Can anybody recommend a good bike, I really need one!?

PMT853 has provided some good links. I would look there. I would add to the comments by saying that firstly I would not buy a full susser for £500, unless you were looking at an older £799. Not a bad machichine with X7 and Truvative kit. More realistic however would be to spend your £500 on a hardtail. You will probably get just as much, if not more, fun from this, but you will get better quality components and a lighter weight. More bike for your money. You say that you are going to use this for everyday use. The thing that you need to ask is: "What do I want to do with the bike?" Here are your options: Commuting. I would choose a road bike, probably putting a rack on the back to give me extra carrying space. Commuting with some leasure riding around well tended tracks. Hybrid. These may or may not have front suspension, will have road tyres, but mountain bike geometry. A good all rounder, but not viable for serious single track. For general XC, no extreme downhills, with trail center tracks like Cannock Chase or Thetford -Hardtail Mountain Bike. This will allow you to go out and play in the woods at the weekend, explore your local bridalways, offer you a good turn of speed and is viable for the commute. Serious all mountain, with big bomb holles, logs, fast-bumpy tracks, taking on big boulders and the black runs at trail centers. For this you will need a full susser. Don't consider spending less than £700. The components won't be as good as a £700 hard tail, but it will be a more versative machine for some of the more difficult weekend aways/races etc. Downhill. Sturdy full susser with a lot of travel front and back. Go to a bike shop and talk to the people on this one. You will need advice getting the right bike. You may also consider spending less on the bike, say £400 for a Specialized Hardrock, but buying a second set of wheels for about £100, with casset and road tyres. Keep the road tyres on the bike for the commute, but swap over to the off road wheels when you want to play. Luck

hey there sam, im not suure weather your from the uk like i am ? but if you were theres alot of choice you have for £500 me personally i ride kona's which it a pretty good make, 1st you need to decide weather you want a mountain bike or road bike or hybrid which is a cross between both bikes you could look on the halfords web site for more infomation halfords may ave a bad rep this is due the the 17 yr old who assemble the bikes, the bike range they have are very nice and accomadate all prices and bikes to suit all hope this helps?. good luck.http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/categorydisplay_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_categoryId_165555_langId_-1

you need to go to a bike shop and see what is aval for the price you wanna spend. choose; roadbike, mtnbike, or yuk hybrid.