Newbie buying a used bike £150-£200 - or £500 ish from Evans? (can get 50% off)

champ222

Hi All

Ive just joined up, and i'm hoping for some advice. i appreciate that this question must have come up quite a few times.

I'm 38, haven't ridden a bike properly since before i could drive, but have been thinking about getting a bike for the last year or so.

I'm in Bedfordshire, I work right next to Chicksands, Rowney warren, and i live near plenty of places i can ride.

i'm looking to buy a used bike, because i have a limited budget, and i'd rather have a nicer bike that's a few years old, than a lesser bike that's new. I can fix it if it goes wrong, i'm fairly handy and technical.

i dont have any specific requirements, other than maybe a light-ish bike would be nice, just to make it easier lugging it around etc.

Are there any brands i should look for? or avoid?

I'll keep an eye out for local sales near me, and google for reviews of anything i can find that i like, but having looked about so far, its difficult for me to tell how old a bike is... any advice?

i'm 5 ft 8 ish, inside leg is about 32/33, so by my research that should be an 18" /medium frame?

Ultimately, i'm just looking for an interesting way for me to get some exercise. If i get into it, i'd either buy a new bike, or upgrade the used one, as and when required (or desired).

If you still reading, thanks for sticking with me.

Cheers

Andy

champ222

Does this look ok?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/voodoo-hoodoo ... 1438.l2649

02gf74

If you plan to ride off road then front suspension is useful, forget about full suspension in your price bracket.

Hydraulic disc brakes may be in your budget.

Also your budget is really for older and less fashionable 26 in wheels aluminium frame.

A year of the big brands trek cannondale specialized Scott will be fine, avoid bso from argos, Tesco Asda and low end Halfords.

champ222

Thanks for this.

Yeah I had figured a hard tail was the way to go.

I've been looking about and reading reviews. It seems that used £400 - £500 bikes are about £200 ish used. I've read that at £400 - £500 new, something like the carrera kraken or the voodoo hoodoo were worth a look. So i popped into my local halfords. Sat on a few carreras and they seemed nice to me. So that led me to look at some used carreras and voodoos.

Then I find out that through my wife's vitality health thing at work, I can get 50% off a £500 bike at Evans. Need to pay full price then claim the discount back in 4 quarterly payments, which I could do... but then I'm back to square one with the research lol... as they obviously don't sell the halfords brands...

midgehulluk

I'd still go used, voodoo hoodoo is good value for money and if you do end up liking the sport then this bike will be a good base to start from.

champ222

Thanks.

Looking at the typical selling price of hoodoo, the blue ones (i see some red ones too, i guess they are older) go for around £250 - £300 ish... and sometimes more, which is weird considering they are £475 new (on sale at the moment)

so for about the same cost to me using the deal at Evans, i could buy any of these:

https://www.evanscycles.com/specialized ... e-EV306344

https://www.evanscycles.com/kona-mahuna ... e-EV291748

https://www.evanscycles.com/cube-aim-sl ... e-EV318713

https://www.evanscycles.com/jamis-trail ... e-EV306060

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-marlin ... e-EV319900

https://www.evanscycles.com/scott-aspec ... e-EV313864

https://www.evanscycles.com/cannondale- ... e-EV284081

https://www.evanscycles.com/cube-aim-ra ... e-EV318712

https://www.evanscycles.com/bmc-sportel ... e-EV233469

Thats a big list, and there are more... would you still go with a used Hoodoo (considering used bikes are a bit of an unknown) over any of these??

cheers

midgehulluk

The red ones are the model before the blue one, which is still a good option in the right condition and price.

Out of the list of bikes you have posted I'd be tempted by the cannodale or the kona. Cannondale is the better specked one but I just prefer the look of them over the rest.

At this price range there is not a lot to separate a £400/£600 bike.

champ222

Thanks, i much appreciate your help.

I will keep my eye out for a Voodoo, and also a carrera kraken or something, but looking at the cannondale, since the trail 4 no longer seems to have the rock shocks as specified on the website, is it still worth the extra over the trail 5?

https://www.evanscycles.com/cannondale- ... e-EV284082

The Kona i linked it a 29er... for some reason i'm a little apprehensive of the 29s

Thanks again for your advice.

cooldad

29ers are the future.

Until someone remembers 26ers.

midgehulluk

The trail 4 is still a better buy over the 5 even without the rockshox forks.

If your still unsure pop into Evans and have a nosey about

champ222

Thanks for the info.

Looking around at used bikes too... how old is "too old"?

midgehulluk

Don't think there is such a thing, plenty of members with 15+ year old bikes they still use

The Rookie

No number really, my current Full sus bike is a 2005 frame, still rides great with some small tweaks, its only real weakness is the frame won't take tapered forks. (Niota link in sig, no pics due to the photobucket a-holes)

I've just bought a 2009 29er to give wagon wheels a try, its very little different in any respect to a brand new bike apart from needing about £50 to sort everything I would want to sort, but at then it will total about £220 it will still be about 1/3 the price of a similar spec new bike. This one will take tapered forks. As would my previous 26" 2006 hardtail which (home built) was down at about 9.5Kg. (Carrera link in sig).

champ222

thanks again for the info.

there is a 2009 Marin Eldridge Grade for sale near me (very near me) which looks lovely, like the look of the frame a lot... but i know nothing about how good it is...

Its more than i want to pay, but its less than a new voodoo hoodoo... but with the deal, i could get a new bike from the list above for less...

The Rookie

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... -09-34085/
That's a nice bit of kit, it's sub 12Kg and could drop about 1/3 of a kilo with a 1x conversion and wide range 9sp Sunrace cassette. (What I'm intending for my Cobia).

midgehulluk

Any link available?

champ222

Yeah i saw that review, and it looks good. but it was written 8 years ago, so i didnt know if it still held its own, compared to say a new Voodoo hoodoo...

champ222

midgehulluk wrote:

Any link available?

pm'd...

The Rookie

champ222 wrote:

Yeah i saw that review, and it looks good. but it was written 8 years ago, so i didnt know if it still held its own, compared to say a new Voodoo hoodoo...

Very much so, if it's in good condition it is the better bike.

champ222

Good to know.

Thank guys

champ222

Well I looked at the Marin. Very nice bike. It was a bit overkill for my needs, and therefore a bit more that i need to spend... i had to think about it... but now its sold, so back to square one... sort of, because the more I see, the more I'll know what I want.

I'll keep looking around

champ222

Ok, helmet is on order with the Wife, so thats sorted.

Having looked about at bikes on Ebay and the like, it seems that a second hand Voodoo thats about £500 is new, goes for about £200 ish. but then i see that for about £300+ ish, you can get £800-900 bikes that are older, 2010 is for example.

Ive seen some cubes (Acid, Ltd etc) go for a bit over £300, and a Whyte 805 went for £340 ish over the weekend. i went to see a Voodoo Hoodoo on saturday, the older red one, and it seemed fine, forks made a rubbing sound when i pushed on them, (which might be the normal sound of forks that arent brand new i dunno) he wanted £220 for it (gumtree add was £245).

So its not loads more money for me to go for a cube etc, but should i? costs aside, are they better bikes? Ive read up them the best i can, and i see comments about these sort of bikes as "racey hardtails" which i guess is a geometry thing?

in a review i read about the Cube Ltd i think it was, is that it wasnt so suitable for beginners... i guess this is a geometry thing too?

I guess for the short term i'll be riding across fields and the odd track. whatever i can find near me (Bedfordshire). hoping to build confidence and fitness.

so what say you? MTB folk

thanks

philcubed

How old Is the cube acid. I've a 2011 one, still going strong. Upgraded the forks from the dart3 to Rebas. I usually ride Xc ( being in essex), but have ridden it at Hadleigh, Afan, downhill in France.

champ222

I can't remember now. 2010 I think. Saw a 2009 cube ltd team that's in budget too.

champ222

Bike Purchased

I got a 2009 Cube ltd team. Seems pretty good condition, gears need a little attention, but ive booked in it for a quick check over.

Just need to find time to get out on it. i had a quick go round the car park... its going to take me a while to get confident on it. but thats fine.