Thinking about buying a new [budget] bike

arcon5

Okay I won't be rushing to Halfords any time soon.

My bikes gears have now decided to play up argh!!

My current bike was second hand and seemed pretty good when I bought it (other than some cosmetic issues), Eliza really sums it up well - I know nothing about bikes, also don't know anybody that does!

And with a budget of £100 (no room to go higher either) i'm left between a rock and a hard place.

Mids_Costcutter

As others have mentioned there are some independent bike shops that sell refurbished bikes. There you can at least be sure that the bikes will have been checked over by an experienced mechanic and be roadworthy - not the case if you buy from Ebay, Gumtree etc.

Also there are a number of bike re-use projects around the country that sell second-hand bicycles to the public. Again these will generally have been worked on by volunteers with skills and training as bike mechanics, so you shouldn't have to worry about spotting crash damage to a frame for example. For the nearest projects to you visit this directory on the CTC web site:

http://www.ctc.org.uk/bike-recycling

Eliza_2

Our local authority (National Park) bike hire place sometimes sells bikes at the end of the season. Just wondering if people think these might be worth looking at. They are likely to be quite sturdy and maintained. What does anyone think?

arcon5

Well went to Halfords this weekend to look at some of their socket sets (absolutely brilliant stuff is there Halfords Advanced tools)... anyway went to chat with the guys in the bike section and credit to them he was quite honest - said it's likely it the wheels would suffer with me up and down curbs etc on the bike I was looking at. Although did say even the expensive ones would at some point come untrue slightly over time.
Although he did also say they offer a maintenance plan for £20 for the year so if the wheels did come untrue during that year it would be a case of bringing it back and they would true it for free under this plan (which includes labour, but not parts).

Still looking around and having a think about it and hopefully next week i'll make a decision on how to proceed.

Norman_Castle

Learning to maintain your bike yourself and stopping riding up and down curbs would save you a lot of time and money.

Try your library for bike maintenance books.

Marco_Panettone

Youtube is also pretty good for bike maintenance instructions too - and free!

arcon5

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Learning to maintain your bike yourself and stopping riding up and down curbs would save you a lot of time and money.

Try your library for bike maintenance books.

To be fair I do always try to use the sloped curbs if possible - but often with little on' on back we use pavement and it's not always possible. None the less i've never really hit the curbs hard either.

Cash-Cows

Those prices mention that there is shop build charge of £19.99.

arcon5

Cash-Cows wrote: »

Those prices mention that there is shop build charge of £19.99.

Or build yourself = FREE (assuming instructions or better than the ones ikea give out)

dandelionclock30

arcon5 wrote: »

Or build yourself = FREE (assuming instructions or better than the ones ikea give out)

Assuming you have the right toolkit more like.