I've had a Claud Butler mountain bike for years -- no suspension and heavy but it's done good service around the lanes and tracks of Cumbria, and quite often along remote Highland valleys with big loads attached when heading for bothies and wild camps.

However, it died on the way in to the Ben Alder area a couple of weeks ago and I'm now looking for a replacement. Probably a hardtail, and it's got to be reliable and not too expensive -- £200-£300, maybe. I've spottted one called the Giant Terrago which looks good, but I'm no expert. Anybody any advice on this bike or others?

I did try asking on bikemagic, but got little response. A lot of folk on there seem to believe no bike under £500 can be any good at all, and I can't belive that.

Cheers.

Guy, how much it's worth spending depends on what you want to use it for.  Competitive cross country racing or extreme downhill you would indeed want to be spending mucho £££s, but for hacks along estate tracks you don't need anything fancy (as your old Claud Butler showed).

If you're spending £200+ and get a reputable make you can't go far wrong.  I wouldn't bother with disc brakes (they're great, but cost more than perfectly adequate Vs and take money away from the frame and gears), rear suspension definitely a no-no at this price point (like discs, done well it's great, done indifferently it's worse than not having it at all), keep it basic and it'll be fine.

For selection of a model go to a bike shop which lets you do brief test rides, and like boots etc. buy for comfort and just feeling right for you..  Make sure it has braze-ons for a rack unless you like really wearing rucksacks on a bike, and mudguards (at least on the back, where you've more clearance) add considerably to riding comfort when it's wet.

Pete. 

Guy have you got an Evans cycles near you?

They have a Claud Butler cape wrath mountain bike reduced from £449 to £349 and lots of other models on sale.

www.evanscycles.com

We bought bits from ebay & cobbled together a better bike than we'd have got for more than double the price new. For £105 I got a Giant GSR Alu frame, hydraulic brakes, top notch bars, stem etc, and wheels & tyres (alone worth more than the whole total); total cost new would have been about £450+

A month later I got an almost new Trek SLR for £280 - about £1200 new. 

Worth a look I'd say.

Evans are good, but £200-£300 is right at the bottom of their range.

My father got a really nice Cannondale from them after christmas, and the salesman was great and actually talked him out of spending more than necessary!

His general rule was that if you pick for every £100ish more you spend one component will be significantly upgraded eg. shocks, brakes, gearing etc...

dont get suspension if your paying under 300, it'll make you sea sick. dont bother with disc breaks either, v brakes are alot better in this price range and normally cheaper

sounds like you do a wee bit of road riding so suspension is pointless unless you can get a bike that the front forks lock out.

Nawt wrong with a steel frame and forks , just try and get as best a group set as you can afford.

Hi there Guy.  I am a regular on BM so i am sorry you didnt get much of a reply, even more so that it was a bit condescending.

My take on £2-300 bikes is that they will be fine for general use but if you start taking them out off road on a regular basis then their limitations will soon come forward.  Pretty much all the parts will be a compromise (In terms of off road), but if all you want is to ride a few tracks and roads (regardless of weight) then most will be fine.  Remember one mans definition of off road is very different to anothers.

If it was me i would go on Singletrackworld classifieds (Much simpler than BM's and much more popular) and look for something like a used on-one (Steel frame) or other main stream manufacturer.  You should be able to get something with pretty hardy spec for £300 which will not only last but will be able to do some of the rougher stuff if you should wish to try it.

the sacrificial anode wrote (see)

dont get suspension if your paying under 300, it'll make you sea sick. dont bother with disc breaks either, v brakes are alot better in this price range and normally cheaper

sounds like you do a wee bit of road riding so suspension is pointless unless you can get a bike that the front forks lock out.

Nawt wrong with a steel frame and forks , just try and get as best a group set as you can afford.

Up to a point...  Lock out forks are certainly a better choice if you'll be on the road, but if it's a pure road trip you could just get a second bike for that with slick tyres which will make a much bigger difference than lock-out forks.

And as long as you're past the "Bicycle Shaped Object" level (which at £200 you will be), even cheapy forks are better than rigids on a rock-strewn estate track for 10 miles heading to a distant Munro, or at least they are if you value your wrists.  How do i know?  because my MTB is an old rigid that dates from when telescopic forks cost Real Money (TM), but any time I hire cheap 'n cheerful MTBs my wrists take a lot less of a berating than they do on my own bike (I don't do enough off-road to make it worth changing them though).

Worse gears mean you'll miss the odd change and have to do a bit more regular fettling.  Rigid forks for long rides on estate tracks may well mean your wrists hurt like hell after a while.  I know which sounds better to me...

Pete. 

I see what you are saying peter but at that price point the manufacturers have to compromise elsewhere to put suspension forks on.  So you either get a decent frame & components with rigid forks, or you get heavy frame, crappy components and crappy suspension.  At that price something has to give and suspension is usually in the form of a pogo stick (Unless buying used).

If you must buy new it would be worth checking out Pauls Cycles who do some amazing deals.

Seems like you have made your mind up on the suss forks then. 

If it was me i would walk into my local halfords and check out their own carrera range.  They tend to be well specced and priced compared to other brands.  They will prob include the suspension fork as well.

Trouble is with Halfords is that they don't take  the time to set the bikes up properly, (even though they claim they do), the last couple I bought there (for myself and SHMBO) I ended up readjusting brakes and gears etc as they were well out.

The same can be said about most stores that sell in bulk.  Evans were mentioned earlier and they have a less than perfect reputation (Although i have actually bought a bike off them and was impressed with their service).

I will reword my statement for you Matt.

If it was me i would walk into my local halfords and check out their own carrera range.  If you find something in budget i would buy it, and make sure that you request that it be checked over prior to delivery by yourself and the bike mechanic to ensure they have set it up correctly.  Also request/insist on a settling in service after a few months to take into account and adjustments needed for gears etc. They tend to be well specced and priced compared to other brands.  They will prob include the suspension fork as well.

Its also good practice (Especially if you want to take it out and about to be versed in setting things up yourself.

At the price point he is talking about it is horses for courses.  I bought a Vango Tent recently knowing that it may not be the best tent in the world and it was a bit of a step into the unknown. 

Where do you live Guy?

Edinburgh bike coop have their own range of bikes, use good components on their frames(well ,some models) which work out cheaper, they have stores all over the north of england.

ps.if your getting suspension front forks choose wisely, cheap ones are rubbish.

the sacrificial anode wrote (see)

Where do you live Guy?

Edinburgh bike coop have their own range of bikes, use good components on their frames(well ,some models) which work out cheaper, they have stores all over the north of england.

ps.if your getting suspension front forks choose wisely, cheap ones are rubbish.

Took the words out of my mouth - Edinburgh bike co-op Revolution range, really really good for the money.  The Cuillin XC hardtail looks good for ya!

if i can add my 2 cents, Wiggle do a range of bikes by the german company Focus. They make amazing spec bikes for the money. If you can stretch to £480 you can get a Focus Fatboy which was voted the best hardtail under £500 by MBUK.

 Its a good enough bike to handle any trail/xc application whereas a £200 hardtail bike would be pretty useless to be honest.

Tomblincoe wrote (see)

 Its a good enough bike to handle any trail/xc application whereas a £200 hardtail bike would be pretty useless to be honest.

The thing is, does Guy actually intend it to do any trail/XC application?  My guess is he just wants a replacement for what he had before, which was no great shakes but still got the job done.

Note I am not disputing that you will get a much better bike by doubling the budget, but simply pointing out that it may not be necessary and there could be better things to spend £200.  To ride in to bothies with a load of stuff lashed to the rack doesn't require much special, and people have been doing it for years on machines vastly inferior to what you'll get for £200 these days.

I ride a tourer worth the best part of £2K so I understand what you can get by paying more.  But the bike I had before (an old EBC Country from the late 80s, 12 speed SIS gearing, Weinman side-pull brakes with suicide levers) never actually let me down on a tour, and did all that was asked of it.  It would be inferior to a modern £200 bike in most respects, but it was still good enough for the jobs at hand.  If you want to go and do mountain biking as a sport in its own right I would agree you'd be better off spending more, but for the odd ride in to a bothy or remote peak you may be better off spending money elsewhere (i.e., tent, clothes, beer, etc.).

Pete. 

Message received and understood! I was just trying to coax you into getting a bik able to do XC stuff, but if you aren't going to do XC then its a waste of money!

Giant are a massive bike company, and make excellent bikes with a good repuation for well made frames. It will undoubtably be lighter and for the applications you describe you can't really go wrong with the Giant. The only aftermarket upgrades would be some lights in case you get caught short, some semi-slick tyres if you are going to be mainly on road and a rack for you clobber.

I would check with the saleman youy spoke to and check the Terrago has the mounting points necessary for a rear rack otherwise they are much more difficult to retrofit.

 Hope we have given you some helpful advice between us.

Tom