Mountain Bike Advice
 

I'm looking to buy a mountain bike, but I my budget is only £250.

Halfrauds have this bike on offer at the moment

http://washford.scene7.com/is/image/...$h20listthumb$

Carrera Vulcan Disc Spec 18" Mens Mountain Bike 08 from Halfords Was £299.99 Save £60.00 Price £239.99 20 Percent Off Selected Carrera Mountain Bikes Must End Monday

Reduced from £300 to £239

All I need is a bike to ride to work on 8 miles each way and occasional off roading at the weekend.

Any advice would be appreciated....

It's a tiny picture- it won't click larger.
But... for £250, avoid disc brakes or any type of suspension. They won't work and will be really heavy.
You'll get some good 2nd hand deals at that price. Try
www.retrobike.co.uk

I wouldn't buy one from halfrauds. They are usuall over priced!
But like nixxon says avoid disc brakes. Chances are they will only be cable pull type ones and not much cop.
Suspension you will probably be ok with but it won't be the best in the world.

Unless you are seriously off-roading I would go for front suspension only. I'm replacing mine later this year and have looked around, and some of the Carrera stuff in Halfords seems good and well priced compared to my local independant bike shop.

I have a similar regime to your, 5-8 miles each way to work (depending on how energetic I feel) and that includes some bridleway and the like, nothing extreme though. Occasionally I'll go out with the kids and we'll hit canal paths and the like.

If you're cycling to work you should be able to make of use the governemnt 'cycle to work' scheme, which allows you to buy a bike for something like a 50% discount, and pay for it over a 12month period (amount automatically deducted from your paycheque).

Quite a few guys at work have taken advantage of the scheme. You could get a £600 bike and pay £300 odd over the next 12 months.

Defo worth looking into as you can get a pretty decent bike for £600 these days :)

It's made my office go mountain-bike crazy, and has also let me to get my old bike sorted out - some old Rockshox kindly donated by TimWinner (:thumb:), a new front wheel with a disc brake and new rear v-brake and I'm back on the road! (or rather off it!)

Any links Pete, sounds like a great idea:thumb:

Tax free bikes for work through the Government's Green Transport Initiative - Cyclescheme, provider of Cycle to Work schemes for UK employers :thumb:

You can buy helmets and accessories etc as well as the bike under the scheme!

I bought a Carrera Subway from Halfords for the Mrs after advice on here. She doesn't do any off roading so it's ideal: no suspension or disks. It's such a good bike for the use we put it to that I'm getting the mens version when funds allow. Well made, very light (if you haven't been near a bike since childhood like me, you'll be amazed, especially if you ever owned a Grifter) and looks great. Got it on offer, just waiting for them to repeat it.

Cheers Pete:thumb:

I'm just too lazy at times:D