New bikes for my wife and my son

mkennerley

We are looking at getting a new bike for my Son's 8th birthday and my Wife.

The bikes will be used for mixed road/off roading such as forest trails etc for family days out.
We don't mind "last years" model as they tend to be better value for money.
Budget is pretty much what the two bikes below are: £500 for both bikes.

I have seen the following bikes that look good to me and was wondering what peoples opinions were on them.
If you have any other suggestions then let me know:

For my son: Ridgeback MX24 £225 http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Ridgeback-MX24-24w-2013-Junior-Bike_56575.htm

For the wife: Felt QW5 2012 £260 http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-ladies-qw5-2012/

lostboysaint

I'd look s/h for the son's bike as he'll grow out of it either sizewise or interest wise and you'll get a better spec and a better return. When that's sorted then you should find more money for your wife's bike. That Felt is ok but with v-brakes and 8 speed there's a lot of "old school" about it. A clever bit of shopping will find you at least discs and 9 speed.

mkennerley

The wife can't have discs as I don't have them on mine

Joking apart, I was avoiding bikes with discs as I thought with bikes <£500 we would end up with inferior parts elsewhere??

chrisw333

This looks good for the wife, if she fits a small (someone else posted this suggestion earlier).
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?show=4362

For the 8 year old, the Ridgebacks look good value to me. But also you should be able to find a decent specialized hotrock 24 (or similar) on ebay for about £150. I bought one for my lad and even though it is heavier than he old Islabike it seems an excellent bike and he is still absolutely delighted with it.

lostboysaint

chrisw333 wrote:

This looks good for the wife, if she fits a small (someone else posted this suggestion earlier).
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?show=4362

For the 8 year old, the Ridgebacks look good value to me. But also you should be able to find a decent specialized hotrock 24 (or similar) on ebay for about £150. I bought one for my lad and even though it is heavier than he old Islabike it seems an excellent bike and he is still absolutely delighted with it.

Good advice!

mattrixdesign2

My wife has a Carrera Vulcvan (Womens Spec) and the lad a Carrera Blast - both bought during Halfords "sales" both good quality, good value bikes - with perfectly functional kit.

The only issue was they both had problems when I went to pick them up from the stores, my wife's has brake rub on the disc, put down to a misaligned frame - 1 hour later, picked the same bike up from the next nearest store plus £20 compensation. The lads bike bottom bracket went tight within a week, and wheel off true, returned and fixed in store with minimum fuss. Now they both ride very well and are in good working order.

The Rookie

mkennerley wrote:

Joking apart, I was avoiding bikes with discs as I thought with bikes <£500 we would end up with inferior parts elsewhere??

Voodoo Bantu or Carrera Vulcan are both specced better than that Felt and have hydraulic discs for circa £350.

mkennerley

Wow I thought Halfords was a place to avoid! But in my defence I haven't bought a bike for over 10 years so I am a lilttle out of touch. My trusty GT Avalanche just keeps on rollin', Apart from not having any mount points for disc brakes (bought way before disc brakes came along) its a great bike.

If the Carrera Vulcan is a good option what about the cheaper Carrera Vengeance??
Looks like they only difference is frame type and disc brakes, Tektro vs Clarks but it's £60 cheaper at the mo.

The Carrera Blast also looks good for my son.

chrisw333

The Carrera Blast seems quite well regarded bike, but it is heavy and I don't think you really need disc brakes at that age - I suspect they'd be more a maintenance headache than anything else. I was in the same conundrum and went for the second hand Hotrock as mentioned earlier.

mkennerley

I have seen this on ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPECIALIZED-HOTROCK-A1-FSR-KIDS-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-24-XT-BRAKES-BOYS-KIDS-/121095878888?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D7141481916594174025%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D121095878888%26#ht_734wt_1399
Not far from where I work.

I am thinking of shrinking myself so I can have it as it might just blow the mind of my son!

The Rookie

The Carreras are well specced, the Vulcan has Hydraulic discs, the brakes on the vengeance are cable which makes them easier to maintain but they require checking/adjusting a bit more often.

Avoid that Hotrock, the bike will be even heavier than a normally 'bit heavy' 24" hardtail and the rear suspension will just sap pedal power!

mkennerley

I need to stop looking on ebay as I have work to do!
But I have also seen this bike for my Wife, it's not got disc brakes but if you could get it for <£200 it looks good?
Cube Access WLS Comp 2010 Mountain Bike womens 17": http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111057449721?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619#ht_139wt_1399

chrisw333

yes, as TB says if going down the Hotrock route avoid the full suspension one - either go for the standard A1 frame version (same as the one you linked but without the rear suspension) or the slightly inferior one with the curved top tube. (I was after the former but ended up settling on the latter and it is still a very good bike for my lad.)

mkennerley

Are the Decathlon bikes any good? This RockRider 5.2 is only £160: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rr-52-jr-black-id_8238713.html

mkennerley

Sorry guys heres another bike I've seen on ebay: Scott Voltage Jr 24, probably wouldn't want to pay more than £150 for it? : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scott-Voltage-Jr-24-Ltd-Edition-Kids-Bike-24-Wheel-Mtb-Jump-Mountain-Bike-/161011434384?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item257d078390#ht_186wt_1399

mattrixdesign2

chrisw333 wrote:

The Carrera Blast seems quite well regarded bike, but it is heavy and I don't think you really need disc brakes at that age - I suspect they'd be more a maintenance headache than anything else. I was in the same conundrum and went for the second hand Hotrock as mentioned earlier.

The Blast comes in a few sizes, designs. The 20inch is the one we have, its blue, with V-Brakes, front suspension, its 7 speed, its not too heavy.

The 24inch Blast does come with discs, and 21 speed, it will be heaveir for that reason.

There is also the full suspension Detonate, it looks good, but will carry a bigger weight penalty.

The Vulcan we have is cable disc, its a good minimum spec for a "proper" mtb, again it carries weight penalties but at the price its a worthy option.

Halfords are having one of their dodgy sales right now, i.e. bang up the rrp, then take 30% off, but at the prices offer they are worth looking at.

Decathlon are another worthy option, but other than mens bikes, I not heard any commets on kids/ladies bikes.

The Rookie

mkennerley wrote:

Sorry guys heres another bike I've seen on ebay: Scott Voltage Jr 24, probably wouldn't want to pay more than £150 for it? : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scott-Voltage-Jr-24-Ltd-Edition-Kids-Bike-24-Wheel-Mtb-Jump-Mountain-Bike-/161011434384?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item257d078390#ht_186wt_1399

My daughters have both had the 26" version of that, made a nice bike, frame is fairly light.

Having said that, not sure it's worth that much!

mkennerley

Thanks guys, I went and had a look at Halfords and Decathlon today.
The Vulcan looked quite good so I'll see if the other half likes it as well.

As for my son he liked the blast in blue and didn't mind the bTWin 5.2 in Silver/orange.
So might go for the btwin and the Carrera Vulcan.
The two bikes I saw on ebay will probably go for more than I would want to pay for 2nd hand bikes.

mkennerley

Have the Vulcans spec changed this year??
I have seen a Vulcan on ebay but it is in white and you don't seem to be able to get it in white anymore. I wonder what else has changed?