not halfords?

Lumen

Quattroste wrote: »

Thanks for the answers. Now dont slate me for this but how come some bikes have both rear and front suspension but you recommend ones with only front?

You will get more enjoyment from the simplest, lightest bike that will meet your requirements.

Your requirements are for road and "light mountain trails". For this you do not need rear suspension (you arguably don't need front suspension either, but...)

Quattroste wrote: »

Would I be right in saying that front and rear suspension in bikes less than 1k would be sh1te?

It wouldn't be great.

kenmc

Quattroste wrote: »

Lastly why not halfords?

They are a car accessory shop.

vicwatson

They are a car accessory shop.

That also happen to sell bicycles !

kenmc

vicwatson wrote: »

That also happen to sell bicycles !

But so does Argos and occasionally Tesco and Dunnes.

petethedrummer

markcroninbsc wrote: »

Best advice tho is to goto the local bike shop and avoid halfords

The Boardman bikes they sell are very good and good value. Halfords branches are hit and miss (mostly miss it seems) when it comes to fitting, servicing and setting up your bike initially.

There's nothing wrong with the Boardmans and Voodoos they sell. The Trax's and Apollo'ses are rubbish.

Tonyandthewhale

There's some good stuff in halfords alright but a lot of ****e and I wouldn't advise going there unless you know what you're looking for and the staff more than likely won't be much help and might even be bull****ters.

Icyseanfitz

Quattroste wrote: »

Thanks for the answers. Now dont slate me for this but how come some bikes have both rear and front suspension but you recommend ones with only front?

Would I be right in saying that front and rear suspension in bikes less than 1k would be sh1te?

Lastly why not halfords?

under the 1k mark for new full sus bikes wouldnt be all that advisable (from what ive seen anyway) as they will be heavy bikes with pretty bad components on them, now a second hand full sus bike for 1k would definitely be a lot better.

tbh you say you wont be doing anything extreme so a hard tail will suit you grand, and the 700-1200 market are all pretty similar in spec and weight if buying new

Halfords do some decent bikes (boardman, voodoo, and even some of their careras are decent) their initial build can be hit and miss though