Looking to get a new bike

Shoxt3r

Hi all,

I'm looking to get a new bike - it would be for relatively light use at weekends mainly and ideally should have a pannier so that I can attach a seat for my 11-month old baby (any recommendations for those too would be ideal!).

I'm not sure on budget since it's been a while since I got a bike (probably around 15 years ago now!) so i'm not sure what gets me something that will last. I've looked at Halfords and Argos (annoyingly the latter has one but it's out of stock), and Cycles UK have a Dawes but it's on pre-order - presumably because of like-minded people like me wanting to get out on their bikes!

Any thoughts please?

jimbo6977

Stock is a massive problem at present. We recently ordered 1 bike from Millets and 1 from internet-bikes.com in Holland - the Dutch one arrived in 2 days and the Millets one in 3 days. They might not be the most amazing bikes on the planet but for "light weekend use" as you describe they are fine. And they were in stock!

Shoxt3r

Thanks Jimbo!
I tried looking on Millets but they only had a handful of bikes in stock and they were Kids'. I looked on the internet-bikes website but they are unfortunately are a little out of my price range - the cheapest I found was 450 €, or £400 or so.

MaxPerwer

Everyone seems to be buying bikes at the moment! Like @jimbo6977 says, stock is an issue (unless you're going very upmarket). Personally I'd buy a second-hand bike from Facebook marketplace (following all covid rules obviously). You can get some great bike deals on there, I've used it to sell my last 2 Trek's  

Shoxt3r

Cool thanks Max, will bear the Marketplace in mind.

Do you have any recommendations on the type of bike to get? I'll mainly be sticking to trails which are paved though may choose to go off-piste in a forest. I'll likely be wanting to get one with a pannier so I can fit a child seat as I said, or presumably I could just get a bracket for any type of bike instead? Full suspension, front-only or no suspension? Number of gears?

Thanks in advance!

macman

Gumtree is another source, although some of them may be, ahem, 'borrowed'. 
I'd suggest a hybrid for your kind of use, you don't need full suspension. You can fit a seat or pannier to any bike.
If you haven't been on a bike in 15 years, there is little point in spending big money on a new one first time out. A used one is fine as long as there is no frame damage (other than paintwork). If you can't DIY, them your LBS can do a basic service for around £50 to check brakes, transmission, tyres etc.

Shoxt3r

Thanks macman!
Yes I've been warned of "borrowed" bikes available for sale on Gumtree. Thanks for the suggestions. If I'm honest I would rather buy new anyway - get a guarantee and knowledge of where the bike has been etc (especially with Covid).
Would either of the following options be a good match do you think or is it worth spending a little more and getting the third option, for example?

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/indi-kaisa-mens-mountain-bike---20in-578911.html

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/hyc-riverside-100-black-cn-id_8405298.html

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/500-hybrid-bike-grey-id_8405210.html

Also if you have any recommendations for pannier child seats that would be great or would one from Halfords suffice?

macman

The first is a mountain bike, the second two are hybrids, which do you want? For most of your posted usage, a heavy wide-tyred MB is not really suitable. 
You can't get a decent new bike of any kind for £160: they'll all be heavy-framed and use bottom-end components.
I really don't get your point about covid. A 'new' bike out of the box will have been assembled in the shop, it's just as likely to be infected as a used one. and a quick hot wash down will minimise risk anyway.
Lastly, I wouldn't go near Halfords, except to browse.

Shoxt3r

I would guess a hybrid would be good but just curious whether it would hold up if I wanted to do the odd trip to the woods (not downhilling or anything like that, just a level woodland trail).
Thanks for letting me know about budget - I wasn't entirely sure if a cheap bike would be good enough. Could £250-300 get me something decent?

My thought is to get the bike delivered and I assemble it myself but will still look into second hand. A search on eBay didn't turn up anything less than 100 miles away though unfortunately.

What are your thoughts about Halfords? Not trying to start anything, I'm genuinely curious as they were pretty good when my Dad got a bike from them a few years ago 🙂

macman

If you can't find a single suitable bike within 100 miles on eBay then you must live somewhere very remote. Try Gumtree, Nextdoor, local Faceboook groups etc. Many towns have charity groups that restore ad sell donated bikes.
Halfords are to bikes what Currys are to washing machines...I've seen bikes 'assembled' by them with the forks on back to front. 
Decent new bike: budget £450 or more for a decent brand. No point in paying £200 for an uncomfortable clunker that you'll ride once and put in the shed.
Bear in mind that all the big suppliers have very little new stock at present, and what is left will be the stuff they can't sell.

Nebulous2

You’ll get a rideable hybrid for £250-300. At that point you’ll be making compromises, but then you always do. For an enthusiast a £1500-2000 bike will have compromises as well. 

Halfords have a reasonable range of bikes that tend to be slightly higher prices than they should be, but they do sales and 10% discount for British cycling members, which means if you are savvy you can get some very good deals. They also operate a dual-pricing model, so you may get a cheaper deal on click and collect than just rocking up to the shop. 

They’re only as good as the people that work in them. My local Halfords seems to be staffed by young people who are cycling enthusiasts and they always appear to be knowledgeable and competent. From reports elsewhere that certainly doesn’t seem to be the norm.