Discussion
Hey guys since its summer time and we might see some sunshine for longer than a week and me not being as active it is time for me to purchase a bike!
One of the main reasons for me purchasing the bike will be to ride on it along the canal and other mainly off-road areas. I am not after a super lightweight frame or hydraulic so on so but would not mind disc brakes and my budget is anything up to £200.
Now I have been told to stay away from cheap full suspension bikes as they break and are just heavy etc but I have a reasonable budget and only need a bike to get me along the summer.
Here is a potential purchase http://biddlebikes.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?... Now please tell me am I looking at a bad bike and can you please point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance
One of the main reasons for me purchasing the bike will be to ride on it along the canal and other mainly off-road areas. I am not after a super lightweight frame or hydraulic so on so but would not mind disc brakes and my budget is anything up to £200.
Now I have been told to stay away from cheap full suspension bikes as they break and are just heavy etc but I have a reasonable budget and only need a bike to get me along the summer.
Here is a potential purchase http://biddlebikes.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?... Now please tell me am I looking at a bad bike and can you please point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance
The bike you are currently looking at will be a completely ineffective, bearing grinding disaster.
Hardtail (fully rigid IMO) is the way forward, but here are a few with front sus;
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gt/outpost-200...
Hardtail (fully rigid IMO) is the way forward, but here are a few with front sus;
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gt/outpost-200...
Edited by Beyond Rational on Monday 20th April 07:26
+1 for what they all say. We're not saying you must have deep pockets, it's just that cheapo "dual" suss mountain bikes are a bloody disaster. When the box says "caution-heavy-2 person lift" and the bike says "not suitable for off road use" you know there's a clue there. Most of these bikes are the cycling equivalent of pretend exhaust pipes and splitters on a 1 litre saxo...no performance gain whatsoever and the car without all this extra crap will actually perform better.
Do think about looking second hand...there are some bargains about, and a £200 second hand hardtail may well be a very reasonable bike with some upgrade potential and proper off road ability.
"Super Dual Suspension Technology" bikes rarely have any form of damping whatsoever...would you remove shock absorbers from a car and then drive it?
Do think about looking second hand...there are some bargains about, and a £200 second hand hardtail may well be a very reasonable bike with some upgrade potential and proper off road ability.
"Super Dual Suspension Technology" bikes rarely have any form of damping whatsoever...would you remove shock absorbers from a car and then drive it?
Don't go near a full suspension bike at that sort of price! May have changed fractionally, but the last time I looked respectable budget full sussers came in at around £800, with decent rides at £1,300+
The moral? If you're not looking to spend much, you're better off getting a very basic rigid (or possibly hardtail) spec with V-brakes. It will be faster and stronger than trying to spend the same amount on a hopelessly optimistic full susser, plus you won't look like you shop at Toys R Us.
Might be worth considering something secondhand or seeing if you can sign up to some sort of ride to work scheme for a discount?
What's your interpretation of "off road" ?
Canal paths, slightly muddy bridlepaths, downhilly bits - none of these /require/ full suspension or even disc brakes. You have to get into some pretty complex stuff before full suspension outweights its disadvantages, and as others have said you won't get much value for £200.
Have a look on local ads/gumtree/bike websites to find yourself something reasonable for that money. Just make sure it's not nicked !
Canal paths, slightly muddy bridlepaths, downhilly bits - none of these /require/ full suspension or even disc brakes. You have to get into some pretty complex stuff before full suspension outweights its disadvantages, and as others have said you won't get much value for £200.
Have a look on local ads/gumtree/bike websites to find yourself something reasonable for that money. Just make sure it's not nicked !
Edited by john_p on Monday 20th April 12:28
I don't think this can be beaten for the price, excellent bike and shop (in Preston):
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&prod...
Job done!
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&prod...
Job done!
dont bother with new. i know its nice to have new shiny things but the quality of bikes at that price is dire. its like the difference between buying one of those new cars from india that are £1500 or a second hand fiesta....
for £200 i would be on ebay lookong for a specilazed hardrock, a gt avalanche, a kona fire mountain or something like that. basically, a reputable brand with a solid frmae and dependable parts.
the commencal is a good buy but its that price because they only have xs sizes left......
for £200 i would be on ebay lookong for a specilazed hardrock, a gt avalanche, a kona fire mountain or something like that. basically, a reputable brand with a solid frmae and dependable parts.
the commencal is a good buy but its that price because they only have xs sizes left......
pablo said:
dont bother with new. i know its nice to have new shiny things but the quality of bikes at that price is dire. its like the difference between buying one of those new cars from india that are £1500 or a second hand fiesta....
for £200 i would be on ebay lookong for a specilazed hardrock, a gt avalanche, a kona fire mountain or something like that. basically, a reputable brand with a solid frmae and dependable parts.
the commencal is a good buy but its that price because they only have xs sizes left......
The Merlin website seems to indicate they have all sizes available except small..for £200 i would be on ebay lookong for a specilazed hardrock, a gt avalanche, a kona fire mountain or something like that. basically, a reputable brand with a solid frmae and dependable parts.
the commencal is a good buy but its that price because they only have xs sizes left......
Agree with what you're saying about horrible budget brand bikes but you can get a good v brake equipped hardtail from a good manufacturer for a lot less than their otherwise similarly specced £500 disc braked version. Especially in a sale as with the earlier posters GT and BeOne examples - well worth increasing the budget to £250 for any of these.
Roman said:
pablo said:
dont bother with new. i know its nice to have new shiny things but the quality of bikes at that price is dire. its like the difference between buying one of those new cars from india that are £1500 or a second hand fiesta....
for £200 i would be on ebay lookong for a specilazed hardrock, a gt avalanche, a kona fire mountain or something like that. basically, a reputable brand with a solid frmae and dependable parts.
the commencal is a good buy but its that price because they only have xs sizes left......
The Merlin website seems to indicate they have all sizes available except small..for £200 i would be on ebay lookong for a specilazed hardrock, a gt avalanche, a kona fire mountain or something like that. basically, a reputable brand with a solid frmae and dependable parts.
the commencal is a good buy but its that price because they only have xs sizes left......
Agree with what you're saying about horrible budget brand bikes but you can get a good v brake equipped hardtail from a good manufacturer for a lot less than their otherwise similarly specced £500 disc braked version. Especially in a sale as with the earlier posters GT and BeOne examples - well worth increasing the budget to £250 for any of these.
i do get annoyed when people are fooled into thinking that because expensive bikes have disc brakes then a) disc brakes are better than any other brakes and b) cheap disc brakes are better than cheap cantilevers.
the things i hate on cheap bikes are cheap components, on a £250 bike, the wheels and groupset will be poo. nothign annoys me more than unreliable parts whcih fail and ruin a days riding. granted on tow paths the chance of them failing is reduced as they are under less stress but it can still happen.
personnly i think there are second hand bargains to be had where a reasonable quality, albeit from the low end of the brand bike has been upgraded and well maintained and is more than adequate for the task in hand in comparison to a cheap new bike built to a price rather than a quality threshold...
Hey thanks for the contributions guys, at this rate I do not know if I will ever order a bike too many choices!!
When I said off road I did not really mean muddy areas and trials etc just mainly along pathways and the canal. I also wanted to see the reasons why I was told to avoid the cheap full suspension bikes and now I get it
When I said off road I did not really mean muddy areas and trials etc just mainly along pathways and the canal. I also wanted to see the reasons why I was told to avoid the cheap full suspension bikes and now I get it
http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/saracen-element-2-moun...
I got one of those as I added it onto a trade price order and its not a bad bike for what you plan to do, especially with some faster rolling tyres. As mine cost me just over £100 I'm happy with it and if I get plenty of use out of it will upgrade towards the end of the year.
I got one of those as I added it onto a trade price order and its not a bad bike for what you plan to do, especially with some faster rolling tyres. As mine cost me just over £100 I'm happy with it and if I get plenty of use out of it will upgrade towards the end of the year.
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