£1000 Hardtails - With a new designer on board, Saracen is working hard to dispel its reputation for just building cheap jump bikes. Now, just like in the '90s, it's producing the Kili range of performance hardtails. We tested the top aluminium version, the Kili 2.

Despite recent trends, hardtail bikes have some major advantages over their bouncy brethren, not least of which is value for money. So what can a grand get you nowadays? We put 6 bikes to the test.