Bike for novice

from_atozinc

Hello all

This is my first post ever in cycling so go easy on me. Thinking of buying a bike for recreation. Budget not too big. Say 150 Euro, even 2nd hand on done deal would do me.

I'm male BTW. Weigh about 14 stone and height 6ft.

Use = not too often. Maybe 10 miles a month so feck all really. Just for going to shop etc. and for use on public roads around Dublin.

Would be good if it could kinda fit in a boot........with boot open probably.

When I look at bikes I see all different types : different diameter wheels, shimano (i think) gears, thin tyres, wides tyres, thin saddles, wide saddles, one with a horizontal crossbar, ones with an angled crossbar, one with carrier, ones without carrier, one with mudflats, without etc etc.

So I'm a bit confused.

Could anyone recommend a bike for a novice like me that would suit my needs and budget ?

All advice welcome.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Look on donedeal for a bike within your budget and go and take a look and a test ride on it. If you like it buy it. For€150 your limited to second hand. You probably want a flat bar bike as opposed to a racer style bike or mountain bike. There isn't really such thing as anime for a novice. Just buy whatever you like the look of as long as it rides well, thegearschange smoothly and the brakes work.

nitna bitna

halfords.ie


TRAX TR1 mens bike

99euro

VanhireBoys

nitna bitna wrote: »

halfords.ie


TRAX TR1 mens bike

99euro

Jaysus a brand new bike for that price..? Id take a run to Halfords and get a spin on it at least and see what its like ...! In fact I might call tommorrow on the way home and test ride one myself !

As said above keep an eye out for sommit second hand but be careful, test ride plenty and make your own mind up what suits best...!

nitna bitna

have one the last six months not a bother on it cycle 3 or 4 times a week and its goin smooth as phuck

i got mine for 84.99 with my axa insurance discount card

from_atozinc

Thanks all. So a mountain type bike would seem to suit my needs.

That halfotds one sounds like a deal. As I said, I don't need anything fancy.

The 99 euro bike abd All of the bikes in the halfords home page seem to have no mud flaps on the bike ( I think that what you call them anyways )

Would one not get destroyed if cycling in rain ?

Barcafan11

from_atozinc wrote: »

Thanks all. So a mountain type bike would seem to suit my needs.

That halfotds one sounds like a deal. As I said, I don't need anything fancy.

The 99 euro bike abd All of the bikes in the halfords home page seem to have no mud flaps on the bike ( I think that what you call them anyways )

Would one not get destroyed if cycling in rain ?

Yeah but what do you expect for that price.

from_atozinc

Barcafan11 wrote: »

Yeah but what do you expect for that price.

fair enough. BUt I see bikes for 1300 Euro that have no mud flaps either

quozl

Mud-flaps almost never come with the bike.

Probably they do on various dutch style ladies bikes, I guess, but apart from that.

Halfords should sell suitable mudflaps for that bike. If not your local bike store would. They'll probably cost about 1/3rd as much as the bike though considering how cheap the bike is

Barcafan11

from_atozinc wrote: »

fair enough. BUt I see bikes for 1300 Euro that have no mud flaps either

Everything is extra on bikes. They don't make much on the bikes, but there is a big mark up on accessories. That's why when you buy a bike it's literally the bike and nothing else. But normally when you buy a bike they discount the accessories

from_atozinc

ok, thanks lads, thats just what I wanted to know.

there is 4 choices of bikes on Halfords for example

mountain bikes
dirt jump bikes
road bikes
town and trail bikes


What general section should I look in , town and trail bikes I presume ?

Also I see the bikes on Halfords are : 18" 19" 21" etc

What is this measurement referring to ?

Seweryn

from_atozinc wrote: »

ok, thanks lads, thats just what I wanted to know.

there is 4 choices of bikes on Halfords for example

mountain bikes
dirt jump bikes
road bikes
town and trail bikes


What general section should I look in , town and trail bikes I presume ?

Yes, town bikes are the definition of your needs, if you want a new one .

Seweryn

from_atozinc wrote: »

Also I see the bikes on Halfords are : 18" 19" 21" etc

What is this measurement referring to ?

It is the frame size in inches. You need probably 19 - 21, but depends on the bike type.

HivemindXX

from_atozinc wrote: »

Would be good if it could kinda fit in a boot........with boot open probably.

Depending on the boot most bikes will fit in if you take the front wheel off. You should have no problem with this.

from_atozinc wrote: »

When I look at bikes I see all different types : different diameter wheels, shimano (i think) gears, thin tyres, wides tyres, thin saddles, wide saddles, one with a horizontal crossbar, ones with an angled crossbar, one with carrier, ones without carrier, one with mudflats, without etc etc.

Most of this makes no difference to you.
different diameter wheels - ignore
shimano gears - just a brand name, ignore
thin/wide tyres - thin = faster, wide = comfort, not make or break for you
thin/wide saddle - saddles are very personal, decide by sitting on it
crossbar angle - basically ignore
carrier - only useful if you plan to carry a lot of stuff and buy panniers
mudguards - very useful to avoid getting dirty / wet. Can be added later

from_atozinc wrote: »

fair enough. BUt I see bikes for 1300 Euro that have no mud flaps either

A cheap city bike doesn't have mudguards because the vendor is trying to keep the price down. I recently bought some top of the line mudguards for €50 which would be a big price hike for some bikes if they were included. An expensive road bike doesn't have mudguards because they increase weight, they don't look cool and those guys don't generally care about getting wet.

from_atozinc

HivemindXX wrote: »

Depending on the boot most bikes will fit in if you take the front wheel off. You should have no problem with this.



Most of this makes no difference to you.
different diameter wheels - ignore
shimano gears - just a brand name, ignore
thin/wide tyres - thin = faster, wide = comfort, not make or break for you
thin/wide saddle - saddles are very personal, decide by sitting on it
crossbar angle - basically ignore
carrier - only useful if you plan to carry a lot of stuff and buy panniers
mudguards - very useful to avoid getting dirty / wet. Can be added later



A cheap city bike doesn't have mudguards because the vendor is trying to keep the price down. I recently bought some top of the line mudguards for €50 which would be a big price hike for some bikes if they were included. An expensive road bike doesn't have mudguards because they increase weight, they don't look cool and those guys don't generally care about getting wet.

excellent detailed reply , thanks !!!

magicbastarder

might be worth giving rothar a shout?


http://rothar.ie/

from_atozinc

magicbastarder wrote: »

might be worth giving rothar a shout?


http://rothar.ie/

Anyone have any previous experience with Rothar ??

Tonyandthewhale

Rothar are a community bike shop with a reputation for being friendly and helpful and supplying decent quality bikes at an affordable price. Everything they sell is second hand so it's not exactly blingy but it should be road worthy. You might get something nicer than the trax there and they'll at least be able to give you some helpful advice and not worry too much about the sales pitch.

The trax is a good idea because it's cheap and it doesn't sound like you're really going to use this bike more than once in a blue moon so no point spending money on it. The trax is a also a good idea because it's fairly simple and doesn't have stupid bouncy suspension like a lot of cheap mountain bikes (suspension is a good idea if you want to actually go mountain biking but is a false economy unless you're spending several multiples of your intended budget so just stay away).
This doesn't mean the trax is a good bike though. It's built to a budget and it's going to use low quality parts and materials and it won't last long if it's not maintained and it's not going to be a joy to maintain. Nevertheless it's about as good a bike as you can expect to buy new for less than 100e (quite a lot better than most actually).

Make sure you get the right size though. The 18, 19, 21 inch measurement refers to the length of the seat tube from the centre of the bottom bracket to the centre of the intersection with the top tube (crossbar). It's the frame size and it should be proportional to you height and the length of your legs. There are several online bike size calculators so do a google and input your measurements to get the right size.

A town/city/hybrid bike would be ideal for your intended use. The trax is technically a mountain bike but not too mountainy and probably cheaper than any town/city/hybrid bike you'll find.

If you want mudguards you can probably buy them in halfords or your local bike shop (LBS) and install them yourself, it's not hard.

Personally for a budget of 150e I wouldn't dream of buying new and would be going second hand. Of course to buy a bike worth having on the second hand market requires doing a little research and finding out what constitutes a bike worth having and you may not be ársed with this in which case you should buy the trax or something similar and be done with it.

from_atozinc

Thanks very much Tony

Great advice

from_atozinc

My knowledge of bikes is crap and the only brand name I know is raleigh ( from years ago )


Can anyone recommend a good brand name of ***city bike / hybrid bike ? ***

from_atozinc

What do people think of this bike :

http://gallaghercycles.com/index.php?id_product=30&controller=product

Goldrush Meteor

Is Goldrusg a decent enough brand ?

I was researching and my work is linked to the bike4work scheme so I could get it cheaper this way.

Barcafan11

from_atozinc wrote: »

What do people think of this bike :

http://gallaghercycles.com/index.php?id_product=30&controller=product

Goldrush Meteor

Is Goldrusg a decent enough brand ?

I was researching and my work is linked to the bike4work scheme so I could get it cheaper this way.

Halfords have a Carrera road bike for 374. Fairly cheap for a new one. I know a couple of people that have that brand and have never had any issues with them. Although if you are like me, but second hand if you are a novice. No point in spending a lot if you won't use it. Going to buy my second bike soon and ill spend a good bit more on this one

Barcafan11

Barcafan11 wrote: »

Halfords have a Carrera road bike for 374. Fairly cheap for a new one. I know a couple of people that have that brand and have never had any issues with them. Although if you are like me, but second hand if you are a novice. No point in spending a lot if you won't use it. Going to buy my second bike soon and ill spend a good bit more on this one

Obviously it will be cheaper again if you are getting it on the bikes4 work scheme