 Looks to me like a great hardtail for older hands who already own an fancy FS bike, and just want a simple, steel framed bike for blasting round the local woods etc.
Lots of Inbreds and Rock Lobsters 853's out there built up with parts from the 'cheap but quality' end of the scale mean there must be a market.
That said I think a lot of those owners would be put off buy its complete bike nature. Despite the hordes of virtually identically specced Inbreds part of the attraction is that its frame only......
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 That looks lovely. If I didnt already have a steel framed bike I would be buying it at that price.
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__________.jpg) Yup, looks nice that.
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 Just bought one. Been riding all my life an proper MTB'ing for 8 years now. My "normal" bike is an Intense 5.5. So I wanted a "spare" and "mud" bike. I had a Cove stiffee which is not good for either, being too harsh to sit on over the bumps, and too good in the summer to sit in the shed. I had the idea of buying a Steel bike from a Cycle to works scheme., Did that and paid £350 for the bike as you see it in this review. I gotta say, its a great bike for the full price let alone what I paid. Rides fantastically comfortable, and becomes quite swoopy and fast through the woodsy singletrack. I keep thinking I should upgrtade the brakes and wheels (Juicy's or hope mono mini/XT or Easton XC wheels) and post/bar/stem (easton) but am thinking may thats just me trying to please the crowd. Bike is great as it is.
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 I just built a Dialled Bikes Prince Albert which uses 'Reynolds' 520 too. I've ridden Alu and Carbon frames, hardtails and full suss but i could never find a bike that matched the fun factor of my old steel Kona hardtail (so gutted when it was stolen  ). These niche steel frame bikes seem to bring that fun factor back - for me at least. Also the fact i could pick up a PA frame for £240 meant i could splash out on the components to hang off it. Its a fantastic frame if on the slightly heavy side but it takes a longer travel fork and has great geometry and isnt as harsh as an Alu or Carbon frame - it literally wants to be chucked around. I cant speak for the Altitude specifically as I havent ridden one, but my Prince Albert is miles more fun to ride than my £4k Carbon Giant XTC ever was.
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 My father in law has one. I had it in the workshop at work and everyone was surprised how good it looks for a "cheap" bike. He won't let me ride it but now I have an Altitude 30 perhaps we can do a swap for a few miles. I am genuinely interested to see how it performs compared to mine.
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 I miss having a steel hardtail
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I have 2 
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 I remember getting my first alu bike, paying a premium for it and thinking it was the jack Russell's Brussells... Bought a SS 853 inbred in 08 and absolutely love riding it. Not sure whether its "steel feel" or the geometry (suspect it's the geometry). There's def a market for steel at all price points at the moment
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Just "watching" some easton kit and some white fox float 130's & white revelations on ebay. Pimp my ride! Just took the altitude around the garden (becuase I'd mown the lawn and washed the cars, so while the shed was open, it'd be rude not to touch the bikes....), still amazed at the compliancy of the back end while riding off of steps/bumps. Might pop round to Epping this afternoon for a spin ;0) Pleased with steel.
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Want to go faster for £25 ? Stick some of these on I did
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