The £130 Road Bike

Marcuzcycle

* i do not own this bike *

i would like to give a review of the TESCOS Vertigo Picadilly road bike because, being the cheapest bike on the market (near enough at £129.99) most would immiediatly think its garbage but......(apart from butterfly shifters) it really isnt.

weighing in at just over 12kg, it is weighty but compared to other bikes around the £250-300 mark its near enough the same. Infact, The claud butler criterium 2012 model weighed around this and used the dreaded sis butterfly shifters (which are on every bike under £250) and this costed almost £300!

what im trying to get to is....i myself have seen beginners asking for recommendations on their first road bike on forums ect, and most tell them for around the £300 mark buy used or bring the budget up to £300 but for people on a REAL strict budget i say look no further, besides if you earn clubcard points, you can buy the bike for as little as one of its components.

*someone i know owns the bike, has had no problems with it and is able to keep up with packs, the bike is easy to upgrade also*

turnerjohn

Marcuzcycle wrote:

* i do not own this bike *

i would like to give a review of the TESCOS Vertigo Picadilly road bike because, being the cheapest bike on the market (near enough at £129.99) most would immiediatly think its garbage but......(apart from butterfly shifters) it really isnt.

weighing in at just over 12kg, it is weighty but compared to other bikes around the £250-300 mark its near enough the same. Infact, The claud butler criterium 2012 model weighed around this and used the dreaded sis butterfly shifters (which are on every bike under £250) and this costed almost £300!

what im trying to get to is....i myself have seen beginners asking for recommendations on their first road bike on forums ect, and most tell them for around the £300 mark buy used or bring the budget up to £300 but for people on a REAL strict budget i say look no further, besides if you earn clubcard points, you can buy the bike for as little as one of its components.

*someone i know owns the bike, has had no problems with it and is able to keep up with packs, the bike is easy to upgrade also*

how can you recommend something you don't own / have tried ?!

Marcuzcycle

I never said i havent tried it?
I have tried it .....

cougie

It does get good reviews on the Tesco website.

markhewitt1978

The £130 bike is better than no bike, that's for sure.

rickeverett

Its very heavy, poor spec and WILL breakdown quickly. Bikes like that go rusty in no time too and heading to winter (if you plan to use in winter) will make things worse.

You will also find yourself wanting to upgrade in no time.

Try and up the budget if you can. You can get better spec and build for your money around the £299 mark. Halfords have Carreras at that price but also look at the Triban 3 at Decathalon :http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-red-road-bike-id_8274036.html

those bikes are a good 2kg lighter and have better spec.

navrig

http://www.tesco.com/direct/vertigo-pic ... d=211-7006

It gets good reviews!!

The main issue I have with very cheap bikes is the maintenance required to keep the brakes and gears working to an acceptable standard. As a kid the brakes on my bikes were really poor and no amount of fiddling could really get them to work for any length of time until I got a bike with Weinmann centre pulls which were much better.

cougie

Ah Weinmann brakes. Mine wouldn't centre very well. I much preferred Shimano. Do Weinmann still exist ?

t4tomo

rickeverett wrote:

Its very heavy, poor spec and WILL breakdown quickly. Bikes like that go rusty in no time too and heading to winter (if you plan to use in winter) will make things worse.

You will also find yourself wanting to upgrade in no time.

Try and up the budget if you can. You can get better spec and build for your money around the £299 mark. Halfords have Carreras at that price but also look at the Triban 3 at Decathalon :http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-red-road-bike-id_8274036.html

those bikes are a good 2kg lighter and have better spec.

I think you've missed the point, if you havent got £300 then the OP, having seen it in the flesh rather than dismissed it from the comfort of his keyboard, is saying that actually its not half as bad as you'd think.

Granted you can spend more and get something better, but twas ever thus. you do get nearly three of these for 1 triban 3.

navrig

cougie wrote:

Ah Weinmann brakes. Mine wouldn't centre very well. I much preferred Shimano. Do Weinmann still exist ?

http://www.weinmanntek.com/


In 1980 it was a matter of degree. The Weinmanns were muche better than the cr4p on my "playbikes" but today's Shimano are much much better the Weinmann in 1980.

Marcuzcycle

t4tomo wrote:

rickeverett wrote:

Its very heavy, poor spec and WILL breakdown quickly. Bikes like that go rusty in no time too and heading to winter (if you plan to use in winter) will make things worse.

You will also find yourself wanting to upgrade in no time.

Try and up the budget if you can. You can get better spec and build for your money around the £299 mark. Halfords have Carreras at that price but also look at the Triban 3 at Decathalon :http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-red-road-bike-id_8274036.html

those bikes are a good 2kg lighter and have better spec.

I think you've missed the point, if you havent got £300 then the OP, having seen it in the flesh rather than dismissed it from the comfort of his keyboard, is saying that actually its not half as bad as you'd think.

Granted you can spend more and get something better, but twas ever thus. you do get nearly three of these for 1 triban 3.

Amen

hipshot

:shock: That's pretty good for £130

SE43

On the website, it says 14.0Kg, you said just over 12kg, can you confirm that?

Biscuiteer

Vertigo Piccadilly!!! Who on earth thinks up these names? I guess one of the ways they're hitting their price point is by not paying the marketing department much. Is there also an Agoraphobia Catford bike in the range?

Saw a mint second hand Carrera road bike for (iirc) £160 in my LBS last week. I'd much rather have bought that if I was on a tight budget.

Cannock Chase

....Saw a mint second hand Carrera road bike for £160 in my LBS last week. I'd much rather have bought that if I was on a tight budget.

Yes but's that no use if your LBS is in London and the buyer lives in Glasgow...

anthdci

should be ok as a winter hack bike, but it's not clear if it will take proper mudguards.

Tjgoodhew

My first road bike was a Viking Phantom bought from Sports Direct for £129.99.

Simple conclusion - it was awful. The gears constantly needed adjusting, the brakes wouldnt stop the bike at any speed over about 10mph, it weighed a ton, the ride was extremely unconforable, the ride position was weird with the drops at a really bizzare angle....

I could go on and on and on.

My next bike was a Caad8 so obviously a massive jump up in both quality and price however i did ride a Carrera before i bought the caad and for a £170ish difference in price it was a massive difference.

So in my experience i should of just saved and bought something at a higher price range from the start !!!

rickeverett

Tjgoodhew wrote:

My first road bike was a Viking Phantom bought from Sports Direct for £129.99.

Simple conclusion - it was awful. The gears constantly needed adjusting, the brakes wouldnt stop the bike at any speed over about 10mph, it weighed a ton, the ride was extremely unconforable, the ride position was weird with the drops at a really bizzare angle....

I could go on and on and on.

My next bike was a Caad8 so obviously a massive jump up in both quality and price however i did ride a Carrera before i bought the caad and for a £170ish difference in price it was a massive difference.

So in my experience i should have just saved and bought something at a higher price range from the start !!!

Thats what I was trying to get at in my post a couple above.
sub £250 is dangerous ground. You can really get some decent bikes in the £300-£500 range now that are perfect to start out on and have a spec that will work and last. Shimano Claris and Sora are very smooth now and have been directly designed to not put first timers off with missing gears, poor brakes and other problems etc.