Biking novice - new bike needed

Hidden Hippo

Hi everyone,

I'm a relative novice when it comes to cycling properly. However, I am wanting to get a little more involved and start using it as a fitness method, not just for commuting to the station. Just I'm on a very tight budget and looking for something better than my Raleigh Avalanche I am currently using. Lack of good brakes and no suspension mean it isn't especially comfortable, and and I definitely don't want too do lo g stints on the back of it.

Is it possible to get a mountain bike for light offroading which doesn't break the bank. I'm saving for a car so can't really spend more than £150 or so.

Thanks in advance.

supersonic

£150 will get you a basic bike for the duties you say - but will end a careful eye keeping on it. it might not be much better than what you have though. What sort of kit/gears does the Raleigh have on it?

Hidden Hippo

To be honest, the Raleigh has no kit. It's about as basic as you can get with gears. I'm not averse to going second hand, as I'm aware that £150 is next to nothing in bike terms.

Chunkers1980

So what do you want help with or are trying to fInd out?

Hidden Hippo

Well, as I said in the first post - is it possible to get a bike good enough for light offroading which won't break the bank?

By inference I guess I'm asking for particular models I should look at/avoid, or particular parts I could look to find on a model which would make it worthwhile.

Chunkers1980

It's a case of defining off road. Any bike will go off road it's just a case of how well and how long it lasts.

Hidden Hippo

Well, gentle woodland/trail stuff. No big drops, but I'd expect a few baby types. I'd mostly be doing park riding (think Richmond Park), where I know you can do it easily on a road bike, but I'd rather mountain incase I want to go further into the woods.

cooldad

You're not going to get anything with decent suspension for that. Might make more sense to get some better forks and
(assuming you have V brakes) some Avid Single Digit or old XT's. Could easily do it for £150.

Hidden Hippo

Hmm, I'd not thought about building something up from scratch actually. How much would I be looking at for a set of forks and some brakes? Perhaps a nicer saddle too, as the current one isn't great.

Edit: Also, what's the minimum I would need to spend to get a reasonable bike? Second hand is fine too. Is it sometimes cheaper to buy a used frame and build your own (as with computers) or is this not advisable?

cooldad

Depends what will fit. If it's 1 1/8" headtube, On One have Rock Shox Recon Silver for £110, decent brakes on Ebay or Retrobike would be around £20-£30. Charge Spoon saddle £15.
But depends what will fit.

Hidden Hippo

Ok, thanks for that. To be honest, I really have no clue what tube it'll be.

How much would I need to spend for a not terrible new bike?

omegas

Hidden Hippo wrote:

Ok, thanks for that. To be honest, I really have no clue what tube it'll be.

How much would I need to spend for a not terrible new bike?

Subjective but would up you budget over £200 , see what you can find and post some links on here for a second opinion.

386ka

And upping it to 400 will get you a decent bike for everyday trail use.

Do you have any pics of the current bike?

Hidden Hippo

There you go. BAsic as you can get - steel frame, no suspension.

supersonic

A £150 bike would barely be any better. If you can stretch t0 £250 it would be quite a lot better!

Hidden Hippo

Is that £150 used or new? I could probably stretch to £250, just need to go out less one week!

supersonic

Some nice new bikes for that.

Hidden Hippo

What would you suggest? I really am a novice when it comes to thins sort of thing and don't know what I should be looking for in terms of parts.

supersonic

8 speed (or 24 gears) as a minimum. This is a great buy:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Python-Ul ... %26ps%3D54

Fork is a bit ropey, but better than some out there.

Hidden Hippo

I just thought about cycle to work as well actually. My understanding is that they claim back the VAT and then charge you over the course of a year with a fixed final cost. Is it actually cheaper? I wouldn't be using the bike to cycle to work either as I'd be driving - is that allowed?

I'm also debating these:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/nor ... e-ec031690

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/claud ... /104880335

supersonic

You save a very small amount now with C2W. And no, is not allowed ;-)

Only buy second hand if you know the bike is in good condition, or you'll quickly have to learn! You have no warranty either. The Norco looks pretty poor compared to the ebay one, but granted, you can see it and try it.

386ka

Nothing can be done to you current bike. Well, nothing that matters or is sensible to do.

Briggo

supersonic wrote:

You save a very small amount now with C2W.

Yeah, it is crap now. This is my experience so far from the scheme, I'm 20% rate payer and had £1k in vouchers.

From pay packet each month based on 12 monthly instalments. £1000 bike after tax/NI saving = £56.66
At end of 12 month period I extended the 'hire period' for 36 months which costs a deposit fee of 7% based on a £1k bike. £70 fee (this is also just the cost of the cycle, not the equipment), if you keep the bike at the end you don't get this back but if you return the bike you get the £70 back.

So far the bike has cost me £749.92
Saving £250.08
At the end of the hire agreement period they then transfer ownership at no cost.

What a crap saving a measly 25% ish, and to add insult to injury that was all done on a no questions asked interest free loan basis, bastards.

cooldad

supersonic wrote:

And no, is not allowed ;-)

Nope which is why I actually (haha) commute 70 odd miles a day down the M25 on a choice of full sussers. Honestly officer.

Hidden Hippo

Ok, so technically not allowed, but loads of people do use C2W anyway. I figure if I can save £150/200 over the course of a year (the BR calculator gives me a £32% saving or so) that's worth it.

If I were to up the budget to say, £350-400, how much of a better bike would I be able to get?

Edit: I'm slightly confused how the scheme is crap now? Surely a 25% saving on the cost of a bike is a good thing?

supersonic

They are cracking down on it and people are being caught, so beware!

£400 buys some very nice kit ie bikes with hydraulically damped forks and hydro disc brakes.

Remember the terms of C2W have recently changed, existing calculators may well be out.

Hidden Hippo

Hmm, probably not worth the risk then. How often do you have to cycle to work to qualify? At the moment I cycle to the station in the morning and back from there at night. Train and bus the rest of the way.

I think I'll probably need to buy in a lump though - shame. What about the Jamis Trail X2 - any good?

supersonic

You might be ok with that - rules state 50% of the time on bike should be used for getting to work.

The Jamis is bloody awful to be honest! Terrible fork, freewheel gears (7 speed, narrow range, weak axle) and some pretty lowly parts.

Hidden Hippo

Hmm, well I definitely don't spend half of my journey on the bike, probably about 10%.

How about this? The problem I see with the Python linked earlier is I'm 5'8"/172cm so presumable need an 18" frame?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65499#tab1

Alternatively: http://www.all-about-the-bike.co.uk/bar ... 2450-p.asp

supersonic

Again suffers from 7 speed gears. They'll work, but the 8 speed systems are much better. This is much better:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... zone=PDPz1

Superior fork and parts.

Hidden Hippo

Oof, this is all very complicated. Could you give some advice on what I should be looking for - at the moment I've got a sea of numbers and parts, but no idea if anything is good. I did look at the Centos, but given that I've already moved from looking at spending £150 to £250-300, going even higher is pushing it a little I think.

Basically:

Suspension - how much travel is needed? What brand?
Brakes - will there be much benefit in having discs?
Gears - 24? How much extra will 24 give me?
Anything else that I need to look (out) for?

Thanks for all the ideas so far though.