What is the best £400 bike?

jmargolis19

I am currently looking into purchasing a new bike for someone 150cm tall with a budget of £400. I mostly cycle on the road and on cycle paths but I don't want a pure racing bike despite the fact that I think a light quick bike is the best for me. I was wondering what the best option would be when buying a £400 bike for use in parks and on roads. Are there any bikes that really stand out? I hope someone can share knowledge on this area or have had experience with it in the past.

bartimaeus

An Islabikes Beinn 26 L is a lightweight (sub 10kg) flat bar do-it-all bike for £350 which is fine on road and off... my son had 2 of these in different sizes before getting a hardtail MTB. The Islabikes website is good - their size guide is spot on and their phone support is excellent. The 26 L is for 146cm and over... their adult 29er looks to be slightly too big, and is £450 so a bit expensive too. I'd also visit Decathlon (and the Decathlon website) as their road and mountain bikes look good and seem very good value... though I have not ridden one.

jmargolis19

Islabikes do seem to be a very good value for money manufacturer. The Beinn 26 L definitely appears a very good bike. I may, however, spend an extra £100 to get the Luarth 700 S which also seems superb for what I'm looking for. Islabikes are very highly recommended and this comment supports my previous view that they are very good bike makers. What I do wonder though, is that despite the obvious quality that they have, is there such a large gap between them and the other options (to suit my needs) that they must definitely be considered the best option?

oxoman

Islabikes have been the only real option for proper kids bikes for all round use for kids competitions etc for a number of years, it is only in the last few years that Moda, Dawes came along with similar products. Since the success of cycling in the Olympics and TDF that most of the other manufacturers have started doing better quality and purpose designed bikes rather than bike shaped objects BSO,s. Another manufacturer to also look at is Frog bikes as very close to Islabikes in terms of quality and design.