New mountain bike purchase

[jackryman]

Hi there,

I'm a roadie, discovering the joys of off-road riding and looking to buy a hard-tail mountain bike in the near future. 

There's a couple around the £1500 mark that I'm interested in, but wondered if you usually get January sales for mountain bikes? I know for road bikes, you can usually pick up the previous year's model in January a bit cheaper, but given it's as much a winter pursuit as a summer one, perhaps they don't need to discount in January?

Any other purchasing tips would be gratefully received! And apologies if this is covered in previous threads, this is a whole new part of the forum for me!!

Cheers, Jack 

[James Malone]

I would think that at the moment with the covid related dearth of bikes for sale you'll be unlikely to see huge discounts in January. I'd also worry about the looming no-deal brexit pushing up bike prices.

[James Malone]

BTW ask to join the off-raod whatsapp group. There's loads of routes that we can share and in non-lockdown times it's where lots of rides are organised. I think the link is in the weekly emails.

[david emery]

Mountain bikes pre Covid were nearly always heavily discounted every year, but that normally starts around September when the following years new bikes are launched.

Unless you plan on driving or taking the train to Surrey Hills, Bedgebury or Wales etc, virutally all of the stuff near London - think Epping, Kent is all doable on hardtail bike.

I can recommend getting a hardtail 29er and running 2.1 tyres in lieu of a gravel bike with 47-50c (I've got a gravel bike too), especially if it's mountainous.

Oh and if you've never ridden a MTB, some lessons can make a massive difference. Learn to manual!









escapar.cc amazing cycling holidays in Spain

[jackryman]

Thanks James and David for the tips. On James's advice about waiting until next year, and the fact there are hardly any mountain bikes in stock at the moment, I just bit the bullet.

I'll certainly join the whatsapp group - cheers for the heads up.

Jack