[Closed] Please help me choose my first MTB

They are all perfectly reasonable bikes. However if it was my money, I would probably be buying a bike in the sale or second hand. For £650 you could get something which wouldnt need to be upgraded for a long while and would be significantly lighter than the ones you listed.

Welcome, always nice to have another girlie on board. 🙂

Does it have to be women-specific? What height are you? My personal opinion would be to look at the Classifieds for better value for money.

Edit: frame, fork and wheels are the most important.

Hello, as CG said above does it need to be women's specific? My girlfriend tried loads of before I built her up a bike based on a Giant STP frame. Although she now wants a XS BFe.
I hope you enjoy your cycling 🙂

Thanks everyone for your help.

I did briefly consider second-hand but I wouldn't know what to look for 🙁

Definitely does not have to be woman specific...I am 5 8'.

I will trawl through the For Sale' section to see what I can find. And update my post.

I feel welcome already....thank you. I can't wait to get out there and start riding 🙂

--Kath

If you can find a non women's specific to fit, you'll do better for your money and have more choice neither Spesh or Scott are known for value for money spec, . . in fact they are two of the worst in that aspect, IMHO.

Take a look at the German brands, Ghost, Rose, Cube, Canyon a lot more bike for your buck, it's just finding a good fit, Canyon have their fit guide on line just type your . . ahem . . vital statistics in and off you go.

Cube and ghost have plenty of dealer over here go try a few and see

Definitely check out the Classifieds then! Post up any questions - folk on here are always happy to offer advice and opinions.

Steel is always nice, they do come up sometimes. Just had a quick look, there was nothing that jumped out but worthwhile checking every day.

This is good value kit for £609:
http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2537

The woman's specific version is £40 dearer for some reason:
http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2536

Neither include delivery of about £35 though.

The best advice I can possibly give you is to test ride as many bikes as you can - even if they're slightly beyond your price range.

Sizing is very important. Don't discount men's frames as you may find a perfect fit there.

Don't forget you'll need loads of other kit and that could cost you half your budget again

Those Canyon bikes look great for the money.Checkout the Radon bikes website as well.Beware Halfords/Evans.

Also have a look at Pauls Cycles online.Usually some decent old year cycles on there.

CG - Thanks so much for checking the classified for me. I'm mega grateful.

All - Thanks for your comments on the German brands and especially for the Canyon options. They are gorgeous :D. CSW &MCMD- You were spot on!

So I have narrowed it down to the following 3 options:
Canyon Yellowstone 5.0 - £609
http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2537

The woman's specific version is Canyon Yellowstone 5.0W - £649
http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2536

Scott Scale 60(2011) - £649 - £699 (Damian Harris or Pauls)
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b8s2p3229

Please let me know which one has the better spec....I'm starting to learn about forks, brakes etc...but I'm still a toddler 😆

Kind Regards,

Kath

For £650 the Boardman Comp has got to be worth a shout. Decent air sprung fork, weight and finishing kit.

I'd recommend the Rock Rider 8.1 for £499.99:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2011-id_8168695.html

Full SRAM X7 groupset, Elixir 3 brakes, Recon Silver TK fork.

And you've still got £150 left over in your budget for all the other stuff you'll need...shoes, shorts, gloves, helmet, lights, pump etc...

(BTW my 8.1 has seen me good for London to Brighton off-road and London to Paris off-road too so it's a decent enough bike & will last well enough for 500 notes) 😀

If you can, wait until the autumn (the technical one, not the weather one we seem to be having already) and pick up last year's model - usually for 20-30% off. I can't cope paying full price in the spring for something that might cost shed loads less in the autumn. Plenty of good value 2nd hand bikes on eBay, if you have an experienced mate who can sniff out a sensible deal. Decent full suss bikes going for £900 but you can't be too picky on makes etc. Good luck - and remember you can always change it in the future, everyone does 🙂

I built a bike up for my wife off the classifieds -- got a used (and resprayed) rock lobster size m, which depending on your height is a good compact frame for women (IMO).
Go for a steel frame! 🙂
Advice from Will about changing it in the future is good. Get a frame that feels right and don't worry too much about the rest apart from price.

Evening Kath, I echo natheneddy's comments. I did the same for my wife. Bought a Rock Lobster in M and if fits her perfectly. The bike is known for having a short reach.
Although you are still new to mounting bikes and their specifications it is worth having a look on chain reaction cycles at parts (customer reviews are usually a good guide) to see what components are good and then keep an eagle eye out here to see if something similar pops up...usually the kit that is on here has not been neglected and a quick Google search will let you know what people / professionals think of it.
Cheers,
Mark.

Hi Kath and welcome to the forum... I echo all the above as well as size and fit being very important... and the shops can get this wrong in my experience.. get a cycling friend to help you sort the sizing, try a few bikes out too. Ditch the women/men thing and get one that fits properly. Stems and bars can be changed and a bike shop may do this for you with a new bike for free...

Can you qualify for bike to work.. that puts your budget up and interest free for a year... Often the bike manufacturers work hard to get in under the £1k ceiling with some good packages...

Whichever bike you get, don't be afraid to change a couple of things! For instance, the grips may be too thick, especially as most women have smaller hands. If the grips don't suit you, change them. If the bars feel too wide, move the grips and controls inboard a bit and go for a ride. Once you find what is comfortable for you, then cut the bars down if you need to.

The saddle is another big one, and saddle comfort is one of the keys to enjoying the bike. There are women's specific saddles, but any particular one may or may not work for you. Some shops (particularly Specialized) have a device that you sit on in the store. After you stand up, your sit bones leave an impression, and they measure the width to help find the right saddle. But the prefect saddle for one rider doesn't work at all for someone else; you just need to find one that works for you.

You might not want to ask for saddle advice on this forum, though as "female needs help with a saddle" tends to result in requests for measurements, pictures of the body parts that will be in contact with the saddle, etc.

OK, have looked at the Boardman bikes within your price point but the fork lets it down, imo.

The Canyon does indeed look good value for money but you can't try one for size.

Scott tend to be 'racy' geometry so may not suit, the fork could be better too.

Rock Lobster is a nice frame (I used to have one) but the top tube is short. Good value for money and they do come up sometimes on the Classifieds.

The other one that may suit, and these definitely come up on the Classifieds, is an On-One Inbred or 456. I would say that a 16" would fit, their top tube is pretty long. Saw some Rebas on Classifieds for £190, there's plenty of wheels for sale as well.

On the other hand, I would recommend cultivating a good relationship with a bike shop - may be worth investigating or perhaps talking to them about a build. What part of the country are you?

At the end of the day, it's getting the right frame to fit YOU.

Ditto on the On-One inbred -- it's cheap to buy new, as well, and I'd agree that the 16 inch would fit.
I got these forks on sale from Wiggle:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/marzocchi-marathon-r-suspension-fork/
Personally I'd get a new fork and used wheels.
Also well worth asking in a bike shop -- if you buy a frame from them they might build the bike up for free, for example.

cinnamon_girl - Member
OK, have looked at the Boardman bikes within your price point but the fork lets it down, imo.

You will struggle to find a better fork and mix of components on a bike for £650 than the Boardman which is often available cheaper than the RRP. The Epicon 120mm air fork is a solid bit of kit at this price point and performs better than most.

The Canyon bikes also represent good value for money as said above.

If you are new and/or inexperienced its probably best to avoid s/h, as you could easily buy something that looked good but needed hundreds spending (fork service, chainrings, cassette, chain, etc).

+1 for demo/testing - is there an LBS near you?

You won't go wrong with a new disc-braked hardtail at your price range from one of the big names at your LBS - yes, there will be better 'value' elsewhere - but go low risk and you'll enjoy it because it will just work and you've somewhere to go with any problems/maintenance.