# ''What is that bike?!''



## J1888 (7 Apr 2015)

That's what I thought to myself when I saw an unfamiliar looking bike in the bike storage at work this morning.

A brand/model I'd never heard of, so I went on Google and saw that it's this:

http://www.tesco.com/direct/vertigo-piccadilly-700c-14-speed-shimano-road-bike/211-7006.prd

£150!!! Didn't know you could get a road bike so cheap.

Now, I'm sure the experts on here will say that it's not a good bike, it looked good for the price!

No, I'm not buying one.

Curious though, anyone ridden one of these?


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## winjim (7 Apr 2015)

Flash sale, it's £125 for the next half hour!

Still wouldn't.


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## Hip Priest (7 Apr 2015)

Good God. I'd rather drive.


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## J1888 (7 Apr 2015)

Hip Priest said:


> Good God. I'd rather drive.



Admittedly, it doesn't look as good as most other bikes, but in my ill-informed opinion, that it looked more expensive than £150 (now £125?!)!


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## glasgowcyclist (7 Apr 2015)

If it gets someone new to cycling onto a bike I don't see the problem. 

GC


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## JMAG (7 Apr 2015)

Seems we missed the bargain offer. One reviewer says "Fancied a road bike so for £60 I thought worth a gamble." And another says "seems ok for the price paid, which with discount and vouchers came in at under £45 a bargain!"


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## cyberknight (7 Apr 2015)

Just did a quick look at the piccies, cheap brakes like on my sons bso kiddy bike hes grown out of, and they were useless even for a 4 year olds weight in the dry .
Seriously without being a snob if this your price point second hand would be a better option.


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## S.Giles (7 Apr 2015)

If that was the only bike available to me on a beautiful windless Summer's day, I'd be out on it - no problem!


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## KneesUp (7 Apr 2015)

cyberknight said:


> Seriously without being a snob if this your price point second hand would be a better option.



Regardless of your price point, unless you are getting a bespoke bike, second hand is a better option - it's just some people are "snobs" and want shiny new things


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## J1888 (7 Apr 2015)

I might buy one and do a paint job on it sticking some pinarello decals on and seeing how many compliments I get


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## screenman (7 Apr 2015)

KneesUp said:


> Regardless of your price point, unless you are getting a bespoke bike, second hand is a better option - it's just some people are "snobs" and want shiny new things



You need snobs otherwise there would bo none of your used bikes.


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## J1888 (7 Apr 2015)

Oh and the gear shifters are a bit odd - had another look in the bike store


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## Hip Priest (7 Apr 2015)

J1888 said:


> I might buy one and do a paint job on it sticking some pinarello decals on and seeing how many compliments I get



About the same amount as you'd get if you spray painted 'Hilton' on the side of your shed.


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## Drago (7 Apr 2015)

I'd pay 150 notes to have it taken away and burned.

Are the reviews written by Tesco employees?


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## Bollo (7 Apr 2015)

The name is spot on, because it made me feel nauseous looking at it.

2nd hand every time for that money.


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## Tim Hall (7 Apr 2015)

> The rims of the Vertigo Piccadilly have a double-walled structure to give you extra durability and added puncture protection




Uh huh.


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## Levo-Lon (7 Apr 2015)

Wow a whole bike for the price of a half decent crankset!!!
Did a job for a guy today with 2 really crap FS bikes in the shed, I said do you like the bikes? We rode em around the village when we got them last summer, not been out on them since..


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## gbb (7 Apr 2015)

Meh, I wouldnt dismiss it out of hand...remember ToysR Us had those Traxx 'racers' for about £100, guy at work went and got one, it was reduced to £50 .
He brought It in and showed me...
Tyres were ridicuLously heavy, hubs were a bit grindy, I quickly adjusted and lubed them, components were cheap....but, he was still commuting on it a year later, saved himself a fortune in petrol he said. 
Personally i wouldnt buy it, but they can have their uses to some people who wouldnt dream of spending £500 on a bike, let alone a grand.


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## Accy cyclist (8 Apr 2015)

How rough, and heavy will those front forks be?!


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## The_Cycling_Scientist (8 Apr 2015)

Shifters are a little odd I'll admit but not much different to the stem Shifters on some old frames. I guess it would do the job and would maybe make a good enough donor frame over time for upgrades to better parts! All got to start somewhere and if your on a tight budget and would prefer something you know you can take back if your not happy a couple of weeks down the line


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## Saluki (8 Apr 2015)

My neighbour is thinking of getting one of these for her 11 year old son. I am trying to talk her out of it. He's tallish but will 'grow into it as time goes on' Hmmm. Also at nearly 31lbs, I think that he might struggle a bit with it. Having said that, it's probably lighter than his BSO MTB that he is rapidly growing out of.
I think that I will continue to try and talk her out of it!


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## S.Giles (8 Apr 2015)

Sounds as if tyres and general quality control could be problem areas. If, (like someone who posted a review) I could get one for £45, I'd definitely go for it, just for fun!


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## Tojo (8 Apr 2015)

Hip Priest said:


> Good God. I'd rather drive.





I'd rather walk....


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## Tojo (8 Apr 2015)

J1888 said:


> I might buy one and do a paint job on it sticking some pinarello decals on and seeing how many compliments I get




It would cost you more for the paint, and especially the Pinarello decals, than it's worth........


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## Dirk (8 Apr 2015)

It's probably as good as, if not better than, most half decent bikes of 40 years ago. We did lots of miles on those and thought they were OK.


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## MisterStan (8 Apr 2015)

I saw one of these in my town the other day - the setup of the bars was so strange I took a couple of pics. Really doesn't look comfortable to me...


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## S.Giles (8 Apr 2015)

Dirk Thrust said:


> It's probably as good as, if not better than, most half decent bikes of 40 years ago. We did lots of miles on those and thought they were OK.


And a 'half decent bike' of forty years ago couldn't be purchased for £125, when inflation is factored-in.

Being sniffy about something cheap-and-cheerful like this is a knee-jerk reaction that some people simply can't resist. As compared to the twin-shock mountain bikes that hitherto formed the low end of the market, it's a _huge_ step in the right direction, IMO.

There are many here who could benefit from buying one and using it as a platform to learn about bicycle maintenance. It would save them from having to run to their LBS every time their gears need adjusting or they hear a funny noise, and they would gain a better understanding of _what a bicycle actually is_! They may also come to realise that the wheelset that cost them twenty-times more than this whole bike isn't actually _worth_ twenty-times more!


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## nickyboy (8 Apr 2015)

Horses for courses, innit?

Someone buying this bike isn't going to be doing centuries or powering up hills trying to grab a KoM. They're going to be pootling about or maybe doing a bit of commuting. Buying from Tesco means no intimidating visit to a bike shop and if it's not right you can take it back, no problem. Nobody who would be interested in this bike would even consider buying second hand.


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## Pale Rider (8 Apr 2015)

MisterStan said:


> I saw one of these in my town the other day - the setup of the bars was so strange I took a couple of pics. Really doesn't look comfortable to me...



Looks like in the land of the Vertigo, the Barracuda is king.


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## KneesUp (8 Apr 2015)

screenman said:


> You need snobs otherwise there would bo none of your used bikes.


That would be fine for me, I have three that cover me for on-road (rough or with luggage), on road (smooth and/or no luggage) and off-road - inflation adjusted cost new c.£2,500, cost to me £58. They're all steel, and so have enough life left to outlive me, so I don't need any more 

Admittedly only one of them is rideable, but still ...



Accy cyclist said:


> How rough, and heavy will those front forks be?!



Yeah, it's a shame they haven't gone for curved ones - steel is a great material for forks if you let it bend a little to smooth things out, but that isn't a fashionable look it seems.


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## tyred (8 Apr 2015)

It's no uglier than any other modern road bike imo


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## steveindenmark (8 Apr 2015)

My first dozen bikes were from scrap yards and tips. I would have been delighted with that bike. You can still ride C2C and Lejog on it with a little fettling.

If it fits someones budget and gets them riding, I see nothing wrong with it.

Bike Snobbery.......tut.....tut....


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## YorkyDevil (9 Apr 2015)

Hi, I am new onto the forum/chat but have used it for reference purposes lots of times. Some of the comments with these cheaper bikes are not always snobbery but something learned through experience. The old saying of you get what you pay for is as true today as it has always been. I cannot afford a new bike, geez i would be lucky if i could afford a new wheel. Some bikes are just bad, some are good, you cannot blame a "bike" because the supplier put the fork on the wrong way. The plastic brake arms do bend a bit, but the people that might have these brakes/bikes are not going to be doing 40 mph or hundreds of miles on them, so at 6 mph they work fine. I did have a full suspension bike from a friend, it was a decent ride as full sus go, I got a cheap Dunlop full sus with disk brakes for a few quid, i will not go into it, but I sold it a week later, It was terrible ( after using the other one for 6 months). Due to health problems i now spend a lot of time taking old bikes to pieces and passing on or selling cheap. I got one of the Asda specials, were they £69 ! for a tenner, took it all apart, regreased etc and sold on for £20. As a bike to pop to the shop it was ok, but i would not like to ride it for more than a few hours. I recently picked up a diamondback vectra 7005 for £20 and a Marin bolinas ridge for £30. I ride a lot along the side of the rivers and canals, not much tarmac riding. Now I realise that these bikes are not fantastic but as said I cannot afford a new bike, but for £20 I can get out and about and enjoy what the UK has to offer. I doubt my £20 - £30 bikes will manage a 12 inch jump, but neither will my body. The bottom line is, if you can only afford a new bike under £200, your best buying a second hand one, I think that is better advise than saying you would not touch a new bike at £150. If they get a second hand one, like my Marin, they might then go on to buying a £800 bike, Buying a cheap Asda/Tesco bike and expecting the earth, they might be put of for life. I just got some cheap pedals of e bay, look nice but only got ball bearings on the inner side, is this normal, or just another cheap way to make them.


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## Tojo (10 Apr 2015)

Dirk Thrust said:


> It's probably as good as, if not better than, most half decent bikes of 40 years ago. We did lots of miles on those and thought they were OK.



Yes, I agree on the whole with your statement but we didn't have anything better so just had to got on with the cards we were dealt ...then but not now........


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## Cold Snail (13 Apr 2015)

I bought the one up version (16 speed Claris) for £65 last month and put around 300 miles on it so far (I did change the tyres before I took it out).






I'm 6 foot 3 and weigh the wrong side of 20 stone and to date, nothing has gone wrong with it.


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