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Mountain bike
Miss_Cinnabon
Posts: 19,481 Forumite
Where's the best place to get a gents mountain bike and which is the cheapest, looking for one for bf for travel to work.
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Comments
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Hi,
There have been similar threads to this one on the board so would be worth doing a quick search to see what responses that generated.
I would be careful about buying a "cheap" bike like the ones you can pick up for £70 at halfords. They weigh a ton and the mechanics are poor quality. I recommend you find a local independent bike shop - they will give you good advice and may have offers on bringing a good quality bike down into your price range.
If you don't mind about the quality then anything Halfords (starting at about £70) do or a company called Cycle King are on the web and may have a branch near to you. or0 -
If you are looking for cheap bikes the best place I could recommend is https://www.sterlinghouse.co.uk
I have dealt with them and they are very good. They usually have special offers.0 -
You could look secondhand. You often see secondhand bikes advertised in the classified ads. You might want to go to a proper bike shop to discuss what you need though. E.g. you say you want a mountain bike but unless your bf's route to work is unusually treacherous he is going to want road tires and gear ratios that will allow him to get up a good speed. Suspension which is necessary on a mountain bike is a secondary concern for a road bike and it's something you pay more for. Is it worth your paying for it? As Musique says, cheaper bikes are heavier. Will your bf have to carry his bike, eg. on and off trains or up steps into your front hall? Even if he doesn't you still have to work harder to cycle a heavy bike but if it's pretty flat where you live it might not matter too much. Does he need carrying capacity? Though I cycle I don't know too much about bikes but I think this is the type of stuff you need to consider to figure out what type of bike you want.
I have a cheapo secondhand "mountain bike" (£20 from a carboot sale), not a proper one, which is quite heavy with no suspension and has 10 gears on two sprokets. It does me alright, gets me from A to B and doesn't attract theft. The gears are annoying though. There are too many for Manchester and they keep sticking, or I loose gear completely, or loose the chain. I'd rather have 3 speed Sturmey Archer.0 -
kittiwoz wrote:The gears are annoying though. There are too many for Manchester and they keep sticking, or I loose gear completely, or loose the chain. I'd rather have 3 speed Sturmey Archer.
Kittiwoz is correct, unless this is just a bit of a fad that you think your BF will give up after 2 weeks, it's worth investing in something reasonable.
I used to commute 15 miles 100% on road, so used quite a nice road bike, v skinny tyres, no suspension, panniers for my luggage etc. But if its a 1-2 mile journey and your fella wants something he can take out into the woods at the weekend for a bit of a laugh, then a front suspension mountain bike might not be the wrong thing either? A full suspension should probably be avoided to be honest (heavy, inefficient and they only really get decent at around the £600 mark)
I've posted before about "bargain" bikes, in my opinion there are only 3 bargains to be had.
1.) 2nd hand - bike devalue very fast, around half their value in a couple of years for more expensive ones (IE a reasonable decent £600 bike might be got on ebay / the local paper for £300 2 years later). You can also find people who got hooked into it as a fad and just want to sell there kit.
2.) Like cars, bike models are "replaced" each year. Mostly the changes are minor alterations to the setup / components of the bike. The good news for you is that bike shops still have to flog "last years bike", around 10 - 30% off
3.) Decathlon (if there's one near you) sells good, own brand, value bikes.
There are some brands which haven't got the "name", but see to do the job, in mountain bikes Claud Butler always seems to sell a good bike, made of good bits at a pretty reasonable price. Not so sure on road bikes I'm afraid.
Bikes from Stirling, Woolies, Supermarkets, Toys R us etc. are cheap, but not (in my opinion again) good value.
E.M.0 -
kittiwoz wrote:The gears are annoying though. There are too many for Manchester and they keep sticking, or I loose gear completely, or loose the chain. I'd rather have 3 speed Sturmey Archer.
Dagnammit, the reason I quoted that bit WAS...
Kittiwoz, it sounds as if your gears just need a bit of fettling (bike geek term for maintenance). Type "rear derailleur maintenance" into google and you should be able to find a number of guides to the last 2 problems. The 1st one may be due to an old chain. Replacing it might be the answer (sorry)
E.M.0 -
Try your local Cashconverters. You can pick up a bargain. Be careful, try before you buy to make sure nothing's wrong. Or try your local bike shop. Many of them sometimes have secondhand bikes for sale that people have traded in for new ones. You want the smaller independent shops, not chains You also get better service and usually more knowledgable staff. There is the added benefit if you buy secondhand from a bike shop, the bike will also have been serviced (worth £30 at least)
Joe
You can always get more with a kind word and a 2-by-4 than with just a kind word.0 -
Hi thanks for the replys, he will be biking on the old railway line as this is flat and less time to get to his work, hopefully he will keep at it as we have a previa and it costs £70 to fill up so expensive to run, trying to cut back on travel as the price of petrol is going up :mad: don't know how he will get on in the winter though :rotfl:0
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An old railway line could be tough on a dedicated road bike, I'd say the're flat, but no tarmac = mud and ruts
So I'd say either a hybrid or a front suspension MTB would fit you best.
If this is a serious endeavour, he should go try a few out, as k the advice of your local bike shop, see what they have to offer...0
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