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Women's Hybrid/City Bikes around £200

IndranilIndranil Posts: 70
edited June 2011 in Commuting general
Hi All! Planning to buy a bike for my girlfriend with a budget around £200. She wants a hybrid/city bike. I was looking at city bikes in Decathlon and really liked their city bike range (ELOPS series). Specifically like this one as it comes with almost everything a biker needs: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/elops-5-172069987/
Any idea if they are any good or any better suggestions?

Posts

  • Danny1962Danny1962 Posts: 58
    Honestly, whatever you get new for £200 won't be a lot of good. There will be compromises somewhere, even if you can't see them now. You'll eventually wish you'd bought something of higher quality.

    If that's really your budget, you would do better to buy secondhand. Ebay have often got used women's Dutch bikes for less than £200 -- they are on the hefty side but they are well built and are likely to last for years yet. They are absolutely made for the city and have plenty of continental chic to them. If you live somewhere hilly and she finds the gearing too high, it can be reduced. If you live somewhere flat and that's only where she's planning to use it, 3 gears in a hub is all she needs.
  • Danny1962Danny1962 Posts: 58
    An example of one of the gems on eBay recently was this one:

    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 546wt_1139

    Went for £100, will last for decades. Or can be sold with minimal depreciation whenever it suits.
  • roger_merrimanroger_merriman Posts: 6,155
    Indranil wrote:
    Hi All! Planning to buy a bike for my girlfriend with a budget around £200. She wants a hybrid/city bike. I was looking at city bikes in Decathlon and really liked their city bike range (ELOPS series). Specifically like this one as it comes with almost everything a biker needs: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/elops-5-172069987/
    Any idea if they are any good or any better suggestions?

    If that is what she wants then on paper it looks okay, as long as it's popping down to shops etc for short journeys then it will likely be fine.

    clearly it will be heavy plus dynamo will mean it will make mountains out of molehills!

    cheap V brakes tend to horrible.

    this said if it's used for pottering down to the park in flowery dresses etc, be fine, i suspect winter would do bad things to drive chain/brakes.
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