Mountain Bike Deals & Offers

Their absolute junk at this price level with very poor mountain bike parts that aren't fit for purpose off road. Very low end suntour forks etc. This would actually be much better off road overall except the assistance up steep inclines would be inferior as you have stated. If I was spending £1200-1500 I'd get probably go for a calibre bossnut evo with a bafang mid-mount motor conversion. That way you get much better performance and much lower maintenance costs with easy access to cheap spares with Bafang.

Did anyone else see Darwin in the background?

Clearly isn't, the small things like clothes flapping would look odd, pretty easy to tell it's real.

I think the bike is safer than this

Agree with a step to increase their speed limit to 20mph but carp government to busy lying to do anything for the benefit of the population.

Also poorly applied and a thin coating of paint on the seat post could be a factor or in fact the main reason.

If you aren't happy with the internal surface finish of the seat tube and getting paint scratched off the seat post here is a good video about how to clean inside and the tools you need. Any indication of where these are made on the box or on the frame itself. Sometimes the bike is assembled in a different country to where the frame was manufactured so you can't always be sure but if it says made in Cambodia, Bangladesh or mainland China on the box it was definitely assembled there as well as having the frame manufactured there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upj6HTS3pU4

this or Voodoo Bizango if prices were the same

Ok the gearset is not the best in the world but it’s very very good value for a 29er

This is how the Cube ones I wrote about looked like.

In my opinion definitely not worth this price. There is no bargain here. Someone in the thread said they paid £35 at a clearance shop and that is a bargain but for £90 you start getting much better bikes with rigid forks that will be much more efficient and this is effectively £125 which it definitely isn't worth.

I was watching a youtube channel of an american who lives and works in Japan. Last I heard he started working for BMC bikes. Anyway on one of his videos one of the Japanese riders had a Muddyfox bike which I was surprised to see so they obviously did well enough to get exported to far away countries. I've never owned or even seen a original Muddyfox bike in the flesh myself only the bikes that universal cycles had branded. Just remembered the channel 'two wheel cruise' so this is the video. Close to the beginning is a retro Muddyfox bike that looks pretty amazing with some great innovations, early carbon? Also Mr 'TwoWheelCruise' himself rides a Planet X bike from Yorkshire although now he is working for BMC I'm sure that is out of sight now. Doesn't surprise me about the Cannondale, I've got an old Cannondale road frame to build into a bike and it is unbelievably light I can't get my head around it. Feels like it would take 5 seconds to reach the floor if I dropped it or a gust of wind would blow it out the window. Not sure what to do with it as it feels like it would never take my weight, 70kg or less riders would seem appropriate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncc5uR0wMQM

It will still get you fit if you use it. Then if you upgrade to a decent bike you will fly! (y)

As I said 'back in the day' - i.e. 30 years ago! The MF that broke was steel as was my Fisher, however the Fisher was £500 as opposed to £200 for the MF. Even then the Fisher frames had just started getting built in Taiwan but they were well made. Another mate got a Cannondale road bike back then and managed to kink the frame putting on a rear bike light bracket!

So is this bike worth the price?

just finished, had to buy a new hope headset. Got some new wheels built and got a NX derailer. I'm probably going to remove the pannier rack as this one isn't of high quality. Other than that, the locking feature on the forks is a god send.

What fox, these are manitou? I’m on the look out for some fox34 29er

These aren’t anywhere near as good as the fox advertised on this deal tho.

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.SR-Suntour-XCM-Lockout-Suspension-Fork-100mm_26876.htm?source=aw&awc=6821_1558089348_d0199ae3a47489ee5d7169b380361594&utm_source=aw&utm_medium=158016 White here mate albeit a lil different

(y)

Last year they had 20% off all bikes plus another £50 off all voodoos and boardmans and then when picked up showed BC membership for an extra 10% off and because it wasn't ready on day knocked £20 off you can still get them 20% as Halfords has deals time and time again so £530 plus many people have BC membership so £470 it's better vaule

Cool. How u get it that cheap

Look at bizango reviews 5* across the board and constantly wins best hardtail under £750

Bizango is by far better bang for buck I manged to get it for £400 new

The Voodoo Bizango (quite often cheaper than this e.g. last month with 20% off was £520) has a 1x11 SRAM NX groupset and the Suntour Raidon Fork. Component wise they stand up pretty well to the 1x10 Deore and the entry level rock shox silver TX here. There are some good reasons why that Voodoo has won several awards during its iterations and is hard to fault on its value.

For me it's the front suspension the bike would be much stronger, safer and more reliable with rigid forks.

Everyone is making jokes on this bike, what's wrong with it?

This company is part of Halfords actually. So you often find they switch deals between the two

Spot on.

Yes but the sort of person buying this is not likely to maintain it properly, so unmaintained it will just be discarded within a few years. I appreciate some sealed bottom brackets may be dodgy, but I think they are extreme examples, stuff breaks (your Brompton example was apparently a 1 in 5000 failure rate and isn't necessarily dangerous) a standard Shimano one should give long life, I've got an old Ridgeback hybrid with (i presume) a Shimano bottom bracket. It's 10 years old this year, used daily in all weathers as a commuter/station workhorse. No issues whatsoever and the only other original thing on it is the frame, fork, handlebars and brake calipers. It reminds me of "Trigger's Broom"!

I'm not sure which bike you are referring to but this Ridgeback has Shimano BR-M315 hydraulic disc brakes and the Carrera Vulcan has even better Clarks M2 hydraulic disc brakes. That is the issue with the Suntour M3030 front shocks they are little more than fashion accessories as don't really achieve anything much in performance and are structurally weaker than rigid forks plus are high maintenance. I think they are classed as leisure forks in a class below Suntour's XC range of forks. The Suntour XCT and XCM are the minimum suntour forks for real off-road use and if you are a heavier rider like me you would need to choose XCM as the minimum grade of fork for structurally strength. Personally I feel for most people the Carrera Subway is the best choice which is pretty much a mountain bike with rigid forks so is efficient on the road and if anything probably better off road than many bikes fitted with entry level suspension forks like these M3030's, I haven't tested that theory though. Suspension forks can be high maintenance and have a weight penalty so unless they are adding extra versatility of where you can ride there seems little point in them.

might be a little off topic, but how about electric mountain bikes? Any decent deals? Or is it not worth it?

Not worth the money I think. It's lower specced than some bikes at £300 RRP. One example is the £300 Carrera in Halfords. It can be had for lower than this in sales too as £300 is the RRP.

I don't know what a good fork is (not on a bike, AOT, I use chopsticks :) ) but the main thing that happens to old forks which cause them to cease is rust on the forks

Well if you've got them you can tell us!

Got to say i am 14 stone and have used my tufftrax on blue and red trails no problem but i avoid large drop offs :D

Thanks for the informative reply, that's very helpful indeed. The nearest Cycle republic store is over a hundred miles away from me, unfortunately. I was quoted £328.50 for the Giant Bliss. You've given me some food for thought. Cheers!

Saracen is overall better I would say. The Giant is fitted with a freewheel so is much weaker at the rear when taken off road and freewheels wobble and can make shifting more difficult especially 7 speed freewheels. The one area the Giant is most likely better is brakes because of its disc brakes but they are only mechanical and may not necessarily outperform V brakes but probably do. Being cassette/freehub based the Saracen has a faster high end gear of 12 teeth compared to 14 teeth on the freewheel (the lower the teeth number at the rear the faster the bike can go at normal cadence). I personally wouldn't touch that Giant model at close to £400 with a freewheel. Giant are great bikes but at entry level they have some rubbish components. The front shocks are the same on both models. Even though the price is almost double the Giant is more mountain bike style where as the Saracen just scrapes in as a real mountain bike because of its freehub. Hardtail mountain bikes can take a lot of abuse at the rear because that is where the majority of the riders weight is and there is no suspension. A freewheel simply isn't fit for purpose on a hardtail mountain bike. This Saracen seems like a great choice for you on a budget but remember if you haven't got a local Cycle republic store you will have to assemble and maintain the bike yourself. A bike from the internet is great if you have the basic mechanical skills to maintain it but if you don't it can be a false economy having to pay a local cycle shop to maintain it for you who won't do you any favours if the bike was bought elsewhere. Consider other stores like Halfords, Decathlon and Go Outdoors if local to you, they can provide great value bikes and decent support generally although many would say these chain stores don't offer the support of local bike shops I personally have not found local bike shops that great.

How does this Tufftrax compare with the Liv Bliss 2 2019? (Apart from the price). I haven't cycled for a good few years & want to have a go again before I get too decrepit! Liv Bliss 2 I saw the Liv Bliss in a local shop & liked the look & feel of it, but really know nothing about bikes. I'd like something that I could ride on cycle paths & the odd farm track. The man in the bike shop said that an XS frame would probably be best fit for me (I'm 5'1" tall). I'd be grateful for any advice.

Looks like it's 'Extra Small' (13") only: 5'1" - 5'4".

Giant Fastroad Comax. It has disc brakes so will take fairly wide tyres.

Just bough a 2019 Giant ATX1 from tredz for £399, top top bikeage!

I think size S for you but I would double check ina store. Best to try out unless you get it online http://calibrebicycles.com/bike/rake/ - also look at the bottom of the page, I’m 180 cm and bought M, fits perfectly

I been looking at this bike in particular, I'm 5'6 what size frame would you recommend?

wheel size I believe