Is it possible to get an 'ok' bike for about £100?

ratechaser · 13 July 2017 at 9:09AM

Morning all,

Having searched some of the threads on this board, I almost hesitated to ask the question, given what some people seem to be happy to pay for a bike, but anyway...

Basically I'm just looking for a couple of cheap bikes for occasional use (no more than once a week) on a nice day. Wouldn't be heading over any really tough terrain, more country/woodland paths - anywhere which leads towards one of the many country pubs/restaurants in my area!

I can certainly see options around the £100 mark, and given I've not really cycled (centerparcs aside) since I was a teenager, I just want something basic, with a few gears, that won't fall apart after a month, or cut my backside to ribbons

Any suggestions/recommendations would be welcome!

thanks
RC

scd3scd4 · 13 July 2017 at 9:56AM

I ride 300 miles a month to work and back. I would not touch a £100 new bike rather a second hand one for £100 if that is all I had to spend.

I ride a hybrid. A cross between a slick or racing bike and a mountain bike should do you. I would up my budget. You really do get what you pay for with bikes. I would be looking to spend a few hundred to be honest. You really will appreciate the difference if you could compare and what you will save in maintenance and something breaking a few miles for home would be money well spent.

Have you a Evans shop near you or maybe even Halfords? Maybe pop into a local independence and have a look and feel. Many bikes can be purchased on interest free for a year.

rdr · 13 July 2017 at 10:04AM

Decathlon sell some cheap bikes that are not total rubbish.
Even so £100 is pushing it, even for there, £150 or £200 will get you a far nicer bike. If you know a competent bike mechanic you can do much better second hand.

Strider590 · 13 July 2017 at 8:53PM

A cheap bike is great way to put you off riding.

esuhl · 13 July 2017 at 9:42PM

I've always had a bike since I was a kid. Until a while back, it was always a cheap bike that I'd take out for a few miles once a week in the height of summer.

The bike that "got me into cycling" (as in, cycling a fair distance fairly regularly) was a £125 bike I bought online (brand new) in the late 1990s.

I'd had it for a decade with little use, then got "hooked" on cycling to unwind after work. I knew the bike was heavy, the shocks were useless, the gears were worn and hard to adjust accurately... but I loved it. For a 3 or 4 mile explore every now and then it was fine.

Six years ago, I decided it was worth upgrading to a £500 bike, and the performance was so much better. Since then I've also spent a lot in tools, oils, greases, replacement parts, etc., but it gives me a lot more pleasure than my old cheap bike.

But there's no denying that the cheap bike was a lot of fun, and with occasional use and minimal maintenance, it lasted ten years. There's a lot of snobbishness when it comes to bikes and how much to spend. In some ways it's justified because at the low price points, you can get a lot more "bang for your buck" by spending more.

But if you just want a cheap way to get into cycling, just for the occasional fairly-short jaunt on a summer's day, or to see if you enjoy it enough to spend more money on a decent bike, then cheap bikes can be worth it.

But even so, I'm not sure what you'd get for £100 today. Maybe you should look at second-hand bikes, or save a bit more. I reckon £200+ (maybe £250+) would be a good starting point if you can afford it.

On cheap bikes, I always find the gear shifting to need occasional adjustment. If there's one thing you should learn when you get a bike, it's how to adjust the gears properly.

macman · 13 July 2017 at 11:21PM

Go to a place that refurbs bikes to raise funds for charity and to offer youth training. The Salvation Army and others run these. You will get a decent used bike that has been properly checked over and serviced, and any damaged parts replaced. Usually the chain and the brake and gear cables are renewed. It will have some cosmetic blemishes, but these are not important.
Go to Halfords and for that money you will get only a BSO (bicycle shaped object )that is built down to a price and has the cheapest and nastiest components imaginable, and poorly assembled into the bargain. Guaranteed to put you off cycling!

scd3scd4 · 14 July 2017 at 8:53AM

Can not say I agree completely. Some of Halfords Boardmans would do the casual ride just fine.

rdr · 14 July 2017 at 9:41AM

scd3scd4 wrote: »

Can not say I agree completely. Some of Halfords Boardmans would do the casual ride just fine.

True but they are more than £100 and it is a total lottery if the forks are the right way around, let alone anything more technical.

macman · 14 July 2017 at 10:58AM

scd3scd4 wrote: »

Can not say I agree completely. Some of Halfords Boardmans would do the casual ride just fine.

But the cheapest Boardman hybrid is £400 new! OP's budget is a quarter of that. The cheapest Decathlon B'twin hybrid is £149: and the spec is dreadful. Welded one piece bars and stem, plastic pedals, plastic brake levers, only 8 gears, scaffold pole frame...need I go on?

Aretnap · 14 July 2017 at 11:17AM

My mate bought a £100 bike from Halfords. He thought he'd got a really good deal because it had been "reduced" from £300 (anyone who actually paid £300 for it would have been getting severely ripped off).

He did manage to do 30-mile rides with me on it, but it looked like a heroic effort. I have fairly vivid memories of gentle downhill slopes where I'd be freewheeling, he'd be pedalling rather furiously... and I'd be accelerating away from him. (I was riding a £500 hybrid at the time, so hardly a pro-racing bike).

Soon enough he went out and spent a few hundred quid on a better bike, and riding became a lot more fun. Buy cheap, buy twice.

If your budget is a hundred quid or so then I suspect you'd be better off looking for a decent quality bike second hand rather than a very low-spec one new.

scd3scd4 · 14 July 2017 at 12:44PM

macman wrote: »

But the cheapest Boardman hybrid is £400 new! OP's budget is a quarter of that. The cheapest Decathlon B'twin hybrid is £149: and the spec is dreadful. Welded one piece bars and stem, plastic pedals, plastic brake levers, only 8 gears, scaffold pole frame...need I go on?

The reply had no reference to price. It was a comment on Halfords and bikes and that they sell decent Boardmans.

You need not go on as I ride a £650 Whyte Hybrid and do 300 miles minimum a month and have done for nearly 4 years summer and winter.

I would never take my bike for repair in Halfords but use an independent who knows me. I suggested paying more or looking for a second hand bike.

Is it possible to get an 'ok' bike for about £100?

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