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not resolvedDear Edinburgh cycling people,
Where is the best place to buy a new bike?
I want to use it mainly for going on leisurely cycle rides, including through muddy puddles (so not a road bike), but I don't want to cycle up mountains either. I might also cycle to and from work, but that isn't far. I also only want to spend about £300.
Grateful for any advice, as I'm really not sure where to start.
Cartoon by Greta Snider
As Jacquie Phelan says "1 Choosing a Shop - walk into store, making a mental note of your sense of height in inches when you go in. Wait for service, observe the reception you get, talk (if you can get the fellow's attention), then take note of your stature upon leaving the store. If you feel appreciably smaller, do not return. Find another bike shop, and hope for a real human connection, a salesperson interested in what you want to do on your new bike, how you intend to use it."
Most shops here - http://edinburghcycleshops.wordpress.com
Decide if your budget is just for the bike - if so you'll need more for a lock (if you don't have one) and maybe lights, and probably mudguards - there are still a surprising number of 'town bikes' without them!
Also take someone with you - not necessarily someone who knows any more than you do.
Do you intend using it for shopping and errands? At night? Have you many storage constraints?
Going for second-hand allows swapping a bit of newness for a few post-purchase additions and refinements.
You sound like exactly the demographic that the Bike co-op aimed the streetfinder and pathfinder at.
I'm not necessarily advocating you get either one, but that is pretty much spot-on their description.
I'm not in a position to make a personal recommendation of any shop but there is a new shop which seems to specialise in catering for the female cyclist. Whether they do anything in your price range I know not. Others may now have experience to comment on it.
Of no use to you, but I was astonished to see on visiting Decathlon yesterday, that they sell a quite reasonable looking "road bike" with alloy frame and carbon forks for 300 quid.
they sell a quite reasonable looking "road bike" with alloy frame and carbon forks for 300 quid.
Call me sceptical, but you will get what you pay for. That's not to say don't buy a £300 bike, but if you want a light, zippy, comfortable road bike, you'll struggle at that budget on a new bike.
Actually the triban 3 is not at all bad. I've had one for over a year. (only used sparingly mind). But no problems so far.
I would save up until you have a couple of hundred quid more in the budget.
My aunt went on a wine tasting course many years ago, and the fact that comes to mind here is that about £2.00 of the price of a bottle of wine goes purely into the glass, cork and transporting it to the shop. At the time, screwtops hadn't become respectable and cheapo plonk was about two and a half quid. Thus, the difference in money spent on quality between a £2.50 wine and a £5 wine wasn't doubled, it was multiplied sixfold.
I don't know how accurate that was back then, or whether it still holds true today of wine, but the basic principle probably applies to bikes.
Judging by the pricing floor on geared hybrids, which seems to be about £200, you might find you get twice as much bike for four hundred compared to three.
Yeah, I was going to suggest Edinburgh Bike Co-op too. It all depends what you're looking for. Most bike shops though will have something that suits you though. Decathlon do some decent city bikes, some with lights included on a dynamo system, and even a built in frame lock, Dutch style. Raleigh do some reasonable and inexpensive city bikes too: Eastside Bikes may have something like the Raleigh Caprice in stock.
Hi Marianne,
Simply go to:
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/#
Scroll down and at the bottom on the right you will see "Spring catalogue".
Get it sent to you - no cost - and spend time looking at what you can get for your budget.
Enjoy!
I'm kind of with Uberuce on this one. Spend a bit more and get a better bike. Or buy something secondhand.
But for me, when I was getting back into cycling, and had similar specs to you - plus it needed to be able to carry childseat -- the pathfinder was pretty much exactly what I wanted.
So, give it a whirl. But don't expect a light bike at that level. And do get some panniers. They're a million times better than a rucksack.
Just like SRD my first bike when I got back into cycling about 8 years ago was the Revolution Pathfinder from Edinburgh Bike Co-op. It lasted me about 3 years before I succumbed to temptation and bought something lighter and better quality and double the price (which is still going strong). The suspension forks weren't really an asset (heavy, got seized up over time) but I did add a pannier rack and that was very useful. i.e. something like the Streetfinder would have been better in hindsight.
I think that the skills and knowledge of the people in a full-time bike shop (rather than e.g. Decathlon or Go Outdoors) is probably worth it because they can make sure that the bike is properly suited for you (spec and size), and set up right.
totally agree with livD - the suspension forks were a pain. I didn't want them, but i think the streetfinder didn't fit the childseat, so went with the pathfinder.
i was also very clueless about tyres. i wanted something wide and stable, but didn't realize they didn't have to be knobbly. Those models now look like they have more road-friendly tyres, so maybe that's not an issue.
EBC is my recommendation. All but one of my bikes have come from there, and they've never done me wrong.
I'm not convinced of Uberuce's wine analogy.
Sometimes all you need is a simple bike with the features you need. The difference between a £500 bike and a £300 one is sometimes not that huge: it depends on the brand, the spec, what extras it has.
It is nice to have a higher quality bike, but not always essential. There are quite a few bikes in the price range Marianne is thinking about that could be suitable for her needs. Personally I wouldn't go cheaper than around the £300 mark unless buying second hand.
Some of the bikes at Decathlon seem very good value: The 'Elops 7' offers hub gears*, hub dynamo, lights, mudguards, lock, rack... Most bike shops in the UK will not offer these features on a bike at this price level. It's a frustrating characteristic of the market here, which is mostly geared to leisure/sports cycling. The only questionmark with Decathlon is after sales service/maintenance, the kind of issues you find at Halfords perhaps.
The similar Raleigh Caprice is more fashion oriented in styling, with retro painted steel mudguards, front basket and swept back shopper bars. No dynamo, but hub gears for ease of use/maintenance.
*- There's a 24 speed derailleur geared hybrid too, the NeWork 5, also with dynamo lights, rack and guards.
Some good advice there, I'd second the advice to budget for a pannier or pair of panniers (and a rack if needed) if you expect to carry anything on the bike.
My own advice would be to either buy the best quality pannier/s you can afford (Ortlieb are my faves, other brands are favoured by some) or find out if anyone on here has a cheapy you can use until the funds are available ;-) the better makes whilst pricey are a long term investment though as they, if not a one time purchase, last longer and are much more convenient to use than most budget brands.
The only practical alternative to pannier/s imho is a good saddlebag or rackbag (Carradice are favoured by many, other brands are available).
Daysacks/rucksacks are ok as a stopgap, but they're way inferior to letting the bike carry the weight.
Oh and don't under-rate the value of mudguards and lights as standard! (or budget to get some...)
Oh and don't rule out a secondhand "tourer" if someone reputable can point you at one, your budget is on target for a nice Dawes, Surly or similar if you get lucky....
Would fit your description with most of the advantages of a road bike but still the ability to comfortably manage cycle tracks, canal towpath etc.
What not to do, as a friend of my wifes just did - is go to "someone on Gumtree who sells a lot of bikes and recommended me this".
"This" was a BSO of indeterminate age, totally unserviced and (had I not done a few tweaks) where one brake block would have worn thru the front tyre in about a week.
I remain unconvinced it is safe.
It was cheap (£40, dear lord!) - but if you want cheap and dont know your stuff - go to The Bike Station, at least they might make it roadworthy.
Crowriver, I was trying to figure how how the B'Cool was so cheap(even considering the purchasing power of a large company like Decathlon) then I clocked the 16kg weight. There must be some fearsome amount of hi-tensile in that quirky frame.
+1 for it being an interesting wee device. Before I Dutchified my sister's racer I was pondering a project for a 20" shopper. Being me and knowing I'd want to thrash it along Strava segments for the lulz I didn't want to buy the B'Cool or the trendier Bobbin and instead pondered getting a BMX off Gumtree and Frankenbiking it within an inch of its life with mudguards, extended seatpost and a front basket.
Bobbin's only a wee bit lighter than the B'Cool, now that I look. How much is your pub bike?
I'm sure the starter of this thread isn't ready -
"I was pondering a project for a 20" shopper"
but there are precedents...
http://sheldonbrown.com/raleigh-twenty.html
And locally -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/twentymanna/sets/72157627630837920/detail
The Common Wheel in Glasgow like to tart up 20s.
My mum used to have Shopper with DynoHub.
The b'cool is a Raleigh 14 or maybe the shopper. 14 weighed a tonne, shopper I think lighter.
Shopper remains cool, 14 consigned to oblivion (but great bike to learn to cycle on) huge ft white tyres.
This thread has a definite touch of déjà vu.
Lots of us on here bought a cheapnEBC hybrid when returning to cycling (me too). This bike, Cave? Still goes, but very heavy. General gist tho is Do not do what we did.
So does anyone know if any retro style cheaper versions of the Pashley might fit the bill.? A PENDLETON or a Dawes or maybe the EBC do one? They are all likely to be heavy too.
if I had my time over again I would get the seven speed EBC courier as it has less to go wrong with it, shifts along at a clip, not quite as heavy as the others, takes rack and mudguards, remember the desire to cycle through muddy puddles?!
Ridgeback do a version and of course the specialized Sirirus is the same but lighter and faster and much more expensive.
Good advice from those sage old folks on here. So what did you get Marianne?? ;o)
Nelly Said 'What not to do, as a friend of my wifes just did'
I did something similar for my eldest last year. Bought a Scaffold pole (think lead lined - for weight) full suspension bike (16" wheels) and then paid more than double to get it on the road working safely. £15 for the bikes, £25 for new brakes blocks, more child friendly useable brake leavers, new brake cables etc... Obviously this doesn't include my time stripping cleaning, greasing and rebuilding.
I met a couple of tourers a few weeks ago in Pitlochry who rode those Decathlon Triban bikes. They looked very usable.
I have a tourer and with 35mm Schwabe Marathon tyres they can tackle most trails, I even rode this across the Pentlands, then then home to Fife.
I had a version of the EBC Courier (pre-Revolution branding). A good simple bike but rather young bloke-ish. After we had our first child it largely languished at the foot of the stair until it got nicked along with my wide's EBC Contour. That was in 2008, I we got new bikes from the insurance, which are still going strong: mine a Specialized Globe, hers a Giant Boulder. The spur to cycling more was having shiny new bikes. The rest, as they say, is history...
On the topic of Pashley alike bikes, yes Decathlon do one too, as do Raleigh. Here's EBC's offering. Lots of hi-tensile steel in the Decathlon one, probably quite heavy, but again it has all the extras, dynamo lights, even a skirt guard. The Raleigh is apparently aluminimium, they do higher priced classic bikes too that are the equivalent of a Pashley Princess. The EBC one is similar to the Raleigh Caprice with an aluminium frame and front basket, but features drum brakes, which are a really great feature at this price. Also a rear rack.
I'd say EBC's Revolution Heritage Deluxe '12 is looking like a very good deal.
Now that I think about it, wanting a ride to work bike with hub gears, my brother got me an aluminium framed Raleigh with 3 speed SRAM hub gear, mudguards, dynamo light set, rear rack, propstand, even a bell, all for 200 Euro in a supermarche when he was on holiday not too many years ago.
Once I'd lowered the gearing it was fine. And Lidl/Aldi panniers completed the package for next to nothing.
Oh, I completely forgot this pearl of wisdom, which certainly turned out true for me: the first bike you get is always the wrong one.
You can safely ignore that if you've been cycling for ages on lots of different types and sizes of bikes, and are just asking the locals where the good budget-bike shops are.
If you're new to cycling then the type of riding you'll be doing in a year might not be what you think you'll do.
Also, your most favoured posture might change over the course of the first few months. That doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong at first and takes months to get right - I would imagine there's muscles lurking in the non-cyclist that take a long while to get up to full strength, and once they do they suit a different posture.
Thank you everyone for your advice...I'm not sure if I am less confused yet, but has given me some things to think about.
My budget is not inflexible if paying a bit extra was worth it, and meant the bike would last me longer. I am rather in the dark about what makes the difference, so am trying to do a bit of research before visiting a shop, and being sold something I don't need.
I have lights, and a bell I can use as I already have a bike, but I probably also need a new lock and paniers, and to buy insurance. I don't want a basket on the front, and I'm not that bothered about getting muddy.
The bike I have is one my parents bought me as a birthday present when I was a teenager. As it would cost about the same as it is worth to service it, and I once borrowed someone else bike and found it was much much easier to cycle on, I have decided it is time for an upgrade.
So I am not new to cycling exactly, but I'm not highly experienced either. The furthest I have gone in one day is about 20 miles, but I want to go on some longer trips this summer.
Mudguards also protect your components, dependent on how often you want to use your time cleaning yer bike. Sometimes a new bike gets treated very kindly when first bought.
Bike to work scheme is sometimes a way to upgrade, but sometimes not that good.
Puncture proof tyres such as the Schwalbe marathon plus come at a price but worth considering.
You do not need 26 in wheels and knobbly tyres (though I did get them on my first bike returning to cycling as I was on the WoL path and thought I would need them - 32mm wide tyres are fine and you could go skinnier later). I prefer the larger 700mm diameter wheels. Tyres you can swap later on but wheel size is less flexible.
"I once borrowed someone else bike and found it was much much easier to cycle on"
Do you know what made the difference?
Lighter bike? Lower gears? Better state of repair? Different/better riding position? 'Correct' size?
One problem is that everyone is different and likes different (sometimes subtle) differences.
Same things (usually) apply - well blown up tyres, correct saddle height (even 1/2cm can a difference to riding comfort, handlebar position (height and also distance from saddle - and so position you ride in), comfortable and easy to use position of brake and gear levers.
I know what I like - but I've ridden many bikes over many years and have bikes that I use for different purposes.
It's interesting that some people on this thread seem to have bought the 'wrong' bike - or at least have realised that their requirements have evolved.
What bike to buy is different from where to buy it.
Basic advice is still 'try a few shops and see which one(s) you like'. Generally they are not there to sell you stuff that's not suitable for you. Might be worth avoiding busy times - usually weekends and lunchtime for some shops.
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