Complete Cycling Newbie - Advice Please!

[BS30]

Hi Guys

My partner and I have decided that we have had enough of being lazy, lethargic "indoor" people and that we need more fresh air and exercise in our lives. Cycling was the natural choice as it gives us the flexibility to venture further afield than walking/running, in theory, with the added benefit that using a car in Bristol is bordering on impossible these days...

Our trouble is our budget...we really want to spend as little as possible without it being a false economy. I'm very much a disciple of "buy cheap...buy twice" but on the flipside, we've just bought our first house and we just don't have the spare funds to dedicate serious money to something that we don't honestly know how long it will last (though I'm hopeful that we will both really enjoy it).

Having said that, we have no illusions of yellow jerseys...we just want to get some more exercise and get out of the house more, so hopefully our needs are fairly basic in terms of the "calibre" of bike we would need.

But I have simply no idea where to start...do we buy new/used? I have no idea about which stores are reputable and which I should avoid...I'm clueless about maintenance etc. and what additional gear we would need to get started...

If anyone could give me some beginner's advice or point me towards some good information, that would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

[BS30]

I'd never even heard of that store but a quick check of their website suggest there is nothing local.

m444ttb said:

Do you have a figure in mind per bike? That will help a lot. Plenty of good bike shops in Bristol for all sorts of budgets though.

Thanks for that, I was thinking maximum of £150-£200 per bike but I have no idea if this is a good bad or ugly budget. It's best to assume I know precisely bugger all at this point :-)

[BS30]

daddy cool said:

...and you need to think about what sort of riding you are likely to be doing - pure off-road (in which case a mountain bike) or pure on-road, or something inbetween - some roads and also canal paths etc (in which case a hybrid might be best - a mountain bike look/feel, but with skinner tyres)

I would have thought that it would probably be a bit of both - we live in a typical city suburb where it's 90% residential so lots of roads but I like to think we'd be able to use them in an off road capacity as well as there's lots of nice parks and woodland etc in the local(ish) area

[BS30]

Thanks for the advice Davey.

In that case would you recommend a mountain bike as a good starting point? I'm making an assumption that a mountain bike will be better on the road than a road bike would be in the forest! I don't know if that's a reasonable assumption?

I seem to see lots of people on mountain bikes cycling around the suburbs and I remember us having mountain bikes as kids even though we only ever rode on the road, so to speak!

Whilst I'm definitely not against buying used in principle, my worry is that I know so little that I wouldn't really have any idea of what to look out for when buying used, ie red flags that an experienced cyclist would spot and I wouldn't.

[BS30]

Thanks for all the advice folks, lots to think about! Much appreciated