Why don't people properly review Cheap Mountain Bikes Properly

What is it that the only reviews that I seem to be able to find for mountain bikes under £500 are always...light on detail, or worse only available on the retailers website.

Am I wrong here, £500 is a lot for some families to spend on a bicycle and surely they deserve the same support and attention as those who are spending more.

After all someone who is buying their first mountain bike is probably the guy who will easily be dropping £2k on their second one.

So if anyone can find a review of the following mountain bikes I would be slightly less grumpy than normal.

Calibre Crag
Calibre Dune
Carerra Kraken
Vitus Nucleus

Also please let me know which other cheap mountain bikes I should add to this list.

What are the best MountainBikes for under 1000?

I am a bit of a flabby internet geek.  Having spent the last 7 years of my carreer in the video games media business (yes that is a real job) I have decided to try my hand at something new.  I am now a publisher of not one but two cycling websites.

Small issue though is that the last bike I owned looked like this:

I am now 34 years old and have been reliably informed (by many friends) that I am a little to old for the new wave punk, skater boy look that I hold dear.  Also that the music I think of as new wave; PennyWise, The Offspring, Terrorvision, Blink 182 and early Green Day is decidedly old wave and considered by some to be retro.

This means that I need to move on and buy a new bike and apparently I can't have this one either;

So how much should a grown man of a certain age now spend on a mountain bike?  According to my colleagues and friends the answer is up to £2,000!!!  I have since done a little independent research and found a few mountian bikes for both gents and ladies that are under £1,000.  Some of the best can be found here Best Mountain Bikes under £1000

That only begs the question now of where to buy my shining new steed.  I am as yet undecided to I go for price (buy online) or service my local bike dealership.  I will be sure to let you know as I continue my apprenticeship in cycling.

"Seriously though who spends £2000 on a push bike?"