Budget Bike - £200

Rookie1986

Hey guys,

Trying to help my mum who is recovering from surgery get back out and about, she's not wanting to spend a lot on a bike (£200) but with such a limited budget do anything other than "Bike Shaped Objects" exist at this price point?

If anyone can help it would be much appreciated

cooldad

Plenty of great second hand deals but what sort of bike?

Rookie1986

Something for riding mainly old railways, fire roads, bridal paths etc etc - was thinking a hardtail with disk and air fork if possible but I might be expecting a lot there...

supersonic

You may get an old rockhopper or something for that, or a newer carrera. Just have to check what is local on sale.

JGTR

Halfords do a £200 bike that looked OK

The Spiderman

Carrera Parva look OK for this. Rigid fork( and cantis )but I'd rather those than a cheap suspension fork.
£200 may buy a good second hand bike but you can end up spending more in replacing bits.
Parva would be fine for use described.

Jonesinamilion

This might sound stupid, but what about a half decent used folding bike?

Often with people it's the motivation, confidence & practicalities (inexperience on roads) that prevent people getting out.

If you have a folder it's easy to just throw into the car & drive to a local beauty spot / walkway etc... Tootle round for a few hours then drive back home.

My mother (mid 60s) is yet to buy a bike but I think this is the way she'll be going.

Rookie1986

supersonic wrote:

You may get an old rockhopper or something for that, or a newer carrera. Just have to check what is local on sale.

I had a look at a few rockhoppers on eBay but unfortunately getting one for around £200 seems impossible. How would something like the Hardrock perform as they seem to fall into the £200 budget more frequently.

The Spiderman wrote:

Carrera Parva look OK for this. Rigid fork( and cantis )but I'd rather those than a cheap suspension fork.
£200 may buy a good second hand bike but you can end up spending more in replacing bits.
Parva would be fine for use described.

I’ll have a look at the Carrera and see what she thinks of it, possibly the lure of a new bike over second hand will sway her, even if it’s not what she initially was thinking of getting.

Jonesinamilion wrote:

This might sound stupid, but what about a half decent used folding bike?

Often with people it's the motivation, confidence & practicalities (inexperience on roads) that prevent people getting out.

If you have a folder it's easy to just throw into the car & drive to a local beauty spot / walkway etc... Tootle round for a few hours then drive back home.

My mother (mid 60s) is yet to buy a bike but I think this is the way she'll be going.

I floated the idea but after looking at them on Google I don’t think she was convinced. Her biggest concern was in regards to it's small size and her being out of shape and overweight.... would the little bike be able to cope and would she feel confident when riding it... so, for those reasons I think the folding bike idea will be shelved.

Cheers for the advice so far guys

supersonic

Hardrocks are ok, but watch for the cheap forks - suntour xcm are often undamped.

Don't know where you are based, but:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Specialized-R ... SwzJ5XXTNp

Rookie1986

supersonic wrote:

Hardrocks are ok, but watch for the cheap forks - suntour xcm are often undamped.

Don't know where you are based, but:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Specialized-R ... SwzJ5XXTNp

Unfortunately I'm in County Durham and after a long look through eBay, PinkBike, GumTree and other similar style websites it appears that 99% of bikes for sale seem to be either in Wales or the lower proportion of the country, not very much up north at all

Also, my mum is only 5'4" so I'm most likely going to be looking at Small/XS sized bikes... Which limits things even further

Rookie1986

I've just noticed that Go Outdoors have the Calibre Crag down to £199 in their "Bike Sale", I know its nothing special but do you guys think it would be suitable?

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-cra ... ke-p349189

The Rookie

Forks are dire, voted by a magazine once as the worst forks tested that year, heavy, undamped and with a horrid top out.

Rookie1986

The Rookie wrote:

Forks are dire, voted by a magazine once as the worst forks tested that year, heavy, undamped and with a horrid top out.

We popped over to Go Outdoors this evening and.... We're shocked at how poor the forks felt, ended up deciding against it as we didn't think it would perform well.

There is a Rockrider in our local advertiser, I believe it to be this model:-

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-56 ... Ajao8P8HAQ

Worth a punt or not?

The Rookie

Yes....and no.

Its a capable (very capable compared to price point competitors) bike, but the rear suspension adds weight and the frame is a little flexy, but if its priced at £200 its a bit of a bargain!

Rookie1986

I'll keep looking for now then, I'm sure something decent will eventually shop up on GumTree, eBay and the likes

supersonic

£200 for that, is a steal! If that was near me I'd have it in an instant.

Rookie1986

Tough luck unfortunately.... I phoned them this morning but someone else had already collected it last night at 8pm, the paper only came out on the Wednesday morning too - They said I was the fourth to enquire about it

.....and the search continues!