Cheap Bikes for Business

petedln

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice for sourcing a few bikes for our business?

We have a family hotel and have a few bikes that we let guests take for free if they so wish.

These bikes however have been around the block and it looks like we will need to replace them. They are extremely old and nobody knows where we got them from originally!

Anyway none of us knows anything about bikes, we are looking for cheap (£50 to £150), relatively durable, a few gears but they don't need to be anything over the top and no need for any complex suspension, brakes, extras etc. One thing that we would need is a low angled crossbar as a lot of older people take the bikes at the hotel and struggle to raise their leg over the top.

If anyone knows makes/models that we should be looking at then any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Peter.

slowbike

This is the road bike section - which covers all sorts of styles - I guess you're not really after mountain bikes for off road use - so you're looking more to a Hybrid with slicks for "town use" ?

ugo.santalucia

50 to 150 only buy you junk.
Maybe if you increase the budget to 250-300 you can get something that doesn't rust after a month

petedln

I only saw a mountain bike and a road bike section and for sure our guests would not be doing any mountain riding. I figured road fit best as they tend to ride around the tarmac cycle tracks around here. A hybrid would also do the job so long as it matches the criteria I mentioned before.

The problem with increasing the budget is we are looking to buy five of them. Since they are used for free spending three hundred per bike can't really be justified.

joe_totale-2

Second hand is the way to go.
Maybe check to see if there's any bike hire places nearby who could sell you some of their used hire bikes?
Given that you want to buy several you may be able to negotiate a deal.

shirley_basso

To be honest something like Gumtree or eBay is your best bet.

For £200 you'll be able to pick up something from a lesser known brand which if you're lucky has never been used.

it is worth having someone in your team who can afford one day per month just checking them over to ensure they continue to work without issues. Preventative maintenance will save you a lot of headache compared to customers complaining or things breaking.

laurentian

I would be inclined to go to a local bike shop, explain to the staff what you want and your budget, let them show you a few models so that you can decide the best thing for your purposes and then see what they'll do on price for a bulk buy. I would imagine any local bike shop would be happy to sell a number of bikes in one hit and you're way more likely to get a good deal that way.

As Ugo said above, £50 to £150 will not really get you anything worthwhile.

Another approach which may get you to somewhere around your budget per bike could be to contact somewhere that has a large bike hire fleet that they are looking to replace or upgrade (Centerparcs springs to mind). You may be able to bulk buy a load of "past it" bikes from them and then pay your LBS or other bike mechanic to give them all a thorough overhaul, replacing parts as necessary.

slowbike

Where are you based?

50-150 will only buy "junk" - and it may only be a free service - but you could turn it into a marketing opportunity

shirley_basso

I think 150 will be fine if you know what you are buying.

I bought a bike for 50 quid last year off gumtree and ride it every day with little more than a bit of lube without issue.

petedln

Thanks for the advice so far.

We do plan on going to local bike shops, but since we know nothing about bikes we were also hoping for some ideas before we went there.

I doubt we will go second hand though as we are looking to replace old bikes ourselves as well as trying to get matching bikes.

The current bikes get pretty much no maintenance unless absolutely necessary and all have something wrong on each of them. Durability and simplicity is key as guests take them for free and treat them as they want. I must stress though that they are never taken for significant bike journeys and rarely get used more than five minutes at a time.

I saw that Halfords have bikes in this price range...

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... -17-frames
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... -17-frames
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... e-18-frame
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... e-17-frame
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... -21-frames

Wayne Plunger

Do you have a Social Enterprise in your area? They are springing up all over, people donate their old bikes, the centre while teaching the youth a skill do up the bikes and sell them on, I presume reasonably cheap

Should be a cross section of different bikes.

This is the one near us for an example of what to look for.

http://www.brenproject.org.uk

Mad_Malx

Hire shops would have been a good bet, but usually sell off retired stock at season end.
They will usually be mechanically sound (because they service them) but lots of chips and scratches. This is a plus because they look less nickable.
Mrs mm's bike was ex hire 10+ years ago and has done loads of miles and has loads more left in it.

Mad_Malx

You aren't going to get much support for Halfords apollo range because they are shoot and you will spend a lot of time trying to stop brake drag, gears sipping, brakes not working properly, hubs grinding.
Carrerras are a lot better. Note that Halfords are offering a good trade in deal at the moment and you can trade in stuff out of a skip or canal - doesnt have to work.
Budget decathlons are good vfm too.

Matthewfalle

evans also do the same trade ins as mentioned above - check on their website to see if the offer is on at yhe moment.

otherwise as above - decathlon, halfords.

Matthewfalle

evans has some Raleigh hybrids in your price range.

photonic69

An idea: Approach your nearest, good local bike shop. Explain to them what you need and your budget. Ask them if they can look out some bikes for you from local ads/Gumtree/ebay/customers upgrading etc and in return you will get them to service your bikes on a regular basis. They get extra trade. You get the bikes you want. You will also have made an extra friend which is always a good thing.

bonzo_banana

I'm not sure I dare mention it but on ebay they have some getb bikes from a failed share bike scheme. I've seen them reviewed on this very site and they said the freewheel was very poor quality but they are only £50 each.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2019-new-Get ... 4072399817

They are very basic single speed bikes that you wouldn't want to ride far especially up hills.

However I think you would need to pay someone to upgrade the freewheel to either a higher quality freewheel or maybe screw on a fixed gear which means the bikes won't coast.

It has solid tyres and drum brakes. You might find the freewheels are ok or you basically just replace the freewheels as and when they break with the expectation that they will break.

I'm not really recommending them but I could see how they might be suitable albeit with a change of freewheel. These bikes are used in many cities around the world.

Along the same lines but more expensive are the elephant bikes. You might be able to get a deal on a bulk buy of such bikes if you contact them.

https://www.cycleofgood.com/elephant-bike/

They are super strong with 3 gears, pretty much anyone of any fitness or weight can ride them, they are low geared (ex-postie bike) and would seem ideal.

Either bike would allow you to have a fleet of the same bikes. Neither would be particularly appealing to thieves. Both are step through designs suitable for men and women of any age. Both have hub brakes and are low maintenance designs in theory although the getb bike is likely lowish quality with more maintenance needs.

davebradswmb

Bonzo Banana wrote:

I'm not sure I dare mention it but on ebay they have some getb bikes from a failed share bike scheme. I've seen them reviewed on this very site and they said the freewheel was very poor quality but they are only £50 each.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2019-new-Get ... wn-Country

I'm pretty sure they are the ones where the frame breaks at the bottom bracket, and it wasn't just the freewheel that was shoot.

I'd say the Decathlon Elops 100 is ideal for your needs, albeit at the top end of your budget. Anything less will break.

Or as others say go secondhand.

bonzo_banana

davebradswmb wrote:

Bonzo Banana wrote:

I'm not sure I dare mention it but on ebay they have some getb bikes from a failed share bike scheme. I've seen them reviewed on this very site and they said the freewheel was very poor quality but they are only £50 each.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2019-new-Get ... wn-Country

I'm pretty sure they are the ones where the frame breaks at the bottom bracket, and it wasn't just the freewheel that was shoot.

I'd say the Decathlon Elops 100 is ideal for your needs, albeit at the top end of your budget. Anything less will break.

Or as others say go secondhand.

Where is the information about the frames breaking at the bottom bracket come from because they seem to be improved for export with an additional metal wedge to reinforce the frame? There are many 1000s of these in use around the world in city bike schemes. Also the Decathlon is rated to the same 100kg total load. I would of thought not knowing the weight of the rider you would want to buy bikes with a high load rating which can go as high as 160kg total load for mainstream bikes as per the recommendation of the certification standard. I would put the getb and decathlon bikes in the same area of weak frames. Same can't be said of the elephant bikes they have a total load of 150kg and in all honestly look like they could comfortably go above that by some margin.

On another thread there is someone who stated he bought a Decathlon bike but because he was over their weight limit by some margin he asked for confirmation that the bike would be strong enough for him and Decathlon agreed in writing that it would despite the bike being rated and certified to 100kg according to the manual. He got 18 months out of the frame before it failed but they were true to their word and did warranty the frame and replace it but still that frame failed quickly and could have caused an incident where the rider was injured or even killed and seems wholly irresponsible of the Decathlon staff to recommend use beyond the stated weight limits. A lighter person who is still over their weight limits might get 3 or 5 years out of the frame etc but that is a horrific situation when a frame breaks as you are riding it. I'd not heard of the getb frames breaking but I would definitely not buy if that is an issue but again those bikes are in use in huge numbers in city bike share schemes around the world they would get a huge amount of abuse.

petedln

Thanks very much for all the info guys.

We have narrowed it down to these two. We will go to the Real shop to view one of them (we live in Germany) and if that one is no good we will order the other one from Decathlon.

https://www.real.de/product/324494777/
https://www.decathlon.de/p/city-bike-28 ... &c=SCHWARZ

Moonbiker

I'd get the decathlon ones with gears unless its pan flat for miles....

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/riverside-1 ... 05304.html



I think your customers would appreciate over single speed.