NotoriousREV

It's MrsREV's birthday soon and she'd like a bike to potter about on (pushbike, not motorbike). She won't be going off-road, it'll mainly be on either tarmac or dirt pathways so it doesn't need to have any hardcore suspension and a billion gears.

Basically, we're looking for something cheap, reliable, not too heavy, not too complicated and around a 17" frame (she's a short ****).

Any recommendations?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Evans Cycles | Specialized Sirrus 2008 Hybrid Bike | Online Bike Shop

Evans Cycles | Cannondale Bad Boy 2008 Hybrid Bike | Online Bike Shop

Or a Carrera Subway from Halfords

Dont be tempted by £50 Tesco bikes and the like, you cant make a fit for purpose bike for that much money £200 plus is what you need to be looking at, buy cheap, buy twice*


*Assuming it will get used, a £50 Tesco bike is the best if its just for cluttering up the garage until you eventually take it to the tip.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Flaming hell - they are REALLY good prices!!

Always nice to get last years models, you save a fortune

REV - DON'T be tempted by those full sus cheapo jobbies. They are a nightmare and will put your wife off cycling for life.

A GOOD bike will last for ages and stand you in good stead. Plus if you spend some money you'll be more likely to use it

Oh, and if that doesn't convince you. I'll infract your **** for buying crap

(power corrupts.... <twitch, twitch>.... )

Oh, my 2nd bike is a Carrera, not bad at all but it couldn't handle the commute so I stepped up to a Specialized Tricross Sport. However, it is an excellent bike for the daily potter

NotoriousREV

Yeah, that's my worry. I want to get her something that doesn't give her an excuse not to use it because it's crap but don't want to splash the cash for it to take up space I could be keeping unused car parts in.

Those prices do look great but probably more than I want to spend on her first bike (since childhood). We looked at an Apollo XC26S in Halfords (more to get an idea of size than anything) which actually isn't a bad spec, to my untrained eye, at least. They want £154.99 or £139.94 if I order it tonight.

Frame Material: Aluminium
Frame Size: 17-18
Gears: 21+
Gender: Womens
Suspension: Front
Alloy Rims: Yes
Brake Type: V-Brakes
Chainset: Prowheel Phaeton-100p
Exact Frame Size: 17"
Fork Lock-out : No
Forks: Suntour m-2000
Forks - Adjustable damping : No
Frame Colour: Baby Blue
Frame-: 7005 Series Aluminum
Front Brake: ASPA Alloy V-brake
Front Mech: DNP
Gear Shifters: Sram MRX - Gripshift
Handle Bars: KALIN black steel
Headset: Steel - Black
Hubs: Alloy - Black
Number of Gears: 21
Pedals: Black Resin platform/BMX style
Quick Release Wheels: Yes
Rear Brake: ASPA Alloy V-brake
Rear Mech: Shimano Tourney
Rear Shock: NA (rigid)
Rear Shock Adjustable Damping: NA (rigid)
Rear Shock Lock-out : NA (rigid)
Rims: Alloy - Black
Saddle: VELO ladies Gel
Seatpost: Kalloy
Stem: KALIN Ahead - Black
Tyre size: 1.95"
Tyres: Innova black
Wheel size: 26"

I like the look of that Specialized for me though.

nixxon

No , NO. No!
If you're that tight, buy second hand. The Apollo really is a pile of ****!

NotoriousREV

Right, we've decided that my wife would be best riding Tia Carrera oops, I mean the Carrera Subway. Got it for £165 down from £280 so a bit of a bargain I reckon. Bread dipped.

I hope it's good enough to avoid that infraction

Cheers for the advice, guys.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

The Carrera will be fine, I have most of a Kraken MTB, I say most as its in bits and I cant see it being put together again any time soon, the frame seems pretty good, it was just the gears and everything wore out, so its probably cheaper to buy new.

The main thing with people starting out is to not get some 40 lb pig iron horror from Halfords with "Suspension", the may look the part to the uninitiated but they arent, what you want is something light and nimble that wont fall apart, I think the Subway should be ok, not having big off road tyres will help as to be honest unless you are doing proper trails are superflous, I ride off road on slick sometimes, it works, not a great idea but better than 2.5 in knobblies are on the road. £165 is a bargain, ally frame, decent components.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Perhaps a warning?

Nah... reasonable choice. The problem is that you speak to bike snobs on here (meant in the nicest possible way!) as we've done the cheap bike route and suffered for it. Whenever people ask, the default response is to jump past the cheap end of the market and recommend something you know will be a good bike

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Kieran is right, think of a Halfords full susser as a Perodua or some such crap but worse, these things kind of fool people into thinking that a bike costs £100 or so, its doesnt, something that looks like a bike costs £100 but an actual well made bike is probably double that, the waters are muddied further by features, you cant do Disk brakes and full suspension that works for £100 and though I wouldnt call it snobbery in the most part there is an element but in this context its just so you dont buy a bag of crap.

There is a law of diminishing returns here as well, a £1000 bike wont be twice as good as a £500 bike, there is a ten grand 10.2 lb Carbon Road bike but thats probably the ultimate, even for pros its a step too far.

NotoriousREV

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I'm a tightwad so it goes against the grain to even spend the money in the first place so hopefully the Carrera is a good compromise. It gets good reviews (not just on the Halfords site) and seems a lot better quality than the Apollo.

I'm the same when someone asks me about cars. My stepmum wanted a bloody Daewoo Matiz until I pointed out what utter crap they were and convinced her to go for a Toyota Yaris in the end. More money but an infinitely better car.

r32

Just make sure that you get the seat at the right height for her. Too often I see people riding round with the seat far too low. With the pedal at the bottom of its travel the leg should be almost straight. Thats with the ball of the foot on the pedal, dont pedal with the instep. But with the instep on the pedal at the bottom of its stroke the leg will be straight. If you dont do this she will find it uncomfortable, tiring and painful on the knees.

Good luck.

Matteeboy

Would highly recommend Specialized (I have three!) - good value and all are well made.
I'd never dip under £250 - just not worth it as the bike WILL die very quickly.

Not a snob thing, just fact. I'd also never go over £1500 either (rough price of my best bike) - again it's just pointless.

Get as basic as you can (no disk brakes, no full suspension) for much better vfm.
Cheap full suspension bikes are a scourge of the bike world and need culling.