decent winter training bike for £ 200 ?

stronginthesun

not going to use my good bike in the winter , dont want to run or join the gym . so i have an absolute max of £ 200 to spend on a bike . some very good hardly used trek and specialized mountain bikes on ebay for approx this . sure they would be great fun in the winter . what would you do ?

sheffsimon

stronginthesun wrote:

not going to use my good bike in the winter , dont want to run or join the gym . so i have an absolute max of £ 200 to spend on a bike . some very good hardly used trek and specialized mountain bikes on ebay for approx this . sure they would be great fun in the winter . what would you do ?

I've built an MTB up from ebay bits and shed bits for this winter, partly to race cross on, and partly for an alternative to road for some mental variety. All good so far.

I reckon I've spent £100-ish, frame was GT Avalanche from ebay for a fiver. No suspension, either front or rear. V brakes. All simple, cheap and pretty light.

Ebay is your friend in this situation.

jame58rown

Why get an MTB as a winter trainer? you can get really good road bikes for well under £200 on ebay. I got a Raleigh road bike (dunno what make) with downtube shifters must have been a late 90's early 2000's model for less than £70 in full working order.

Just one of hundreds of examples on fleabay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Trek-Road-Bike-US ... 41545a6e8f

Hope this helps

stronginthesun

thought about a road bike . but i live in the middle of nowhere near a towpath and lots of bridleways and thought a mountain bike would make a change . thanks anyway .

unixnerd

i live in the middle of nowhere near a towpath and lots of bridleways and thought a mountain bike would make a change

For that sort of thing an old tourer with normal 700c road wheel running big (say 32mm+) tyres at lowish pressures or around 40psi is fine. And you get the huge winter bonus of proper mudguards to keep dirt off both you and the bike. You don't need a mountain bike :-)

The trouble with mtbs on the road is that the gearing tends to be a bit low.

woodywmb

An old mountain bike with mudguards and slick tyres is a boon in the winter. It will go anywhere and will ride easier on roads if treadless tyres are fitted. Go for SKS double pivot rear mudguard for MTB style wheel-hugging and a Crud catcher front mudguard. Schwalbe City Jets 1.5 are ideal tyres. The advantage of MTB over road bike in winter is that the chunkier frame and wide tyres will boost your confidence. Also, with grippy tyres in the height of winter, you can ride anywhere on all terrains in all weathers. You keep on riding and stay fit, plus if you don't spend much on the basic bike you won't be too dismayed when it gets scraped and bumped - or even when it gets gummed up with road salt.

stronginthesun

thanks ! thats just sold it for me

Pross

Second hand cross bike if you can find one will give you the best of both worlds.

Bigbud

I just picked up a mint Trek 1200 2004 for just a shade over 200, they don't seem to fetch much but have good components on them

cheddarpaul

I picked up a Carrera Virtuoso as my winter hack, £185 and then new tyres, car tape. This will save my good bike and mean I can still get out (once I sort out mudguards)