Which mountain bike for around £300?

Question

I have around £300 to spend on a mountain bike. I intend to use the bike for general transport as well as trips to downhill MTB courses (like Glentress, Peebles).
I would like full suspension, quickfire gear shift and disc brakes. What bike would you recomend? New or Second Hand considered.

Answer 1

I have just bought a Trek hybrid. I know it is not a mountain bike, but Trek is a very good make and I love the bike. My mate has a GT mountain bike with quick fire and disk brakes - it was £320 I think. This was recommended by a mountain bike magazine from 4 others around the same price. One point is that disk brakes wear out VERY quickly. My mates needed changing afte 1 1/2 hours hard riding.

P.S. you can get an entry level hardtail trek for around £270.00 - http://www.trekbike.co.uk/2007/bikes.php?sec=overview&MainCatID=2&SubCatID=8&RangeID=0&ID=210#

Answer 2

Have a look in most mountain bike magazines they would be able to give reviews of budget bikes. I would get a hard tail with front suspension, forget about full suspension for that price - look at specialise - they do some good entry level bikes for around £300

Answer 3

you will NOT find a treck downhill bike for that amount of money. if im correct, thats about 550 dollars US. the cheepest full suspension downhill bikes you will find start at about 1500 US new. However, you can go to www.pinkbike.com and go to the buy and sell section and then to complete bikes and you should be able to find some full suspension bikes for around 800 US. If your looking for a hartail then its much easier. Gary Fisher and Jamis both make low end freeride hartails for around 600 US new. however if you want more travel and a better, longer lasting bike, the price will go up around to 400 to 700 US. Although if you go to the pinkbike buy and sell section i gave you above you will probably be able to find good used freeride hardtails for cheap (around 600 or 700 US although maybe as low as 500).