New bike for £200?

[col]

Im looking at possibly getting a new road bike,i have a mountain bike with road tyres,but i miss the lightness and speed of a racer,and also the different hand positions available ,i know there is a similar thread but that has a £500 budget,how about more like £200 ish?taking into account im 19 stone now,but hope to get to an ideal of 15 by the end of the summer,is there anything worthwhile at this price or am i being impractical?any recommendations please.cheers.

 

[slow down]

For £200 you could pick up a decent second hand bike - Giant OCR or similar (there's a couple on Ebay at the moment).
If you want new, Decathlon may be worth trying if there's one local (or Lifeson's selling one for £150 in the classifieds if the right size for you).
Wahtever you do, steer clear of the Halfords etc own brand Appollo's and the like.

 

[col]

Thanks slowdown ill take that onboard,cheers

 

[beanzontoast]

Second-hand is worth thinking about col - I haven't dismissed it either. I've had a few second-hand bikes down the years and (maybe I've been lucky) all have been great.

Obviously, even better if you can try before you buy!

 

[col]

Your right i think,but theres nothing like a shiny new one is there

 

[Monty Dog]

Hmm - are you looking for a serious bike or a garage ornament? At that price, you're looking at low-rent kit and a pretty hefty weight - about 25lbs. I'd look at the used option seriously, or try and stretch your budget to £350-400 where at least you start getting things like STIs, 8/9 speed transmission and wheels that will stay true after one ride. Decathlon or Edinburgh Bike Co-op have good 'starter' bikes.

 

[vorsprung]

H? At that price, you're looking at low-rent kit and a pretty hefty weight - about 25lbs

He said he weighs 19 stone
So saving 10lb off the bike weight would be a false economy
A cheap bike like a Giant plus a bike repair manual with a section on how to fix broken spokes sounds ideal to me

 

[col]

cheers guys,but the weight saving isnt really an issue with me,i dont intend racing just enjoying ride time,and like vorsprung said,theres a long way to go before i need to think of a light bike,but thanks anyway,i dont think going to 350 400 is an option at the mo,but hey theres no rush,i still have my mountain bike

 

[Monty Dog]

Yes, but these bikes feel heavy, use cheap parts that aren't very reliable and therefore will require replacement in short order. If it's going to be used regularly, I think they're false-economy, because in about 6 months it'll be worn out and the fitter rider will want something better to suit their improved capabilities. If money really is that tight, then you should be able to pick-up an older secondhand bike, say 6-7 years old with DuraAce/Ultegra with thousands of miles left and perhaps for the price of a cassette , chain, cables and tyres will feel 10x better

 

[col]

Good point monty dog, but i was hoping to find out if there were any bikes available at the price range new,that might be ok ,im obviously very out of touch with this topic through lack of cycling for quite a while,never mind ill save me pennies,becouse i would prefer new to second hand,probably not the most sensible choice but its what i would like

 

[Big T]

Don't be too quick to write off the Halfords Carrera range - the Valour, Vanquish, etc. They're good VFM with reasonable kit. Don't expect too much in the way of back up from Halfords, but it's fun servicing your own bike.

I have a Giant OCR4 which I bought new for £270 and it's still in use after 3 years with the original transmission apart from chain. I did have to upgrade the back wheel, but everything else is fine. I do about 4000 miles a year on it.

PS I weigh 20 st!

 

[col]

Cheers Big T,i know carrera compared to higher speck bikes is pretty basic as far as i know,but its actually what i have now as a mountain bike,and when i was using it ,i found it pretty good,so a road version of this might be worth looking at maybe?(oh iv broke the 19 stone mark today)been celebrating with a good old full english

 

[col]

I just dug my bike out of the shed,its been buried there for a long while,anyway some of you might recognise the model maybe,going to start using it again.

posting a pic didnt work for me


And its thundering and raining now,so ill give it a miss i think

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Col if you are fairly open minded about carrera they have recently bought out a entry level road bike to coincide with the tour de france it's bright yellow and I think it's £199.99 it may be a start but I think you would be better of with a srcond hand bike as I think it is possibly an old apollo with different stickers. Hope this helps.

 

[col]

Thanks for that Hugh,second hand seems to be the way to go.