Discussion: bike advice

I'm thinking of buying a new bike, for off road and commuting in sheffield, which is as bumpy as off road!! advice please, makes models, shops, any advice welcome :)

I went to JE James and gave them a price limit I wanted to spend and after they tried to sell me a few that were more expensive and I stuck to my guns I ended up with a Marin. Oli's advice to me was that I should get one as light as possible for my money without so many features (so not full suspension, no disc brakes etc) as they can always be upgraded if you get into biking more and more (I haven't!) I also got some decent slick tyres on it for commuting and have only been mtn biking on it a couple of times in 3 yrs or so! Take care if you have to cross tram tracks when it's wet...

thanks Jenny. have u taken it back there for servicing?

yep and they were very unhelpful actually! I had a service package and they treated me like a non-customer almost... I'm not sure they even serviced it tbh so I didn't bother the next time. Got it done at cycle-to-work-week breakfast instead!
The BikeTree (new in Dore) is recommended by the guys at work.

good to know, thanks