Beginner looking for hobbie

Nobler32

Hi there,

A few of my friends have recently purchased 'Viking Phantom' road bikes from sportsdirect.co.uk, where I have been looking at a 'Muddyfox pace bike'. My friends nor I have any cycling experience other than the usual Trek mountain bike back in the school days.

These bikes work out at €160 and then pretty cheap delivery too, would anyone recommend them for a beginner or are they best avoided?

Does anyone know where I might get something that won't fall apart for similar money?
This may not be relevant, but at over 100kg do I need to look for something strong / specific tyres etc?

This is purely for weekend use, just a hobby to keep us busy, nothing serious!

Cheers

Hunterbiker

Hi
you may want to ask a mod to move this to the main cycling forum to get more responses.
I am not familaliar with the brand but I'd say you get what you pay for.
For the budget maybe a second hand roadbike would be better. Okay it will be older but may well have been a good spec when it was new.
many more wiser heads than me though who may have opinions...

Beasty

Moved from Cycling Adverts

Darkglasses

Nobler32 wrote: »

Hi there,

A few of my friends have recently purchased 'Viking Phantom' road bikes from sportsdirect.co.uk, where I have been looking at a 'Muddyfox pace bike'. My friends nor I have any cycling experience other than the usual Trek mountain bike back in the school days.

These bikes work out at €160 and then pretty cheap delivery too, would anyone recommend them for a beginner or are they best avoided?

Does anyone know where I might get something that won't fall apart for similar money?
This may not be relevant, but at over 100kg do I need to look for something strong / specific tyres etc?

This is purely for weekend use, just a hobby to keep us busy, nothing serious!

Cheers

What kind of cycling are you thinking of doing? On-road, off-road, or mix?

The thing with a lot of bikes at that price-range is that they are extremely basic, and if you did get "the bug" then you will want to replace it fairly soon. Ends up being wasted money.

07Lapierre

Nobler32 wrote: »

Hi there,

A few of my friends have recently purchased 'Viking Phantom' road bikes from sportsdirect.co.uk, where I have been looking at a 'Muddyfox pace bike'. My friends nor I have any cycling experience other than the usual Trek mountain bike back in the school days.

These bikes work out at €160 and then pretty cheap delivery too, would anyone recommend them for a beginner or are they best avoided?

Does anyone know where I might get something that won't fall apart for similar money?
This may not be relevant, but at over 100kg do I need to look for something strong / specific tyres etc?

This is purely for weekend use, just a hobby to keep us busy, nothing serious!

Cheers

Yeah, we all said that at the beginning...3 bikes and €1000's later...its a bit more than a hobby now!

Darkglasses

Also, welcome! I think you've chosen an excellent hobby! It's healthy, fun and can save you a tonne of money.

I think at 100kg you probably don't have to worry about being too heavy for certain wheels or anything. The only thing is that regardless of what weight anyone is, it's important to keep your tyre pressure at the right level. That'll depend on what size wheels/tyres are on the bike you end up getting, you can figure that out when you get to it!

Nobler32

Thanks for your replies!

The bike is for road purely, I live in Rathfarnham so it will mostly be used to trips up the Dublin mountains.

I had a brief try today of my friend's road bike, they're much more difficult to cycle than they look :L

I'm going to look more into maybe spending a bit more on one, if any of you have/know of any that will do the job for less than €250 then do get in touch!

Darkglasses

Nobler32 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies!

The bike is for road purely, I live in Rathfarnham so it will mostly be used to trips up the Dublin mountains.

I had a brief try today of my friend's road bike, they're much more difficult to cycle than they look :L

I'm going to look more into maybe spending a bit more on one, if any of you have/know of any that will do the job for less than €250 then do get in touch!

I'd most definitely go with a road bike in that case. I know it's a bit hard to get used to the different position and handlebars at first, but it really doesn't take long to get used to, and the benefits are massive. Your cycles will be much much easier, especially if you're going uphill.

This and this are very popular choices at the entry level. They have decent quality components and you'll be happy with it for a reasonable length of time if you really enjoy the cycling.

You can get great value going second hand too, but it helps to be patient and wait for the right bike to come along.

Deagol

Nobler32 wrote: »

Hi there,

A few of my friends have recently purchased 'Viking Phantom' road bikes from sportsdirect.co.uk, where I have been looking at a 'Muddyfox pace bike'. My friends nor I have any cycling experience other than the usual Trek mountain bike back in the school days.

These bikes work out at €160 and then pretty cheap delivery too, would anyone recommend them for a beginner or are they best avoided?

Does anyone know where I might get something that won't fall apart for similar money?
This may not be relevant, but at over 100kg do I need to look for something strong / specific tyres etc?

This is purely for weekend use, just a hobby to keep us busy, nothing serious!

Cheers

Don't forget the tax relief / cycle to work scheme! You can get a €500 bike and only pay €250!

Roquentin

Depends on what you use it for and how often you use it.

I got a carrera virtuso from halfords for 450 euro. Does me grand. Id be mainly cycling at the weekend, so i wouldnt be doing too much.

It must be said that cycling becomes addictive. Between going different cycling routes and upgrading bikes or parts. Its better than sex (joking).

crosstownk

Roquentin wrote: »

Its better than sex (joking).

The bike never has to wash hair :pac: