Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

I'd avoid a mtb with sram, I feel shimano is a lot better. But that is my opinion and not fact.

That SC is quite slack, with 67ht. I also would not want an aluminium mtb.

I would also think about a full sus XC bike. So 120mm front, 100mm rear. A HT is good, but I think full sus more versatile. I do with I had rear travel sometimes.

Perhaps something 2nd hand.

Any opinions on the Santa Cruz Chameleon?

Yeah it's banging. You are paying a premium for it though. But if you accept that it's a great frame.

Get in touch with Pedal and spoke in peaslake, they have demos, but not sure if they are available at the moment. They also do 0% on new bikes.

True to form, I’m going to disagree with everyone. But then again I lived in Camberwell for a long time and rode lots of MTB from my doorstep, most enjoyably to Epping, round Epping, and back.

A steel hardtail is the right bike for 90% of riding in England unless you are a professional. I would avoid buying a complete build secondhand as most of the components will be worn out, even if it doesn’t seem so at first glance. I would highly recommend buying the frame secondhand, something by Cotic or Stanton or Genesis or similar, some second hand wheels with Hope hubs, secondhand Shimano 10spd groupset with new 42t cassette and chain obviously, then some new Magura brakes, a dropper, and a fork. All in all for £1k you can build a banging bike that will ride a lot nicer than a needlessly expensive Santa Cruz.