Absolute Beginner - looking for advice

[NeilEB]

Not the kind of thing anyone on this forum would ever say but you might be best advised buying a cheap bike off ebay - you can pick serviceable secondhand bikes up for £10 to £20. Id estimate about a 19 - 20 inch frame mountain bike would suit, hybrid bikes are more expensive even second hand. Then if you get hooked you can investigate buying something better - as hlab observed decathalon are well regarded.

My only issue with this is if I get a real dud, it could completely put me off cycling.

Which I guess is the same issue with buying a cheapy anyway - hmmmm

 

[apollo179]

Hi - if you can get over to watford i can sell you this for £30.


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Its a raleigh nitro - and is as good as you could want. I would say like new but i cant remember tbh as its been down my parents for years incase i ever needed it.
I think its called a mountain bike but in reality its a town bike with nobbly tyres.
You probably wont be interested but as a general principal this is the kind of thing that is readily available.

 

[abo]

Not the kind of thing anyone on this forum would ever say but you might be best advised buying a cheap bike off ebay - you can pick serviceable secondhand bikes up for £10 to £20

... people here regularly recommend a used bike, saying that you will get a good quality used bike for the same price as a new BSO

 

[abo]

I agree - lots of rubbish spoken for lots of reasons.
My bike is called an apollo mountain bike but except for the mountainbike style wheels and tyres its a town bike. A town bike with "odd" wheels/tyres on it. Or am i missing something.

To me a hybrid is a MTB type frame and bars, rigid fork, road bike wheels and slicks, and more of a road-bike gear ratio.

 

[coffeejo]

I've just managed to write a book on cycling without mentioning the H word once. There is no such thing - it's a name dreamed up by marketing gimps and has no meaning.

People whi jump to the defence of the word will say that it combines parts from road (touring) bikes and mountain bikes - hence hybrid. But mountain bikes used parts developed for tandems, and road bikes and BMX. That doesn't make them hybrids.

Show me any bike and I'll tell you into what category it falls. And it wont be a hybrid.

From a technical point of view, I'm sure you're correct. But given the broad range of bikes that are available, the term has meaning for beginners/newbies like myself who don't know the difference between the different makes and models and who simply want "a bike". It might be a marketing ploy, but if it gets people on their bikes, surely it's a good thing?

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Take a look at something like this. Hybrid is an often misused term but it paints a rough picture of what you are after.

 

[apollo179]

To me a hybrid is a MTB type frame and bars, rigid fork, road bike wheels and slicks, and more of a road-bike gear ratio.

What characterises a mountainbike type frame ?

 

[Angelfishsolo]

To me a hybrid is a MTB type frame and bars, rigid fork, road bike wheels and slicks, and more of a road-bike gear ratio.

Probably touring size rather than race size ratios IMHO

 

[NeilEB]

... people here regularly recommend a used bike, saying that you will get a good quality used bike for the same price as a new BSO

BSO?

 

[apollo179]

BSO?

Stands for "bike shaped object". A derogatory term used by certain kind of person towards cheaper bikes.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

BSO?

Bike Shaped Object. Contentious issue but generally used to describe a bike bought from somewhere like Asda or Tesco.

 

[HLaB]

BSO?

A Bike Shaped Object, it basically a bike out of a supermarket/ catalogue or the like that resembles a bike but is not fit for the purpose of cycling.

Three almost identical posts :-)

 

[apollo179]

A Bike Shaped Object, it basically a bike out of a supermarket/ catalogue or the like that resembles a bike but is not fit for the purpose of cycling.

Three almost identical posts :-)

Almost - i was also attempting to hint at the arrogance and conceipt that is intrinsic in its use.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Almost - i was also attempting to hint at the arrogance and conceipt that is intrinsic in its use.

Don;t think this is the place. We have a BSO thread do we not?

 

[mickle]

Almost - i was also attempting to hint at the arrogance and conceipt that is intrinsic in its use.

The thing is, unless you've worked in a busy bike shop and witnessed the trouble that so very many people have with BSOs I'm not sure you can appreciate how much truth there is in the description.

Most of us regular bicyclists would agree that any bum on any bike seat is A Good Thing, the trouble is that cheap, heavy, unreliable and uncomfortable BSOs with shoot brakes tell newbies only that cycling is difficult, painful and dangerous.

shoot bikes - rather than encouraging people to cycle, actually makes the task of persuading people to ride bikes more difficult.