What bike would be best?

I'm thinking of getting into cycling - probably to start racing. I know there's loads of racing classes, eg, cyclocross, cross country, enduro, road etc, but I only have enough cash to buy one bike, and I want to get a taste of a mixture of classes before buying specialised bikes.

Can anyone recommend any bikes for around 拢600 that would allow me to compete in a range of local races eg. cross country, cyclocross, and some other offroad stuff. People have told me to get a hardtail mountain bike, but wouldn't they be a bit heavy for things like cyclocross?

I know that I would need a specialised bike for national events, but for the time being, I would like something that I could use in a variety of events if possible. Any ideas?

I said 'a variety' of things, i mean local cross country offroad type races rather than road races. It's just that some classes like cyclocross require certain bikes.

You can do XC MTB racing and cyclocross on a hardtail mountain bike. The key is you really want a light bike for both types of racing.

XC MTB races are usually on fairly tame single track. Thus, you don't really need a full suspension bike nor do you want a whole lot of travel. I'd look for something with 80-100mm travel and as light as you can afford.

For cyclocross season, you may want to take the suspension fork off to save some weight and make your bike more efficient. Also, for cyclocross season you'll want the narrowest, lightest knobbies possible. I have used Kenda Klimax Pros, but I think there are some even lighter tires available now.

If you really like cyclocross, you'll probably want to get a cross bike. There are plenty of people riding mountain bikes in our local cross series, though. I often ride my cyclocross bike on our local single track trails, but it would be pretty tough to race a cyclocross bike in most XC MTB events. While light, a cross bike is just not going to be able to handle rough single track racing.

Hope this helps.

The only bike that could come close to doing everything would be a cyclocross bike. Buy some slicks for road racing.

An aluminum framed hardtail 29'er would be another option, but you'd lag in road races due to the gearing. It wouldnt be too heavy for cross racing.

You'll have to decide if you want to concentrate on road, mountain bike, or bmx. Asking one bike to be competitive at everything is just not reasonable.

mount bike