Kinda, new cyclist

[WmK]

Well brief introduction, in 17, 2nd year starting at college doing a-levels blah blah I wont bore you with it.

Anyway this is my current bike (well not this one but in blue, same model bike, not my picture), and i've had this for a good few years, and brought it from ToysRUS, its decent, but just not the right bike at this time and age.

The point is, i've started cycling again in the summer holidays a few weeks back, HOPEFULLY willing to continue with it on a regular basis and set myself targets to achieve within a week, but the bike I have, well its not much use. The downsides, i'm not keen on suspension bikes anyymore since these bikes carry quite a bit of weight, and when peddling in hard i've noticed a lot of the energy in longer journeys is lost through the bike springing up and down and not accelerating off as much as i'd want it to, and this is damn tiring when going long uphill. The bike is aluminium framed, but still has quite some weight in it.

I can do around 10 miles in one day on this, which isn't much but for starts i'm pretty chuffed with this around. (done around 60 miles in a week to get me stared back into biking on road) I'm just not happy with the bike on road, and DEFINITELY want a lighter framed bike, with overall good performance capabilities.

I'm normally a road cyclist, i DO want to get into slight offroad biking hence the reason i'm looking for a mountain bike rather than a pure road bike. As I said i'm not much of an expert in bikes, but really want to get into it asap. I weigh just over 55kg, and height about 5"8. Budget, since i'm a beginner i'm thinking around or under £200.

I've seen one at halfords, £160 on sale at the moment. It has front shocks, which apparently i've been told will suck in quite a bit of energy and carries weight. I've seen bikes with front lockouts, but price-wise, they are deer and way out of my budget.

Benefits, drawback, i'm not sure what to look for in a bike, halfords advice = rigid bike, much better for road use and occasional offroading. Problem is, your talking £400 odd, which is too much for a start for me, in something like a Carerra range of bikes which are deer and go higher in price.

Can anyone offer some advice on what I should be looking for in a bike for starters? Any kind of benefits I should be looking and drawbacks I should be avoiding in a bike? I'd say i'm doing onroad biking at the momemt. Willing to do offroad as I experience up. Once i'm sure im tough back into biking, i'll upgrade myself, but for starters this is where I stand.

Advice apprecieted. Thanks

 

[ian turner]

While waiting for the more experienced to comment i'll just say
1 Halford sales prices are misleading as their bikes are mostly in a sale of some sort for most of the year and if you click on the description tab it will mention at the bottom that it was on sale at the quoted original price for about 2 months.
2 £400 for a carrera rigid bike ? £259 for a carrera subway 1 which gets a good review on bikeradar.

 

[mcshroom]

There are a decent number of Carrera Subway owners on this site, the reviews tend to be positive. The Carrera Subway 1 is £259, although they have been under £200 in the past so keep an eye on it.




Within the £200 budget then there aren't a lot of good bikes out there. The Reebok bike looks rather low-end, but the parts don't look massively dissimilar to my Rockrider 5.1, which is not brilliant but works well enough when set up right, the rockrider is £140 though.

If you happen to live near a Decathlon then the Rockrider 5.2 is a better spec'd bike at £199. Also gets a good review on Bike Radar

The front fork does sap some energy, especially when climbing hills, but it is nothing like as much as a full-suss bike does. I started back this winter on a front suspension mtb and it is slower than the rigid bike I have now, but it was perfectly serviceable as a bike (and still is).

Whatever you get, if you are riding mainl on road, then fit some slick tyres like Schwalbe City Jets as they will make the bike roll much more easily on road (obviously switch back to the knobblies for playing around in mud though )

 

[WmK]

I've researched around and looking at the Decathlon Rockrider 5.2, i've gone for that with online delivery since I need a new bike asap. I will post back on how it goes! It's the first time i've heard on the decathlon but after visiting Halfords and researching Decathlon into dept, that bike seems to have higher spec than other bikes in the same price range at Halfords. Thanks guys.

 

[rosscbrown]

Police auctions! High risk and mostly fully of 50p-a-go rubbish bikes but there are a few gems to be pulled out of the mess if you know what you are looking for. Road/'cross bikes don't tend to feature too often but is worth a try if you are looking for something cheap to start out on...

 

[bauldbairn]

I've researched around and looking at the Decathlon Rockrider 5.2, i've gone for that with online delivery since I need a new bike asap. I will post back on how it goes! It's the first time i've heard on the decathlon but after visiting Halfords and researching Decathlon into dept, that bike seems to have higher spec than other bikes in the same price range at Halfords. Thanks guys.

Seems like a decent enough bike to be honest - good spec and nice looking, 5 years frame / 2 year fork/parts warranties are confidence inspiring for a start!!!
There are a few Decathlon owners on this forum.

As mcshroom says fit semi-slicks for the road and pump them up a bit harder than the MTB tyres - for less rolling resistance.
There are some good tyres for both on and off road riding(smooth in the centre with grip on the edges for off road) and they don't cost a fortune..

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.

 

[WmK]

The bike is here, and extremely quick!!

Pro: Frame has a solid build and nice finish, great colour, good quality parts, shimano 8 speed shifters work great ergonomically, adjustable 70mm front suspension, shimano altus rear derailers work well no trouble yet, tyres are of good quality, look strong ready for trail biking.

Cons: (not cons as such) pedal straps are awkward practically when taking the foot off and on the pedal at lights since i'm mainly a road user (purchased another set of pedals).

I rate it 9/10 upto not, and that could be higher once I give the bike a rough challenge off the road.