Toasty - Member
On the flip side, try and find a hardtail with a high end double butted chromo frame + forks and full LX/XT level groupset for £600 these days.
when could you ever do that?
maybe, about 20 years ago, when we paid for things in goat-hides, and bags of grain, you could have bought an orange clockwork, and put some mag20's on it, but you'd have spent well over £1000 even then.
don't make me do the maths...
oh go on then! - it's £1800.
at about the same time, i bought a kona fire-mountain, for £600, it had deore 300 gears, a boggo steel frame, and forks that bounced on bits of rubber - £1100 in today's money.
for £999, here's my current recommendation;
lovely frame (not quite 'high end'), sram x5, and an air-fork, much better than that old fire mountain, cheaper too.
(and you could never buy a rockhopper with bouncy forks for £300)