Bike4Work scheme

parking_question_chap

Nasqueron wrote: »

It's a fact that buying a second hand bike has more risk and needs more skill than buying a new bike from store, that's not an opinion - all the reasons I listed above are things a new rider would need to check, which of those are not factual?

The only mention of the OP in the context of C2W is that first post, it's perfectly clear to anyone reading this that the discussion is about C2W in general, not the OP.

Nah disagree, not even sure where your logic comes from.

Perfectly simple for a novice to put a little effort in and get a perfectly good used bike with minimal risk. Risk/reward means used far outweights new.

Nasqueron

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Nah disagree, not even sure where your logic comes from.

Perfectly simple for a novice to put a little effort in and get a perfectly good used bike with minimal risk. Risk/reward means used far outweights new.

All the points I made are things you are suggesting someone with little or no bike experience can check simply which is incorrect e.g. you expect a new rider to be able to check chain wear by sight? As you're just ignoring the points made because you don't actually have a counter argument I'll leave you to it.

parking_question_chap

Not sure why you have added this beginner aspect, presume its to try and add relevance to your opinion. Anyhow, even a beginner will be able to access enough information online to inspect a used cycle. Plenty of people manage to buy cars day in day out and I doubt many of them have a doctorate in engineering.

Never inspected a chain myself. My commuter is about ten years old now, my usage as been in sun, rain and snow. Its on its original chain.

Does it move, stop and change gear and look in half decent nick? If so thats enough for most beginners.

brb off to spend £1,000 on a bike in case the £350 second hand alternative needs £40 spending to have the chain swapped.

Johnmcl7

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Not sure why you have added this beginner aspect, presume its to try and add relevance to your opinion. Anyhow, even a beginner will be able to access enough information online to inspect a used cycle. Plenty of people manage to buy cars day in day out and I doubt many of them have a doctorate in engineering.

Never inspected a chain myself. My commuter is about ten years old now, my usage as been in sun, rain and snow. Its on its original chain.

Does it move, stop and change gear and look in half decent nick? If so thats enough for most beginners.

brb off to spend £1,000 on a bike in case the £350 second hand alternative needs £40 spending to have the chain swapped.

When I was new to cycling I saw a local second hand MTB for sale at around a third of the RRP but had no idea if it was any good or not. Showed some bike friends the spec which they said was decent and went to have a look, bike was around six months old and looked in good condition so I bought it.

Never had any issues with it apart from those I inflicted on it and even if it needed a new chain or similar parts unless the parts are fancier it's not that expensive. I was taking part in a 24 hour race where the mud was abrasive and ruined most of the moving parts on it (https://photos.smugmug.com/Events/Velocity-Cafe-Bike-Runs/i-Wz8q2kC/0/0fbaae25/XL/DSC03130-XL.jpg), that was a couple of hundred to have the bike stripped down, cleaned up and most of the drivetrain replaced. I doubt any second hand bike being sold would be in such poor condition and even if it was, it would be pretty obvious to anyone.

parking_question_chap

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

When I was new to cycling I saw a local second hand MTB for sale at around a third of the RRP but had no idea if it was any good or not. Showed some bike friends the spec which they said was decent and went to have a look, bike was around six months old and looked in good condition so I bought it.

Never had any issues with it apart from those I inflicted on it and even if it needed a new chain or similar parts unless the parts are fancier it's not that expensive. I was taking part in a 24 hour race where the mud was abrasive and ruined most of the moving parts on it (https://photos.smugmug.com/Events/Velocity-Cafe-Bike-Runs/i-Wz8q2kC/0/0fbaae25/XL/DSC03130-XL.jpg), that was a couple of hundred to have the bike stripped down, cleaned up and most of the drivetrain replaced. I doubt any second hand bike being sold would be in such poor condition and even if it was, it would be pretty obvious to anyone.

Thats just it. An absolute wealth of information available on forums, websites, youtube and from friends. And a perfect example of how even a used bike plus a significant clean/rebuild would come in at about half the price of a new one.

I suppose I should be glad that people still buy new bikes, as it enables savvy buyers a plethora of used cycles to pick from a few years later, and in my experience many of them hardly used.