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Buyers Guide: Hardtail Mountain Bikes Under £1000

Looking to buy a hardtail mountain bike? Here are the various features you need to consider.

Hardtail mountain bikes suspension forks.

The main differences here will be the amount of travel the forks have, and the quality of the forks.

The ‘travel’ is how much the forks can compress; the bigger they are, the more they compress, the more they can absorb and roll over bigger obstacles like rocks and roots.

However, there is a trade off; more travel can also mean more weight. This is usually combined with a burlier frame, making them heavier overall than cross country bikes.

As a general rule, cross country bikes have slightly shorter travel than trail bikes. For a cross country bike, expect 80 to 100 mm of travel, and for a more trail-focused bike, 100 to 120 mm of travel. In the sub-£1000 price range, the vast majority of hardtails will have 100mm of travel.

Up to around £650, expect a Suntour suspension fork. Over £700, look for a RockShox XC28 or XC30 suspension fork.

Below £1000, the suspension in most forks comes courtesy of a coil spring. Unlike the air shocks you can get above this price point, these are harder to adapt to different rider weights.

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