Danielss1

I have been looking around for MTBs at around £500 and I narrowed it down to 3 bikes but I'm not sure which is the best one for the money


Boardman Mountain Bike Comp 27.5"

Buy GT Avalanche Sport 27.5" Mountain Bike 2017 - Hardtail MTB at Tredz Bikes. £499.99 with free UK delivery

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Talon-...tail-MTB_97591.

I need some help on which one to choose

ussprinceton

I'd go with the Giant. I think they are built better

bonsai171

Hi,

I took a look at both the GT and the Boardman (the Giant link didn't work). To me, one of the most important things in finding a mountain bike is getting a good fork. As a quick caveat though, i'm not familiar with the Boardman brand as we don't have it here in the states. The fork on the Boardman is very impressive. It is an air fork with 120mm suspension, and from the pictures, looks like it has a lockout too. The reason forks are so important is because #1 it will affect your comfort on the bike (and the air fork on the boardman is a lot better than the suntour xct fork on the GT) and #2 forks are very expensive to upgrade. If you did decide to upgrade from say the GT and get an air fork, you'd be looking at the cost of the fork, but also the installation cost too (unless you plan to do it yourself, which to me is a little scary lol). Installing a fork would mean taking out the old one, cutting the new one to length, adding spacers, putting a star-fangled nut inside the tube, and possibly taking other things apart too. To me, this is a good job for your LBS. Anyways, to sum up, I like the fork on the Boardman a lot (been thinking about getting a bike with air fork myself), but also the tubing/geometry on that frame looks really nice too (plus you're getting an SRAM X5 drivetrain, and SRAM is well known for good quality mtb parts).. Just my 2 cents.

Dave

Currmudge

I also had issue with teh Giant link, looked at the other two.

I'd get the Boardman. With the DOWNgrade of parts on the GT, I'm skeptical about the frame being THAT much better.

bonsai171

Anyone know who makes the Boardman frames?

Dave

kevrider

here is your Giant link:
Buy Giant Talon 3 27.5" Mountain Bike 2017 - Hardtail MTB at Tredz Bikes. £475.00 with free UK delivery

it is essentially the same bike as the GT.

Currmudge

I looked them up -- as I thought, Chris Boardman is the company namesake. I get the impression that they're not playing for the fast buck. 3 straight years awarded Triathlon Bike of the Year.