General advice please (UK)

[David]

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying a new bike, and would like some
general buying advice. I currently have an ancient
moutain bike with 21 gears - basic. My riding is probably
50 miles a week at most, with a mixture of 50% off road
and 50% on road.

I've been looking at off roaders with suspension. I'm
looking to spend a minimum for something decent - maximum
budget is probably £150ish.

OK, the assistant in Halfords (who was about 10) basically
suggested all the bikes with a big price tag. I accept that
the really cheap ones are probably best avoided, but would
something around the £120 mark be suitable for the
miles/terrain I plan on doing?

Any advice appreciated - thanks,

David

 

[Luigi De Guzman]

For more UK-specific advice, try uk.rec.cycling

Consider going to your local (non-Halfords) cycle shop. From
what I saw, Halfords bikes will be awfully heavy, and you
can probably get something better at the local bike shop.
Even the Evans Cycles chain will serve awfully well (but
then, I used to live around the corner from their main shop
in The Cut in SE1)

A hundred and twenty squid might not be enough; figure
two hundred pounds for a good-quality cycle, and look
from there.

What precisely is wrong with your present bike, anyway?

-Luigi

 

[Dirtylitterboxo]

>OK, the assistant in Halfords (who was about 10) basically
>suggested all the bikes with a big price tag. I accept that
>the really cheap ones are probably best avoided, but would
>something around the £120 mark be suitable for the
>miles/terrain I plan on doing?

Posted and emailed...

Please avoid buying a bike from H*lf*rds if possible.
Honestly, experience shows they can too often be more hassle
than they are worth due to naff quality control.

Have a pop over to uk.rec.cycling and post there - you'll
get mucho inofrmatin from a UK-specific cycling newsgroup.

Consider also

http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/

Edinburgh Bicycle consistently gets good write-ups for
budget bikes.

Don't consider suspension on a bike for anything less than
about £500 - if you spend less & get suspension what you'll
get is cheap, nasty and not likely to last. Honest. And if
you are doing on-road, you really, really, really don't
require suspension on road. And for your budget, any
suspension for off-road will be cr*p. Honest.

If you think you really must have suspension, your budget
means that you'll only be able to get anything decent if you
go the second-hand route.

Also - what's wrong with your current bike? Old does not
necessarily mean **** if the bike has been well-maintained.
Indeed an old well-maintained bike can be of better quality
than a new, cheapo cr*p MTB with cr*p suspension. Have you
thought about the possibility of upgrading your current bike
with newer, better quality components?

Another consideration, how about a hybrid?

Just my £0.02 to hopefullyu give you something to
think about.

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correct one remove fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$

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is switched off--

 

[Badger_south]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 12:37:15 -0400, Luigi de Guzman <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>
>For more UK-specific advice, try uk.rec.cycling
>
>Consider going to your local (non-Halfords) cycle shop.
>From what I saw, Halfords bikes will be awfully heavy, and
>you can probably get something better at the local bike
>shop. Even the Evans Cycles chain will serve awfully well
>(but then, I used to live around the corner from their main
>shop in The Cut in SE1)
>
>A hundred and twenty squid might not be enough; figure
>two hundred pounds for a good-quality cycle, and look
>from there.

yah, but only if the seller was a sea-food lover, eh?

-B

>
>What precisely is wrong with your present bike, anyway?
>
>-Luigi

 

[David]

Thanks all - I have posted to uk.rec.cycling too.

> Consider going to your local (non-Halfords) cycle shop.
> From what I saw, Halfords bikes will be awfully heavy,
> and you can probably get something better at the local
> bike shop.

I will certainly have a look at the "proper" shops

> What precisely is wrong with your present bike, anyway?

I haven't ridden for at least two decades, then when the
kids started getting bikes/scooters I needed a means of
rounding 'em up as they will go off in separate directions
all the time. I didn't want to spend a fortune, so picked up
one from free-ads for £30, and I found myself really
enjoying cycling. So, as it's pretty battered, and to be
honest the frame is slightly too big for me then I decided
that a new bike would cheer me up, as I've just been made
redundant.

David

 

[Mike Kruger]

"David" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> > What precisely is wrong with your present bike, anyway?
>
> I haven't ridden for at least two decades, then when the
> kids started getting bikes/scooters I needed a means of
> rounding 'em up as they will go off in separate directions
> all the time. I didn't want to spend a fortune, so picked
> up one from free-ads for £30, and I found myself really
> enjoying cycling. So, as it's pretty battered, and to be
> honest the frame is slightly too big for me then I decided
> that a new bike would cheer me up,
as
> I've just been made redundant.
>
I'm not from the U.K. and so I have no specific advice to
give, but those sound like pretty darned good reasons.
Good luck.

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