Question for Mountain bikers

alfalad

While I'm sure this has been done to death a bit, can't really find the answer I'm after. Currently living in the UK and considering using the bike to work scheme, already have a commuting and a good road bike so considering a mountain bike. The option for us is only open for a month and we can only use Halfords so considering a boardman. Given the scheme I was thinking of buying something that will last and I'll be happy with long term, have made the mistake of a cheap road bike when I started out, so looking at the higher end option but undecided between the Boardman 650B Pro Full Sus, or the hardtail carbon. While I'm sure they are both great bikes, I'm looking for thoughts on both. I have mountain biked 20-30 times and will prob head out 10-15 times a year on trails, cross country and parks to give an idea of level and use. Not looking at downhill.

Any thoughts or advise would be appreciated.

JBokeh

Both are really good bikes, with fairly good spec for the money too.

The full suspension one seems to have a better group set than the hard tail, Sram x9 is second from the top of their food chain before you start getting into the DH and enduro specific groupsets. Only thing I would be concerned about is it says the chainrings are 28- 42, which is strange ratios for MTB, and personally id be replacing it for a single chainring, or something like 38 - 24 so you have a 38 for most terrain, and a granny ring for hills, the original is the same as running a standard double on a road bike Vs a compact.

The hard tail is aimed at smooth man made trails with the occasional obstacle, the 100mm SIDs are very much a cross country fork and are a bit under gunned when it comes to roots and rock gardens, the geometry is more cross country too, aimed more at being as fast as possible up hills, with a speed and stability sacrifice down the descents, It also isn't very light for a carbon hard tail, IMO they should be sub 10.5kg nowadays

With the Full suspension one you'll take a slight hit in pedal efficiency up hills, but you'll be more confident once you're pointing back down it, and the extra 30mm of travel will soak up bumps a lot easier, and still have travel left if you decide to start jumping and hitting roots with speed once your confidence builds

Last thing I would recommend is either assembling the bike yourself or taking it to a bike shop, halfords are known for not being the greatest at assembling the bikes

alfalad

Thanks JBokeh, I was leaning to the full sus as that's what I used to ride in Ireland, (used to borrow my mates) and loved riding in Ballinastoe with it. So think you have helped make up my mind.