Quality Bike, Best Features for the Fairest Price

TheJay

I'm just wondering if there are any bike experts out there...

I really like the Land Rover G4 Dual Mountain Bike 2008 Full Suspension MTB, I'm just wondering if I would be paying more for the brand name than anything else that the bike features?

http://www.tredz.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?ProductCatalogue=16849

freakybacon

What are you going to use the bike for? The list price for the landrover bike is £330- at this price point for a mountain bike you are usually best off sticking with front suspension only. Is the bike to be used for general road riding? In that case a mountain bike may not be the best choice- a hybrid may be a better bet.

BillScarab

Of course you are paying for the name and as freakybvacon says for £330 you are not going to get a good full suspension bike unless it's been massivley discounted.

To be honest even if you're using it off-road you're probably better off with just front suspension. A lot of full suspension bikes, especially cheaper ones, can be really hard to ride uphill.

MORPH3US

As above OP, you need to tell us what you will be using it for....

I just spend £400 on a mountain bike and didn't bother with full suspension, unless you spend £1000+ then it'll be rubbish....

That said, if you only want something to look good going down to the shops on, it should be ok....

However for any type of off-roading (I do cross country) then would consider looking at a hardtail (front suspension only).

M

Idiophreak

For £300 I'd have thought your best bet was to watch the ebay and try and find some good £500+ hardtails going cheap - that's probably the best way to get "bang for buck".

Also look in the mountain bike sale bit on evans cycles - sometimes have bargains on last years stock etc

TheJay

I am slightly confused why you guys think that a hardtail would be the best option. Okay, it may mean that I get better front fork suspension but surely it's much more comfortable with dual suspension if I am going to be using the bike for riding through woodland.

TheJay

Also, what about this bike? http://direct.tesco.com/product/default.aspx?R=203-7907

I have 146 tesco points and the bike is equivilant to 180, which would mean it would cost me only £34.00 to buy this bike.

BillScarab

A good full suspension bike will be more comfortable. However a cheap one (and that is a cheap one) will be heavy, which makes it harder to ride. It will also use cheaper, less sophisticated components so will tend to be bouncy rather than actually improving the ride. Also because they are bouncy they can be absolute b&%&* to ride uphill, all of your pedalling energy goes into making it bounce instead of move.

It's like cheap stereos, they have lots of flashing lights and fancy buttons but the sound quality is not as good as a basic good quality one.

These sort of bikes are just designed to look the part. So you can say you have a full suspension bike with disc brakes. They really aren't designed to be good offroad machines.

TheJay

Surely an aluminium and zinc alloy can't be heavy?

Woby_Tide

oimi wrote: »

Also, what about this bike? http://direct.tesco.com/product/default.aspx?R=203-7907

I have 146 tesco points and the bike is equivilant to 180, which would mean it would cost me only £34.00 to buy this bike.

erm I think you are misreading the Tesco site, that means you will 'earn' 180 clubcard points by buying it, your 146 points are worth £1.46 towards it

but as others said, spending that little on something with so many components and you'll be buying another one next year. Ebay for a second hand decent make or a bargain is often good, buying the previous years model is also a good way to get a bit of a bargain. I didn't spend a lot either but picked up a Cube bike with a good reputation for a 1/3rd of it's RRP on Ebay from a proper cycle shop selling off it's previous years models

TheJay

I know that Specialized make quality bikes: http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86051