Cheapest semi-decent bike under £100?

[Alan]

I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
might be good.

I want it for over the weekend (my £30 bike from Safeway
finally fell to bits - still, 6 months of abuse aint
bad!) so mail order is no good. Any supermarkets/Halfords
doing anything?

I used to have an Apollo Prodigy, which got nicked (D-lock!)
which was excellent, then I bought a £79 front suspension
bike from Safeway which was great (until someone tried to
nick it, couldn't, and kicked it into oblivion instead).

Before anyone tells me I need to spend at least £3000 to get
a proper bike - I KNOW! I just don't have that kind of
money. As long as it has good gears and the largest frame
you can get (62cm/23") I'll be happy!

Thanks for any advice.

[Zog The Undenia]

Alan wrote:

> I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
> will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
> might be good.
>
> I want it for over the weekend (my £30 bike from Safeway
> finally fell to bits - still, 6 months of abuse aint bad!)
> so mail order is no good. Any supermarkets/Halfords doing
> anything?
>
> I used to have an Apollo Prodigy, which got nicked (D-
> lock!) which was excellent, then I bought a £79 front
> suspension bike from Safeway which was great (until
> someone tried to nick it, couldn't, and kicked it into
> oblivion instead).
>
> Before anyone tells me I need to spend at least £3000 to
> get a proper bike - I KNOW! I just don't have that kind of
> money. As long as it has good gears and the largest frame
> you can get (62cm/23") I'll be happy!

You can get a decent secondhand bike for that. You
can't get a decent new one, unless it's fallen off the
back of a lorry.

23" is more like 58cm, by the way.

[Alan Braggins]

In article <408025a8.0@entanet>, Zog The Undeniable wrote:
>Alan wrote:
>
>> I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
>> will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
>> might be good.
>>
>> I want it for over the weekend (my £30 bike from Safeway
>> finally fell to

>You can get a decent secondhand bike for that. You
>can't get a decent new one, unless it's fallen off the
>back of a lorry.

He'll be lucky to find a second hand one the right size
before the weekend. Locally (I'm in Cambridge) I'd try
Cycle King or Mike's Bikes, who have maybe-not-decent-but-still-
usable bikes at that price. The local Halfords does have
a bike sale on (they are moving along the road soon, but
maybe its a general sale), and there's a half price
Apollo of some sort for less than that. There are even
bikes with suspension at that price, but on a bike that
cheap you really want to avoid suspension if you can,
it'll be heavy and bouncy and largely useless, seems to
be the general opinion.

[Sponix]

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 18:22:33 +0000 (UTC), "Alan"
<reply@thisgroup.please> wrote:

>I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
>will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
>might be good.
>
>I want it for over the weekend (my £30 bike from Safeway
>finally fell to bits - still, 6 months of abuse aint bad!)
>so mail order is no good. Any supermarkets/Halfords doing
>anything?

Larger Asda stores usually have a permanent range of bikes
from around £70 upwards iirc.

sPoNiX

[Paul Landregan]

"Alan" <reply@thisgroup.please> wrote in message
news:c5p899$9lj$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
> I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
> will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
> might be good.
>
> I want it for over the weekend (my £30 bike from Safeway
> finally fell to bits - still, 6 months of abuse aint bad!)
> so mail order is no good. Any supermarkets/Halfords doing
> anything?
>
> I used to have an Apollo Prodigy, which got nicked (D-
> lock!) which was excellent, then I bought a £79 front
> suspension bike from Safeway which
was
> great (until someone tried to nick it, couldn't, and
> kicked it into
oblivion
> instead).
>
> Before anyone tells me I need to spend at least £3000 to
> get a proper
bike -
> I KNOW! I just don't have that kind of money. As long as
> it has good gears and the largest frame you can get
> (62cm/23") I'll be happy!
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>

try looking on eBay. I got a decoent bike on there. 400 quid
in shops 160 on eBay, factory second slight scratches on the
frame, nothint that would be noticed after one downhill
offroad race.

[Oo]

"Alan" <reply@thisgroup.please> wrote in message
news:c5p899$9lj$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
> I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
> will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
> might be good.

Makro wholesalers perhaps?

Theres one here
http://www.makro.co.uk/flash9/nonfood/page46.pdf

for 79.99 (sssp of 179.99)

But I know the wankers usually have a large range in stock.

Good luck.

[Simon Brooke]

in message <c5p899$9lj$1@hercules.btinternet.com>, Alan
('reply@thisgroup.please') wrote:

> I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
> will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
> might be good.

Look at what's available second hand in your local freesheet
or supermarket 'customers adverts' board. You won't get a
new bike under a hundred pounds that's worth the money, but
there are usually lots of good second hand bargains.

--
simon@jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

The Conservative Party now has the support of a smaller
proportion of the electorate in Scotland than Sinn Fein
have in Northern Ireland.

[Martinm]

Zog The Undeniable <hrothgar19@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<408025a8.0@entanet>...
> Alan wrote:
>
> > I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
> > will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
> > might be good.
> >
> > I want it for over the weekend (my £30 bike from Safeway
> > finally fell to bits - still, 6 months of abuse aint
> > bad!) so mail order is no good. Any
> > supermarkets/Halfords doing anything?
> >
> > I used to have an Apollo Prodigy, which got nicked (D-
> > lock!) which was excellent, then I bought a £79 front
> > suspension bike from Safeway which was great (until
> > someone tried to nick it, couldn't, and kicked it into
> > oblivion instead).
> >
> > Before anyone tells me I need to spend at least £3000 to
> > get a proper bike - I KNOW! I just don't have that kind
> > of money. As long as it has good gears and the largest
> > frame you can get (62cm/23") I'll be happy!
>
> You can get a decent secondhand bike for that. You can't
> get a decent new one, unless it's fallen off the back of
> a lorry.
>
> 23" is more like 58cm, by the way.

I would tend to agree with that; but Decathlon were selling
hybrids for £109 a couple of months ago, looked OK and had
front susp. Also a few MTB's at various silly prices.

[Roy Lynch]

Alan <reply@thisgroup.please> wrote in message
news:c5p899$9lj$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
> I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
> will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
> might be good.
>
> I want it for over the weekend (my £30 bike from Safeway
> finally fell to bits - still, 6 months of abuse aint bad!)
> so mail order is no good. Any supermarkets/Halfords doing
> anything?
>
> I used to have an Apollo Prodigy, which got nicked (D-
> lock!) which was excellent, then I bought a £79 front
> suspension bike from Safeway which
was
> great (until someone tried to nick it, couldn't, and
> kicked it into
oblivion
> instead).
>
> Before anyone tells me I need to spend at least £3000 to
> get a proper
bike -
> I KNOW! I just don't have that kind of money. As long as
> it has good gears and the largest frame you can get
> (62cm/23") I'll be happy!
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
>
ALAN Try http://www.sterlinghouse.co.uk/ they are excellent.
I bought 3 bikes from them at Xmas all in A1 condition. They
are very cheap if you compare to other outlets. Cheers Roy

[Simon Hawthorne]

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 18:22:33 +0000 (UTC), "Alan"
<reply@thisgroup.please> wrote:

>I'm looking for the best bike I can find under £100,
>will mostly be used on-road, perhaps front suspension
>might be good.
>

How about something like this - a Marin Bobcat MTB....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=-
3671582061

Currently at £62

[Alan]

"Alan Braggins" <armb@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote in message
news:slrnc80f2p.nf9.armb@chiark.greenend.org.uk...

> maybe-not-decent-but-still-usable bikes at that price.
> The local Halfords does have a bike sale on (they are
> moving along the road soon, but maybe its a general
> sale), and there's a half price Apollo of some sort for
> less than that.

They had said sale round my way, and after having visited my
local specialist, Makro, Safeway, Asda (who don't do bikes
any more!) and finally Halfords, I went for an Apollo
Transition at £129, £50 off the original £179. A very nice
ride too (ooer).

Thanks for all the suggestions here - although I needed
for this weekend, I DID take a look at all the web
suggestions, but with postage and all, it just didn't seem
worth it. I have to ride something at least round the shop
floor before I buy it!

Now I'm off the try my lights out before the cycling purists
flame me for buying an Apollo!