New bike under £400

Fedos

Hello guys,

I'm Federico and I'm new in England and in the forum so I apologise since the begin for my poor English :oops:
At the moment I live in Basingstoke (Hampshire) and I would like to have a bike for going around the town (work, gym, town centre) and occasionally go to explore some dirt path in the countryside, I always liked enduro rides.

I did some research and I found 2 bikes that seems should be good for my purpose: Carrera Vulcan and Vitus Vee 1.

The Vitus seems a really good bike for go around the town even if the single-speed gear scares me a bit because of the uphill (Basingstoke don't have so many) and no high speed or no control in downhill but a part this the bike is simple and shouldn't need much maintenance, is light and practice.
Another thing that scares me is in case I want to go outside the town for some tough tide and discover that this bike does not satisfy me in that aspect.

The Carrera seems perfect for going off-road (at least for the begin) but weighs 4kg more and probably will be not so agile around the town like the Vitus, a good thing is that I can block the fork when I'm commuting and if I feel the bike too heavy riding uphill I can still change gear.

I'm really confused, I like both of them, the Vitus for his simplicity and practice and the Carrera for the great value-price, is a good bike for a entry level and should be better in tough paths.

What is your advice guys?

The Rookie

Decide what riding you'll do and then decide!

The Vitus is a road hybrid, you can put MTB tyres on it but it will take a lot of effort offroad due to the single speed - and you'll need to spend about £20 getting the gearing right.

The Vulcan is an excellent entry level MTB that will cope with proper offroad use even if it's a bit heavy (some of which is due to the tyres which will be heavier than the slicks on the Vitus).

In between you have the RR 5.3 from Decathlon.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-53 ... 06682.html

Fedos

Thanks for your answer!

I prefer avoid Decathlon bikes, I had the 5.3 in 2010 and the quality was not that good, if I have to spend around 350 I rather get the Vulcan.

scottfitz

If i had 400 i would buy a second hand bike, but if you want new what about this? http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p278 ... LON-1-2010

supersonic

Thw quality of the Vulcan is no better than the Decathlon. And the latter has a better fork.

Fedos

scottfitz wrote:

If i had 400 i would buy a second hand bike, but if you want new what about this? http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p278 ... LON-1-2010

I did though about a second hand bike, I checked in Gumtree but I didn't found any good stuff, do you know some other website where I can look in?

Also they Giant seems a good option and I trust more RockShox forks than Suntor.

cooldad

One or two on Ebay

The Rookie

Fedos wrote:

I trust more RockShox forks than Suntor.

RS make some stinkers and suntour some good ones, it's not about makes it's about the model.

Most of the components on a bike are generic and fitted to lots of others, in reality only the frame is unique (sometimes not even that!), don't be put off by the brand name, buy on spec.

scottfitz

Fedos wrote:

scottfitz wrote:

If i had 400 i would buy a second hand bike, but if you want new what about this? http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s2p278 ... LON-1-2010

I did though about a second hand bike, I checked in Gumtree but I didn't found any good stuff, do you know some other website where I can look in?

Also they Giant seems a good option and I trust more RockShox forks than Suntor.

The classifieds on here are good and
&
http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/
&
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/forum/classifieds

Also all 3 thave wanted sections where people can tell you what they have.

Fedos

Thanks all for reply.

My doubt is if with the Vulcan I can go on trails and off-road would be good also to go around the city?

Same thing for the Vitus Vee, probably would be better in the city, I'm just unsure about the single speed... but then would be good also off-road or dropping some stairs?

Cheers.

supersonic

MTBs are fine for riding around the city.

coulddobetter

I used to live near Basingstoke. Answer get the vulcan.no way will you manage otherwise.note it is a bad place for theft of bikes.

Fedos

I think you are right, the Vulcan should be better in a hilly town like Basingstoke.

coulddobetter wrote:

I used to live near Basingstoke. Answer get the vulcan.no way will you manage otherwise.note it is a bad place for theft of bikes.

Really??? Ok, now I'm worried but I used to live in Barcelona and believe me, there the bicycle thief are pretty smart in fact they stole me my Kona Shred heavy pimped, after that I used to ride a fixed gear bike just around the city and I bought a 50 quid lock (kryptonite).

Fedos

At the end I got a Carrera Vulcan!!!

Because I read bad references about Halfords buildings skills I decided to build my bike by myself, everything is fine a part a couple of problems with the brakes:

At the front one the disc touches the small metal bar that serves to hold together the brake pads, I could put a washer to fix it...

Another problem is that the the brake lever (front brake) has more travel than the other (back brake) like there is less oil in the front brake than the back one, there is something I can do?

In conclusion when the brake levers are released the brakes pads touch the disk generating friction, how can I release the pads?

should I try to fix these problems by myself or should I take the bike back to halfords and ask them to fix it?

Thanks to all!

The Rookie

Fedos wrote:

At the front one the disc touches the small metal bar that serves to hold together the brake pads, I could put a washer to fix it...

There is no metal bar holding together brake pads, or do you mean th pad retaining pin?

Fedos wrote:

Another problem is that the the brake lever (front brake) has more travel than the other (back brake) like there is less oil in the front brake than the back one, there is something I can do?

In conclusion when the brake levers are released the brakes pads touch the disk generating friction, how can I release the pads?

Ride the bike and use the brakes, both normal symptoms of brakes not bedded/settled in yet.

Fedos

The Beginner wrote:

There is no metal bar holding together brake pads, or do you mean th pad retaining pin?

I mean this one:

The Rookie

Pad retaining pin....the disc should never touch that, while washers may dort it, it implies soemthing else is wrong.

Fedos

The Beginner wrote:

Pad retaining pin....the disc should never touch that, while washers may dort it, it implies soemthing else is wrong.

that's really strange because there isn't anything complicate to do, just put the wheel on. I didn't touched the brakes at all...

The Rookie

Indeed, it implies a defect somewhere....does it touch evenly through the whole rotation or is the disc off centre for example?

Fedos

The Beginner wrote:

Indeed, it implies a defect somewhere....does it touch evenly through the whole rotation or is the disc off centre for example?

It touch not for all the spinn but 85% maybe.

I'll taking back to halfords and see what they say.

Fedos

Yesterday I took the bike to Halfords and they fixed the disk problem by putting a washers (the same way I suggest to) and the brake lever travel which have more travel they just adjust the power by screwing the adjusting screw but still that lever make more travel for brake.

I took a little ride yesterday and this morning and seems like the brakes are ok a part that lever travel issue.
personally I think there is less oil than in the other brake even because when I took the bike out the box there was oil on the brake, like if fell some drop, I told that to them but they told me I can bring the bike before 6 month and if there is still that problem they will bleed and refill it.

Someone have some other idea about how to fix it?

michaelopolis

Do you think the bike would be suitable for a long (10mile) road drive ?

The Rookie

If your driving, the bike will be fine in the boot!

For a 10 mile ride it will be fine, I do quite long rides on road in India (well on paper they are roads anyway - that's why I'm on an MTB not a roadie) without issue, 50+ miles.