I've spent some time (not much I'll grant you) looking at a new hardtail for Dee's friend. As is often the case, she doesn't want to spend much, so my browsing is towards the lower end of the market.

What surprised me is how poor some of the spec seems to be. I do appreciate that £600 today isn't the same £600 that it once was and there must be compromises when building bikes to a specific price point but 7 speed? That seems like a very downward turn and appears not uncommon especially amongst the bigger brands.

Anyone got any pointers for a hardtail for less than £600? Yes, I have already mentioned SH

It's obviously a sellers market at the moment. High demand, poor supply. I know my old boss has been told it'll be next August before he sees the 2021 Trek hybrids he ordered for the 2021 hire fleet. They'd normally be arriving now.

Decathlon Rockrider ST900?

Some of the Cubes and GTs have reasonable spec for her budget

But my idea of reasonable is probably very different to yours Stu

Halfords have got the Voodoo Bizango for a little more than that (£675) at the moment, but they're low on stock. I've been chucking mine down mountains with a high volume human attached for a year now and it's survived unscathed.

If she's small Canyon do a bike aimed at youngsters for £600.

If she can go up by another £65, then this is not too bad.

https://www.merlincycles.com/sensa-livi ... 72291.html

These look good, albeit no stock yet. £550 with air forks.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-nucleus- ... -grey-2021

surprisingly little worth getting under £600 these days even without being overly bike snobbish about it - I was advising a friend's teenage daughter only last week, specs don't seem to vary hugely between the more established brands but availability is still crap.

Is she looking for a Women's specific or happy to get a men's bike and just switch the saddle/stem to fit?

my friend's daughter is probably going to pre-order, one of these, due out end of November

https://www.damianharriscycles.co.uk/pr ... gL4MfD_BwE

Some good ideas there people, thank you. I've passed them on.

She's happy to go with a blokes bike but that Cube looks nice. She has seen a Cannondale that she really likes ............. because it's green

(Talking of new bike spec, just got email from AK talking about their new Sonder Evol. Neil Sutton built one up with wireless groupset and seatpost. Wireless? Well I was wondering a while ago what the next Thing was going to be. The next Thing for Reg might be a 10sp cassette so wireless is a bit (ok, a lot then) outside my kennel. However I can see some amusing effects on one's ride if the signal took some interference.... interesting way to sabotage someone's race maybe .)

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:40 pm Some good ideas there people, thank you. I've passed them on.

She's happy to go with a blokes bike but that Cube looks nice. She has seen a Cannondale that she really likes ............. because it's green

When people asked me what bike to get I usually ended up saying "the one you like the look of". So long as it isn't an absolute dog it's a good enough criteria IMO

My wife chose her old bike because it was light, in the sale, black and it was 1x9 so she had less gears to ignore.

Lots of people bought bikes during lockdown earlier in the year as it was one of the things you could do.

I imagine once we’re into winter and the novelty has warn off, there will be plenty for sale in the new year.
If she can wait there will should be plenty of bargains about

I was going to recommend that you go for a pair of Oakleys Stu but then I actually read your post and not just the title!