Cheap & Cheerful

[bigbob77]

Need a simple bike just to let me get some excercise. It'll be used on gravel tracks, paths, etc. and I don't mind if it's heavy as I'm a lot heavier and a few extra kg's won't make much difference. For the same reason, rigid suspension and steel frame are probably what I need.

I'd like disc brakes if possible, but cheapness is important... So how low can I go?



On a side-note, I have an old mountain bike that does the job but hasn't been used in a few years. Last time it was used, it was quite rough/sqeaky and the gears felt clunky and the chain used to fall off sometimes. What's it likely to cost to get that one serviced so it's running smooth?

[anonymous-user]

cheap and cheerful rarely combine well, certainly not for new bikes as cheap will fall apart and put you off cycling forever whilst cheerful will cost more money than you aare probably prepared to spend. unless your idea of cheap is a few hundred pounds.

hunt through gumtree and the like for the usual brands inc specialized, marin, gary fisher or trek. you should find something there that will suit you.

reconditioning old bikes is usually a false economy and to be honest, you can pick up 2-3 year old bikes for under £100 these days which are far better quality than old components reconditioned.

[nammynake]

For pure simplicity and low maintenance one of these maybe?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mount...

They get rave reviews. My mate has one and loves it for commuting. Keep the standard tyres for tarmac and light off road use, or fit some fatter knobbly tyres for more serious off roading.

[Mars]

Disc brakes and cheap rarely exist in the same sentence. How cheap?

[Rob81]

That Vee 1 is so cool!

[Gooby]

nammynake said:

For pure simplicity and low maintenance one of these maybe?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mount...

They get rave reviews. My mate has one and loves it for commuting. Keep the standard tyres for tarmac and light off road use, or fit some fatter knobbly tyres for more serious off roading.

That is a very cool bike!

[nammynake]

Rob81 said:

That Vee 1 is so cool!

Indeed. Quite tempted with one myself. My mate loves his - fitted some SPD pedals, changed the grips and that is all. He uses it everyday for his work commute. They have really wide bars so ideal for negotiating traffic. Looks quite cool in the flesh too! Oh and it is very light in comparison to most mountain or hybrid bikes.

[Rob81]

My wife isn't going to like it but I think I have to get myself one of those!

[bigbob77]

That Vee 1 looks like the kind of thing I want, and is just at the upper end of what I would like to pay...

But there are a lot of hills here. And I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need some gears to get my weight up those hills without grinding to a halt.

Is there something else like that - very simple, but with gears & disc brakes?

As an example (not saying this is any good... just showing for example) halfords has this bike with an alloy frame, full suspension and disc brakes for £124... So surely something steel with no suspension should be do-able for do-able the price?

[gradeA]

I'm sorry, but that Halfords bike is beyond crap and is not worth it.

If your budget is £250 and you absolutely must have discs, look out for a Hardrock Sport Disc as they're about that money for a 1yr-old barely-used example, and will do everything you need.

[Mr Will]

bigbob77 said:

As an example (not saying this is any good... just showing for example) halfords has this bike with an alloy frame, full suspension and disc brakes for £124... So surely something steel with no suspension should be do-able for do-able the price?

That's not a bike... it might look like one, but it won't function like one, at least not for long.

At the bottom end of the market, you could do a lot worse than head to decathlon. This: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-50-men-id_816... at £99 should do the trick. It won't be light or fancy, but it won't fall apart the first time you ride it.

And stop worrying about disc-brakes. A decent set of V-Brakes will be more effective than a dodgy set of mechanical discs.

[moleamol]

bigbob77 said:

As an example (not saying this is any good... just showing for example) halfords has this bike with an alloy frame, full suspension and disc brakes for £124... So surely something steel with no suspension should be do-able for do-able the price?

Alloy does not mean aluminium. As cheap as that bike is, it's actually a rip off because it is so terrible.

Full suspension up until around £1000 is useless and will add weight and make a bike worse. IMO front suspension on a bike less than £500 is pointless. Also, terrible discs are much worse than average V Brakes. That bike is so bad that I can't even put it into words.

[aka_kerrly]

gradeA said:

I'm sorry, but that Halfords bike is beyond crap and is not worth it.

If your budget is £250 and you absolutely must have discs, look out for a Hardrock Sport Disc as they're about that money for a 1yr-old barely-used example, and will do everything you need.

Sound advice.

That halfords special will be hideous to ride, the Y frame design of the frame was considered good in 1990 not 2011.

Ebay+gumtree and Retrobikes forum are great places to look for second hand bikes as is Pauls cycles who often stock a lot of last years models. Right now is a good time to buy as there are lot of 2010/2011 models about.

[bigbob77]

Mr Will said:

At the bottom end of the market, you could do a lot worse than head to decathlon. This: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-50-men-id_816... at £99 should do the trick. It won't be light or fancy, but it won't fall apart the first time you ride it.

That looks "cheap and cheerful" to me . A basic new bike instead of getting my old one serviced. And at that price I won't mind if I want to upgrade after a while.

I'll head to Decathlon at the weekend and have a look

[Gooby]

Before you buy a BSO, please read these.

http://www.southcoastbikes.co.uk/articles.asp?arti...

http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/get-cycling/buy...

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Bike_Shaped_O...

http://bicycleshapedobject.wordpress.com/hall-of-s...

Now grasshopper take what you have learnt - scrape your pennies into a pile and ;

http://www.primera-sports.com/products/clearance-m...

[Mr E]

If you're desperate for discs, I have a set of mechanical levers and calipers you can have.

They were bloody awful.

[will_]

Have a look at the Edinburgh Bicycle range.

This might do the job?

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?...

[G0ldfysh]

Rob81 said:

My wife isn't going to like it but I think I have to get myself one of those!

I recently rebuilt an old mountain bike circa early 90's into what now looks like a replica of this, only problem with it is the narrow bars. Was cheaper than the Vitus and I had the fun of the building in my garage but doing it again this would be an option.

Would imagine this weighs a bit less than my steel framed old bike but then training pub bikes are meant to be lightweight are they

[bigbob77]

I went and had a look in Decathlon, and tried a few bikes...

The Rockrider 5.0 mentioned above was ok. Felt cheap but tough.

I also tried out some of the hybrid bikes. I actually prefered the feel of the Original 5 over the cheap mountain bikes. I don't know what it was, but it just seemed like I was sat in a more natural position.
Front suspension and an aluminium frame seems ok - I thought I would be too heavy for the cheap ones, but I didn't really seem to stress it much.

Full suspension on the cheap bikes was like sitting on jelly, though. When I touched the brakes I tilted forward so I was practically looking down at the ground .


So does that 'Original 5' look like it fits the bill of "Cheap and cheerful"? Are there any obvious flaws that I'm missing?

[GreatGranny]

If the only 'off road' stuff yu will do is gravel tracks and towpaths or similar then that hybrid is probably more suitable. The tyres are faster running for the majority of the time you are on the road.