buying a bike (newbie)

Kitty

Thanks for the advice folks, useful answers. Think I'll try
a second hand bike if I can . Any good makes ? , all I know
is Raleigh?! :-/

Ta,

H.

David Martin

Kitty wrote:
> Hi, I want to buy a cycle, is it possible to get
> something reasonable for under £100 ?

If you buy secondhand and are prepared to wait for a bargain.

> I'll be
> using it mainly on level trails, not roads or
> steep hills (hopefully).

Roads and hills are fun. Honest!

> Any good deals online ? I presume I'd best avoid
> Halfords ?

Edinburgh Bicycle have a sale starting Monday. Their own brand bike, the
revolution, is an absolute steal at 229 GBP and is really about the
cheapest anyone would consider paying for a bike that will not make you
wish you hadn't bought something better very quickly.

Don't forget to factor in things like a lock (if you want to keep the
bike) and lights if you are going to use it at night. There are many
other extras one can get but that depends on what you will be doing with it.


...d

Simon Brooke

in message <33ldkrF3ttv95U1@individual.net>, Kitty
('sdrgfsgr@stghw.com') wrote:

> Thanks for the advice folks, useful answers. Think I'll try
> a second hand bike if I can . Any good makes ? , all I know
> is Raleigh?! :-/

Good brands which you are likely to find cheap second hand include Dawes
(pretty reliable - almost all Dawes bikes have been reasonably good),
Claud Butler (similar but somewhat less good), Carlton (a name used by
Raleigh for their 'premium' bikes up to about 1985) and, I think,
Holdsworth. For the rest there used to be (and to some extent still
are) a host of small artisan builders in the UK many of whose bikes are
very good indeed. The good ones will typically have a black-and-green
'Reynolds Tubes' sticker somewhere on the frame. This should say
'531' (good), '531c', '531cs' or '531st' (better), '753' or '853' (the
best, but rare). Beware '500' or '501' stickers which look
superficially similar - these are the bottom of the Reynolds tubing
range. This doesn't mean the bike isn't any good but it does mean it
was cheap when it was new and thus probably not as good.

Another clue to whether a bike is any good is to check the components -
things like the gear mechanisms, hubs, cranks. If any of these are
marked 'Campagnolo', 'Stronglight' or 'Specialites TA' there's a fair
bet that the bike is a good one, because these brands have always been
high price and high quality.

Raleigh is a can of worms. The best Raleighs (including, particularly,
the Course, Super Course, Royal, Royale, Team and Team Professional
models) are exceedingly nice bikes, but Raleigh always produced some
crap and for the last fifteen years or so they haven't produced
anything good. Peugeot are like Raleigh - the best are excellent, the
worst are crap.

Over the past ten years many of the quality bikes in the UK have been
imported, mostly from the US. Names to look for include Cannondale,
Trek, Specialized, Klein, Santa Cruz.

When looking at a second hand bike, check that (roughly in order of
importance)

* The frame is not bent or twisted, and most importantly is not cracked,
anywhere. While steel frames may be repairable this is *not* going to
be cheap to fix; Aluminium, titanium or carbon fibre frames are not
usually repairable.

* Both wheels turn freely and are true - that is, they don't appear to
wobble when spun (wheels which aren't true can be trued, of course);

* The steering turns freely but is not loose in its bearing (if not, the
headset bearing can *usually* be serviced relatively cheaply);

* The brakes work (if not can relatively cheaply be serviced or
replaced);

* The gears work (if not can relatively cheaply be serviced or
replaced);

* The cranks turn freely but without any side-to-side or up-and-down
play (if not, the bearing can be replaced relatively cheaply).

Essentially, provided the frame is good, everything else can be sorted
out, but (unless you can service a bike yourself) you ought to
notionally budget about £50 for each item which needs sorted.

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

See one nuclear war, you've seen them all.

Simon Brooke

in message <1104508841.496882.52500@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, Jon
is Away! ('jon@restlesslemon.co.uk') wrote:

> Not Responding wrote:
>> Halfords offer a good selection of bikes and their own brands can be
>> good (I have one).
>
> On this subject. Does anyone know of an alternative to the Subway 8
> that is around that price? [1]

Cannondale do a 'Street Nexus' which uses the same hub, but needless to
say it's twice the price of Halfords own-brand. To be fair, it also has
the 'road optimised' version of the Headshock suspension fork.

Ridgeback apparently have something called a 'Nemesis' (I kid you not)
at £450 <URL:http://www.ridgebackbikes.co.uk/bikes/bike.asp?bikeID=117>
- mechanically similar to the Subway but without mudguards. Still,
plenty of mudguard clearance. Or a Neutron, at the same price, which
includes the Nexus dynohub (but V brakes not hub brakes), which is
probably a better buy
<URL:http://www.ridgebackbikes.co.uk/bikes/bike.asp?bikeID=122>.


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

;; this is not a .sig

Chris Malcolm

wafflycathcs@aol.compomcom (dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers) writes:

>>Hi, I want to buy a cycle, is it possible to get
>>something reasonable for under #100 ? I'll be
>>using it mainly on level trails, not roads or
>>steep hills (hopefully)

>Have a look at
>http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/
>The buget bikes (own brand) from this company consistently get good write-ups
>in the press about being good value for money.

You can sometimes get last year's unfashionable but still new model
from them for a good discount.
--
Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Martin Wilson

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 08:59:19 -0000, "Kitty" <sdrgfsgr@stghw.com>
wrote:

>Hi, I want to buy a cycle, is it possible to get
>something reasonable for under £100 ? I'll be
>using it mainly on level trails, not roads or
>steep hills (hopefully)
>
>Any good deals online ? I presume I'd best avoid
>Halfords ?
>
>Cheers.
>
>H.
>

As an alternative view to many here. I have to say I bought a cheap
bike (no suspension) for £60 and I've been very happy with it. I
bought it in order to lose weight and was in the order of 26-27 stone
when I started. Yes I rode a £60 bike at about 26 stone and lived to
tell the tale. I'm not saying the bike has great performance or
anything like that but it is strong and does work, I enjoy riding it
and I've not really had any trouble with it. I've ridden it now for
perhaps 600-700 miles and now weigh about 20 stone (well 21 stone
probably thanks to stuffing myself this christmas). In the new year
depressingly I'll be back on the diet to lose more weight.

That isn't a recommendation for a cheap bike I might add but there
certainly not as bad as some people make out here.

Zog The Undeniable

Jon is Away! wrote:

> On this subject. Does anyone know of an alternative to the Subway 8
> that is around that price? [1] My mum is looking at bikes and I'd like
> to try her on a hub-geared beast of some variety, but Halfords no
> longer have any Subway 8s in stock online or in any of the stores I've
> tried.

They had one in the Swindon store last time I looked (a couple of weeks
ago). Remember to budget for some mudguards if it's to be a practical
bike.

Not Responding

Martin Wilson wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 08:59:19 -0000, "Kitty" <sdrgfsgr@stghw.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Hi, I want to buy a cycle, is it possible to get
>>something reasonable for under £100 ? I'll be
>>using it mainly on level trails, not roads or
>>steep hills (hopefully)
>>
>>Any good deals online ? I presume I'd best avoid
>>Halfords ?
>>
>>Cheers.
>>
>>H.
>>
>
>
> As an alternative view to many here. I have to say I bought a cheap
> bike (no suspension) for £60 and I've been very happy with it. I
> bought it in order to lose weight and was in the order of 26-27 stone
> when I started. Yes I rode a £60 bike at about 26 stone and lived to
> tell the tale. I'm not saying the bike has great performance or
> anything like that but it is strong and does work, I enjoy riding it
> and I've not really had any trouble with it. I've ridden it now for
> perhaps 600-700 miles and now weigh about 20 stone (well 21 stone
> probably thanks to stuffing myself this christmas). In the new year
> depressingly I'll be back on the diet to lose more weight.
>
> That isn't a recommendation for a cheap bike I might add but there
> certainly not as bad as some people make out here.

Good point. Most people here have ridden quality bikes and have seen the
world of difference that an extra £150 budget makes. We're forgetting
that even a crap bike is still a bike.

turkeytickler

Kitty wrote:
> Hi, I want to buy a cycle, is it possible to get
> something reasonable for under £100 ? I'll be
> using it mainly on level trails, not roads or
> steep hills (hopefully)
>
> Any good deals online ? I presume I'd best avoid
> Halfords ?
>
> Cheers.
>
> H.
>
>
I would second the opinions of those saying avoid Halfords - the quality
of the bikes is very poor.

Have you looked a decathlon? Very good stuff very competetively priced.
I still think you will struggle for a good _new_ bike at 100quid
however.

JLB

Not Responding wrote:
> Martin Wilson wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 08:59:19 -0000, "Kitty" <sdrgfsgr@stghw.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi, I want to buy a cycle, is it possible to get
>>> something reasonable for under £100 ? I'll be
>>> using it mainly on level trails, not roads or
>>> steep hills (hopefully)
>>>
>>> Any good deals online ? I presume I'd best avoid
>>> Halfords ?
>>
>> As an alternative view to many here. I have to say I bought a cheap
>> bike (no suspension) for £60 and I've been very happy with it. I
>> bought it in order to lose weight and was in the order of 26-27 stone
>> when I started. Yes I rode a £60 bike at about 26 stone and lived to
>> tell the tale. I'm not saying the bike has great performance or
>> anything like that but it is strong and does work, I enjoy riding it
>> and I've not really had any trouble with it. I've ridden it now for
>> perhaps 600-700 miles and now weigh about 20 stone (well 21 stone
>> probably thanks to stuffing myself this christmas). In the new year
>> depressingly I'll be back on the diet to lose more weight.
>>
>> That isn't a recommendation for a cheap bike I might add but there
>> certainly not as bad as some people make out here.
>
>
> Good point. Most people here have ridden quality bikes and have seen the
> world of difference that an extra £150 budget makes. We're forgetting
> that even a crap bike is still a bike.

I'm not disagreeing, since Martin's experience speaks for itself. Yet it
is still the fact that an astonishing number of bikes are bought each
year in the UK, and quite a few obviously get little or no use; someone
who buys a cheap bike and is quickly disillusioned with its performance
and its mechanical inadequacies, to the point where they abandon it, has
not saved money at all. They have wasted every penny they have spent.

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot
make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who
consider price only are this man's lawful prey." - John Ruskin

The best way by far to get a decent bike without spending too much is to
avoid all unnecessary extras. As has already been said, cheap suspension
is often a detriment, not an advantage. Get a solid frame and the money
saved by not having suspension will go a long way on the other components.

--
Joe * If I cannot be free I'll be cheap

Michael MacClancy

On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 14:53:40 +0000, JLB wrote:


>
> I'm not disagreeing, since Martin's experience speaks for itself. Yet it
> is still the fact that an astonishing number of bikes are bought each
> year in the UK, and quite a few obviously get little or no use;

True.

> someone who buys a cheap bike and is quickly disillusioned with its
> performance and its mechanical inadequacies, to the point where they
> abandon it,

But this might not be the reason they don't cycle. They may have thought
that cycling would be a good idea but don't like the physical exertion.
This would almost equally well be true on a very expensive bike.

> has not saved money at all. They have wasted every penny
> they have spent.

And would have wasted more on an expensive bike they never use. Perhaps
when they buy cheap bikes they're just being pragmatic.
>
snipped
>
> The best way by far to get a decent bike without spending too much is to
> avoid all unnecessary extras. As has already been said, cheap suspension
> is often a detriment, not an advantage. Get a solid frame and the money
> saved by not having suspension will go a long way on the other components.

True.
--
Michael MacClancy

Kitty

"Martin Wilson" <ebay1@martin66.screaming.net> wrote in message
news:s28et0hmnbs0tmgetquq4a5ouuiiu4v2b6@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 08:59:19 -0000, "Kitty" <sdrgfsgr@stghw.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Hi, I want to buy a cycle, is it possible to get
> >something reasonable for under £100 ? I'll be
> >using it mainly on level trails, not roads or
> >steep hills (hopefully)
> >
> >Any good deals online ? I presume I'd best avoid
> >Halfords ?
> >
> >Cheers.
> >
> >H.
> >
>
> As an alternative view to many here. I have to say I bought a cheap
> bike (no suspension) for £60 and I've been very happy with it. I
> bought it in order to lose weight and was in the order of 26-27 stone
> when I started. Yes I rode a £60 bike at about 26 stone and lived to
> tell the tale. I'm not saying the bike has great performance or
> anything like that but it is strong and does work, I enjoy riding it
> and I've not really had any trouble with it. I've ridden it now for
> perhaps 600-700 miles and now weigh about 20 stone (well 21 stone
> probably thanks to stuffing myself this christmas). In the new year
> depressingly I'll be back on the diet to lose more weight.
>
> That isn't a recommendation for a cheap bike I might add but there
> certainly not as bad as some people make out here.

I'm really getting a bike for the same reason (I'm only 13 stone though ;-)

Which bike did you get Mike ?

H.

Zog The Undeniable

JLB wrote:

> "There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot
> make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who
> consider price only are this man's lawful prey." - John Ruskin

Ruskin goes on..."It is unwise to pay too much, but it is also unwise to
pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that is
all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the
thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting
a lot...it can't be done.

If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the
risk you run. And if you do that you will have enough to pay for
something better."

There's also the old joke about the astronaut: an astronaut in space in
1970 was asked by a reporter, "How do you feel?"
"How would you feel," the astronaut replied, "if you were stuck here, on
top of 20,000 parts each one supplied by the lowest engineering bidder?"

Martin Wilson

>> That isn't a recommendation for a cheap bike I might add but there
>> certainly not as bad as some people make out here.
>
>I'm really getting a bike for the same reason (I'm only 13 stone though ;-)
>
>Which bike did you get Mike ?
>
>H.
>

The bike I got was a 20" frame mountain bike. No suspension and extra
thick steel tubing. Construction quality is generally very good,
excellent welds, good wheels both front and back have 36 spokes so
pretty strong. Brake levers are a bit cheap looking but not had any
problem with them. I did change the rear deraileur as it made gear
changing a bit smoother/quicker but there wasn't really a problem with
the original its just my commute involves a long journey uphill and
its hard to change gear under load so I thought I'd improve it with a
better deraileur. I used it for about 4-5 months with the original
deraileur.

I've been surprised by how good the quality of the parts are on the
bike. The BB had excellent quality caged bearings which I was
surprised at but actual assembly was a bit mean on grease and there
was a bit of swarf inside.

In the time I've had it I've regreased the wheel and BB bearings but
didn't have to. I have also tensioned the spokes and adjusted them to
improve any minor bends in the wheel and that I probably did need to
do.

I believe the bike is a lot stronger than most of the more expensive
bikes. I'm not particularly keen on aluminium bikes based on 7005
aluminium. This is the material used for the very cheapest aluminium
bikes plus many top brands too on their budget models. I believe my
bike to be a lot stronger than most bikes using this material.

My bike was bought from Parkers of Bolton who sell on ebay. They don't
sell the same bike anymore. I did see a bike very similar to mine in
safeway many months ago. Although the frame I swear was identical
everything else had been downgraded. The wheels had 32 spokes instead
of 36 and a lot of the things that were metal on mine had turned to
plastic and it was £80.

Considering its thick tubeing and 36 spoke wheels I don't think my
bike is too heavy. Its about 15kg-15.5kg.

I don't know what will be the ideal bike for you but there are many
factors to consider. First of if your not mechanically minded and have
no one to pester to sort such problems out you are going to rely more
on your local bike dealer. If this is the case you obviously shouldn't
choose ebay/online etc.

You'll probably find the friendliest and most competent bike dealer is
an independant type cycle shop but not necessarily so. Your Halfords
may be worth dealing with although most aren't.

Once you've chosen your shop just go in and take as much time as you
possibly can looking, asking questions and sitting on some of the
bikes. Then definitely go away without buying with as many brochures
as you can and ponder your options. Then report on what bikes your
considering here and will shoot them down in flames with petty
complaints about them ;-)

Hopefully you'll end up with a bike that you won't have much to
complain about.

However if you are reasonably competent mechanically then both online
and secondhand options become available to you.

Oh yeah its Martin not Mike.