Looking to get a new bike

vacheron

I'll avoid the bike suggestion as plenty others have chipped in, but can offer advice on the baby seat. Personally I would avoid them like the plague and look at getting a trailer instead. I can go into the reasons why if you want but there are so many negatives and hardly any positives in my opinion.

You won't need a pannier for a baby seat, just pannier mounts on the rear triangle and dropouts will do as many dedicated carriers include their own structural frame. 

mksysb

Shoxt3r said:

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?

You seem to be looking at large chains, such as halfords, argos, decathlon etc., why not go to your local bike shop and see what they have.  You'll probably get a better deal.

Teapot55

I’d agree with the previous poster (@mksyb) about going to a local second-hand bike shop. They can advise you on the best bike for your needs, set the bike up to suit you & they’ll be there when you need any adjustments or repairs in the future. 

Herzlos

Unpopular it may seem, but Halfords have a lot of stock back in now, and with a 10% discount for various memberships, free builds, etc, they aren't a bad place to look. They get a bad reputation but sell a LOT of bikes.

For what you're looking for, one of the leisure hybrids would do - like the Carerra Crossfire - it's nearer to a mountain bike, with front suspension and road tyres, so it'll be better on the road than a mountain bike but be capable of doing gentle trails.

You'd need to have something without rear suspension to fit a pannier rack, though most child carriers attach to the seat post rather than a rack. I'd echo the trailer thing though, it's more stable, can take a lot more weight and you don't risk kicking the kid trying to get on and off! They do take up a lot more space though, which may be a factor depending on what you're doing.

The rush on bikes seems to be slowing now, so you should be able to get more choice of local 2nd hand bikes now.