What bike - please help

leeroy221

Hello,

I am after a new bike. I have been out of the scene for a while now and recently signed up to do a 37 mile event which combines a bit of off road dirt tracks and cycles paths/roads across a moor.

My current bike is a Diamondback Outlook which i have had for 15yrs (never a problem).
I am now after a newer one as the DB is getting a bit hard to cycle - i am also after one with front suspension.

I am ideally looking at £200 max - the bikes i have seen so far are:

Muddyfox Impel - £120 Rutland cycles

Raleigh Freeride - £149 Rutland cycles

Diamondback Outlook - £169 Ebay (new)

Muddyfox Ascent - £149 argos

Raleigh Vermont - £139 argos

Can anyone give me their views on the above bikes or made any recommendations please?

The best bike i have seen so far (my dream bike) is the Merida Matts 20 (in red) but out of my price at £350 locally (have seen on net for £260 but cant afford that much in one hit!)

Please, any recommendations would be gratefully received

Pudseyp

To be really honest....I would beg,borrow or steal the extra hundred quid and get the Merida....or ride what you have untill you can afford it...it's sale time so bargains to be had and as for your list I would not touch them with a barge pole...you may as well spend £100 on a tesco special as they will be built to the same standard.

1mancity2

As pudsey says, try to increase your budget a little,

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-52 ... 56187.html

leeroy221

hi, thanks for the two replies. Are the rockriders any good.... to be honest i have not heard of them before

Pudseyp

leeroy221 wrote:

hi, thanks for the two replies. Are the rockriders any good.... to be honest i have not heard of them before

They are made by Decathlon who are huge in Europe..

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/?gclid=CL_kg ... tAodQV-wHQ

They have massive supermarket size stores throughout the UK, so if there is one near you it may ne good to pay them a vist.

Matt78

If your not in a rush to buy I'd check out eBay. A friend of mine has just picked up a 2005 Marin Rocky Ridge for £245, the only downgrade is the bike had a Rock Shox Judy fitted instead of th originally spec Fox Vanilla. Even so this bike was. £1000 new and would be a much better ride then a new bike of the same price. Not wanting to put down what you have researched but the bikes you have mentioned would shake themselves to pieces if you want to ride off road and in the long term you will end up having to replace bits, and a suspension fork needs to be effective for you to see any benefit.

I would ask yourself what you want to use the bike for? If you want to ride off road (anything more than a dirt track) then go secondhand as a bike designed for the purpose will be much more enjoyable to ride. If you mainly want to ride cycle paths then go for a hybrid without a suspension fork as one of the biggest factors to consider is the weight of the bike that you will have to pedal up hills and less frills will cut down weight.

Hope this is helpful.