Recommend me a £1k mtb

Is there such a thread already? Please shut this if so, couldn't find anything

I'm after a cheap(ish) but decent entry point to mountain biking. As a reference I have a sweet spot for Surlys but replaced my Pacer with a Pickenflick a while ago and not regretting it. Have an odd aversion to carbon fibre though but happy to be proven wrong. Would love a Karate Monkey or similar but they seem very expensive for what they are new and hard to find 2nd hand.

What would a decent mtb for around the £1k mark be? I'm thinking hardtail but with a decent suspension fork. Fully hydraulic brakes. Prob a 27.5 or 29er?

Enlighten me!

Ragley Big Al

Ragley Marley

Neither one will be a disappointment although you'll probably want to factor in adding a dropper.

Is there such a thread already?

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/129612/?offset=20200

As above a reasonably spec'd hardtail with decent travel, dropper and tubeless should be possible. If you're new to it i'd stay away from steel/Radavist bikes if you want to have fun on the trails.

Trek Roscoe come ready with a dropper for just under or just over £1k, as does new GT Zaskar for £1200. Both are in stock in some sizes.
Planet X jumping jack is under £1k but no dropper and shit tyres I think.
Alpkit frontier is good value but out of stock currently

Seen that but though a Q like this would just be noise?

Anyway, how do you define a steel / radavist bike? Would one of on-ones steel offerings be a bad idea?

Yeah you might be right, pretty sure i got some decent advice back in the day but it's been a while since i've ventured on there.

I like steel and my only reference point is that when i was in a similar boat to you steel builds came with much lower spec's than ali bikes. Also for a beginner to trails (me) having a lighter bike felt like a big plus, that surly is a bit of a tank. If you check best bike lists i think ali is the material of choice at that price point. That said the on one does look nice and this at £1K seems good value

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBOOBDSX/on-one-big-dog-sram-sx-mountain-bike

Found this second hand for £680. Seems like a good entry point to me or is it hopelessly outdated?

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://happyride.se/annonser/rose-mr-big-hardtail-stl-l.147215/

Merida big trail is what I got in the end - I then put tubeless tyres on it.

It has the basic tick list -

1. Sensible geometry
   
2. Deore
   
3. Boost thru axles
   
4. Dropper
   
5. Decent tyre clearance
   
   

Otherwise, I’d recommend something like a whyte - but they go up to about 1.3k to get ok spec. Alternatively singletrack world has a good classified forum, if you just keep your eyes peeled.

I was slightly torn between a trail and more xc MTB - but I’m glad I went with trail in the end. Ultimately it’s just more fun (if heavy!)

Shameless sales pitch... I have this Orange P7 available for around 1k. Revelation forks, Hope bits, Stans tubeless.

1 Attachment

Like the look of that. Would you be up for posting it?

Also what size? Would it fit someone 6"2 /187cm?

voodoo bizango carbon

Buy this.

Frame is $1k alone?

Working on it

It’s a medium. I’m 178cm and it fits me well. I suspect you’d be better with a large. Where are you based?

no, full bike

Sweden. Could post via a mate in the UK if needed.

Sounds too small though, even if I prefer bikes on the smaller side?

Ah, I found the steel one. Interesting!