New or Used for £500 bike?

jjl5590

Hey guys,

I currently ride a Saracen X27, but it's dead. I need a new bike for commuting to work and sometimes off-road. I'm looking for a hardtail in the reigon of £450. I also want slightly bigger wheels, either 650B or 700C. I don't know whether to buy new or whether I'd get better value second-hand.

The most important aspect of the bike, for me, is brakes. I need to be able to stop immediately. The Quad-Dime brakes on the Saracen were amazing but unfortunately parts are scarce.

Would you say this is good value?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271790808175? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Or if I went new, how about these?

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B6570.html

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B6107.html

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B6585.html?id=4n9r4bNt

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/nor ... RRWidgetID

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -2015#tab2

I don't know how good the Tektro Auriga hydraulics or Shimano M395/445 brakes are.

Or one more for luck:

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... sport-2014

Although that one has mechanical brakes (Avid BB5's) it does have a lot of SRAM components.



Thanks for any help given! I need to buy one ASAP

cooldad

viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=13018885&p=19472129#p19472129

Do you really need two threads?

The Cube looks ok, wouldn't touch any of the others, but hybrids are not really my thing.

The Rookie

The Boardman MX is not an MTB, it will cope with light trails but not much more.

Why do you want bigger wheels? The Cube on ebay is...erm...26" wheels? Looks like a decent enough buy if it's in the right condition!

jjl5590

Apologies I wasn't sure whether to delete the other thread, I probably should.

I'm mainly going to be riding it on pavement on my 5 mile commute to work, but want the ability to go off-road in the park. I want bigger wheels to go faster and to also have less difficulty getting over obsticles

cooldad

Pavement.
By obstacles do you mean pedestrians?

jjl5590

Obstacles such as big logs in the woods, curbs on the street, going down stairs etc

cooldad

If you are riding over big logs I suggest a proper mountain bike then.

jjl5590

They are all mountain bikes apart from the last one which is a hybrid, I believe

cooldad

I did say proper mountain bikes, and most seem to have 'hybrid' in the title. The ones that don't are a bit rubbish.

Your other thread is probably more useful.

jjl5590

Ah right fair enough. Well £500 is pretty much my budget, I'm not doing any serious off-roading. Mainly gonna use it as my commuter bike

The Rookie

It's kerb, and if you are on the footpaths then you don't need a fast bike on shared use and you shouldn't be there at all if it's not.

I can average near enough 20mph on my 26" wheeled commuter.

jjl5590

I'll just have to do my own research I guess. Any input on brakes would be greatly appreciated

jjl5590

I really can't decide but I've narrowed down the list... Can someone please pick for me?! I suppose brakes aren't THAT important since I can always upgrade them afterwards.

Norco XFR 3

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/nor ... 1#features

Whistle Huron 1481D

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B6570.html

Diamondback Apex 29er

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B6107.html

Cube LTD Pro

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271790808175? ... fresh=true

Dawes Discovery Sport 5

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Dawes-Discovery ... _76851.htm

Scott Aspect 740

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/sco ... e-ec075415

cooldad

Big wheels and better than anything else you are looking at, which just seem to be a random selection of sub £500 bikes
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... in-bike-18
Smaller wheels and better
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... 13-2014-20

And enough left over for some excellent Deore M615 brakes if you really feel the need.

jjl5590

Ah ok so you'd recommend getting a cheaper bike and putting in better brakes? What about these brakes?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Shimano-D ... 2c5f3ae9a4

cooldad

Nope I'm saying if you feel the need. But you can get newer M615 for less than that.

My commuter has canti brakes, which suit me fine. My mountain bikes range from U brakes and cantis to Vs through hydraulic rim brakes and various discs.

I manage fine with all of them.

cooldad

Cost me about £100, plus maybe another tenner for the mudguards. Fast, nippy, perfect for a short commute.
And leaves money left over for a decent MTB.
That's my logic anyway.

jjl5590

cooldad wrote:

Nope I'm saying if you feel the need. But you can get newer M615 for less than that.

My commuter has canti brakes, which suit me fine. My mountain bikes range from U brakes and cantis to Vs through hydraulic rim brakes and various discs.

I manage fine with all of them.

I found these

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/cycling ... t-calliper

But that's only one. The money spent on two, i might as well just buy a decent bike

cooldad

Less than £80 a pair

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... prod108802

But why worry unless the stock brakes are rubbish, and it's doubtful they are.

Have you met Cody?

jjl5590

Who's Cody?

Wow that's so much cheaper than Halfords. But it says it comes without adapters, would i need to buy those? Also I think that's just a front one

cooldad

No it's any one. And the bike will already have adaptors and rotors. Whether they are the right ones remains to be seen, but quite likely.

But until you work out whether the brakes on whatever you decide to buy are sh1t the point is moot.

Cody is one tracked and overthinks some things, without actually having the ability bo think.

jjl5590

Oh right, then I am most definitely Cody haha

Right I think I've made up my mind.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/nor ... 01#reviews

But I can't work out if its 27 speed or 24 speed

cooldad

Neither can Evans

Good luck Cody2

As they say, I'm out.

bartimaeus

It's £40 per end - hence £80 total. You select a front and a rear with the appropriate hose lengths.

The Rookie

On Norco.com it's a 27 speed.

jjl5590

Where does it say that? On the website it says:

Shifter Front Sram X4 24speed Trigger
Shifter Rear Sram X4 24speed Trigger
Chain 8spd Chain Grey/Brown

Doesn't that mean 24 speed?

If I go down from 27 to 24 gears, will I lose top end or bottom end? Because I want to go faster and gain speed, not lose it.

Thanks

jjl5590

Someone's contacted me with this, is it a good deal? I think the bike costs like £1000 new

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1734682 ... firstphoto

The Rookie

jjl5590 wrote:

Shifter Front Sram X4 24speed Trigger
Shifter Rear Sram X4 24speed Trigger
Chain 8spd Chain Grey/Brown

Doesn't that mean 24 speed?

If I go down from 27 to 24 gears, will I lose top end or bottom end?

Apologies, I selected XFR 3 and it had stayed on the 1 model!

It wouldn't effect top speed which is the same gearing anyway, it doesnt effect the lowest gear in this case either, its just that the gears are a bit closer together on the 27 speed than the 24.

jjl5590

Well, I've had a long hard think about it and I think I'm gonna go for the Diamonback Apex. It just ticks all the boxes. I'd rather have a mountain bike rather than a hybrid so I can take it anywhere if I so wished. It has decent brakes, decent fork and 30 gears. I can just put on some semi-slick tires for my commuting

cooldad

Just don't expect 200mm of travel.

jjl5590

I'm not overly bothered about the amount of travel, I'd probably have it locked out when i'm commuting