Ex Hire bikes

captnspaulding

Hi guys, new to the forum and new to cycling really.

Been using a Carrera Vengeance LTD for the past month to see how I get along with cycling as a new hobby and lifestyle change as I’m on the road to losing a few stones in weight. So far I’m loving it and we have fantastic trails around where I live in North Wales which I’ve been trying out past few weeks.

My local cycling centre sell ex hire bikes and provide 12 month warranty and 3 months on parts (I think I got that right) and I’m very tempted to sell mine and buy one of these as I’ve been told this centre are recommended and provide great service and I like the look of the bikes.

From what I make out, they only hire out/sell Trek bikes and appears they sell them after 3 months of hire. The ones on display and ready to go looked in god condition and they replace parts and fully service them before selling. From what I can tell, they are Trek X Caliber 7 models - unsure if 2019 or 20. They are in a green colour which isn’t on the Trek website.

My question is - should I buy an ex hire bike even though they supply warranty etc and is this a good price for the bike? If I could sell mine for £200 is it worth the extra to get a hopefully better bike? (Bigger wheels and more gears with better parts I believe).

Or am I simply being sucked into the hype and should stick to my Halfords bike haha.

Thanks guys

steve_sordy

Nope, no hype. I have bought an ex-hire bike and I did extremely well out of it.

The bikes you refer to will be 2019, not 2020. They want rid of them now that the kids have gone/about to go back to school.

The bike I bought was 62% of the new price and I got new tyres, new cassette and chain and 3 months warranty. So your deal is even better! Better still for me was that the following year's new model was exactly twice what I paid for the ex-hire (that's exchange rates for you!) It was on sale at the same time as I bought the ex-hire, so it felt like I was getting a half price bike. I sold the bike one year later and only lost 20% on it (very good). If I had been more patient I know I could have got more.

What I haven't done, and another responder may do so, is to compare your current bike with the Trek X Caliber 7.

captnspaulding

steve_sordy wrote:

Nope, no hype. I have bought an ex-hire bike and I did extremely well out of it.

The bikes you refer to will be 2019, not 2020. They want rid of them now that the kids have gone/about to go back to school.

The bike I bought was 62% of the new price and I got new tyres, new cassette and chain and 3 months warranty. So your deal is even better! Better still for me was that the following year's new model was exactly twice what I paid for the ex-hire (that's exchange rates for you!) It was on sale at the same time as I bought the ex-hire, so it felt like I was getting a half price bike. I sold the bike one year later and only lost 20% on it (very good). If I had been more patient I know I could have got more.

What I haven't done, and another responder may do so, is to compare your current bike with the Trek X Caliber 7.

Thanks for the reply and it’s good to hear ex hire bikes are still ok to buy.

I’ve persuaded my brother to buy my Carrera so I think I’m going to go ahead with the Trek X Caliber bike even though they only have them in bright green haha.

I’ve been reading up and the 29 inch wheels on them should also be better for me if I’m not mistaken as I do longish trails of about 20-25 miles over the 27.5 inch wheels I have currently.

Just hope it’s a worthy upgrade

The Rookie

To be honest it's really not that much of an upgrade here.
The fork is marginally better with adjustable rebound damping, but will be no stiffer.
Wheels are pretty much the same, drivetrain is a little better and 9 ilo of 8 speed.

Green is a 2017 and a 29er
https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-x-cali ... e-EV280961

If you want a better bike the small improvements you'll get I wouldn't say are worth the cost, either stick with the Carrera (and use some of that spend to make it better) or upgrade to something that will be more of an improvement unless a 29er change is a big thing for you. You don't need them for 20-25 mile rides........

Is this from Beics Brenin? They were trying to sell these 9 months ago!
https://www.beicsbrenin.co.uk/xcaliber7/

captnspaulding

The Rookie wrote:

To be honest it's really not that much of an upgrade here.
The fork is marginally better with adjustable rebound damping, but will be no stiffer.
Wheels are pretty much the same, drivetrain is a little better and 9 ilo of 8 speed.

Green is a 2017 and a 29er
https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-x-cali ... e-EV280961

If you want a better bike the small improvements you'll get I wouldn't say are worth the cost, either stick with the Carrera (and use some of that spend to make it better) or upgrade to something that will be more of an improvement unless a 29er change is a big thing for you. You don't need them for 20-25 mile rides........

Is this from Beics Brenin? They were trying to sell these 9 months ago!
https://www.beicsbrenin.co.uk/xcaliber7/

Oh damn, 2017!? And yeah that’s where I was going to get it from.

Hmmm might have another think about that then as I didn’t realise it was a much older model especially as they say their turnaround is 3 months so expected them to be new stock all the time.

Would you recommend anything else for sub £500 or would i not get much of an upgrade at that price point?

I see mentions of Voodoo and Giant, my next door neighbour had a Claude Butler for a similar price point but haven’t heard of these.

Thanks for all the help guys

captnspaulding

Just been having a look online and saw the Caliber Two Cubed for £400 which scored 10/10 and Hardtail or the year. Seems like a good one?

Tbh the Carrera was what I could afford at the time but I’ve come into a bit of money and would like something ‘better’ as I don’t feel comfortable on this one, just something about it. My budget is still £500 though but sites suggest this Caliber is cheap for what you get?

The Rookie

Again the fork on the Calibre isn't really much better than you have now, its the fork that is the single most important (and expensive) component.
Have a look at these, they are better than the Trek you first looked at.
https://www.cyclerepublic.com/gt-avalan ... -2019.html
https://www.cyclerepublic.com/voodoo-ai ... -2018.html

But if you can stretch to it the Voodoo Bizango at £650 (less 10% with British Cycling membership) is significantly better than anything you'll get for £500 with lighter more tune-able and more rigid air forks.

captnspaulding

Yeah I see a lot of mention of the Voodoo Bizango but don’t really want to spend that much really. I’ve been told it does often go on sale to near £500 so I might wait it out to see if it does go lower. The only thing I noticed on this was the 11 gears and being pretty big in size I think I’ll struggle going uphill on this haha.

The other one I saw a lot of mention about was the Vitus Nucleus 275VR, however it seems to be out of stock everywhere! Seems to rate higher than most bikes up to the £750 price mark too.

The Rookie

Vitus is the in house brand of Chain reaction, so realistically 'everywhere' is Wiggle and CRC.

How is the Bizango 'big in size' and how would that effect going uphills? For the same frame size it will it will be pretty much the same size as your Carrera, overall length may be about 1.5" longer due to the bigger wheels is all.

11 gears wide range) will get you up hills just fine, in fact the lowest gear is probably lower than on your Carrera where in reality you only have about 11 gears anyway, the rest just overlap the ratios available in a different front ring.

captnspaulding

The Rookie wrote:

Vitus is the in house brand of Chain reaction, so realistically 'everywhere' is Wiggle and CRC.

How is the Bizango 'big in size' and how would that effect going uphills? For the same frame size it will it will be pretty much the same size as your Carrera, overall length may be about 1.5" longer due to the bigger wheels is all.

11 gears wide range) will get you up hills just fine, in fact the lowest gear is probably lower than on your Carrera where in reality you only have about 11 gears anyway, the rest just overlap the ratios available in a different front ring.

I meant myself being big - overweight - not the bike haha sorry! Ie will struggle with less gears, but I’ve never thought about it the way you put it where you only use some anyway as they overlap. I keep seeing the better and expensive bikes mostly with only 11 gears too. Hmmm... definitely something to think about and tempted to get the Voodoo once it comes down in price!

Thanks for the help and recommendations!

The Rookie

I get pretty much everywhere I want on a 1x10 with only a semi wide cassette (11-40, and for a long time managed on a 1x9 with an 11-32). 1x11 would be luxury after those.

steve_sordy

One you have a the Bizango with its 11 gears, if you struggle to get up hills, then remove the front ring and put a smaller one on. Say a 32T or even a 30T instead of the one already there, probably a 34T.