looking to buy my wife a bike for christmas... where to start?

positivenote

Hi all,
our two kids have started to cycle, albeit still with stabilizers, but they are only 4 and 5. I was thinking of getting myself and my wife a bike each for christmas so we could go cycling as a family over weekends etc... the thing is neither myself or my wife have had a bike in years and im not sure where to start with what to get.
Our details are: Shes 5.3" , I'm 5.10" and we have both cycled on roads previously having had to cycle to town for work etc years ago. We would predominantly be using the bikes to cycle in the phoenix park or around other areas like it, there would be some small road usage also as the kids get older.
Im hoping to be pointed in the direction of what I should buy for the two of us inclusive of helmets etc...
any help would be really appreciated. Budget wise I was hoping to spend under €200 each.
thanks and apologies if it all sounds a little ignorant

Lumen

You'll need to spend more than 200. From a regular bike shop maybe 450, from Halfords or online you might be able to knock off 100.

If Halfords then stick to the better brands - Carrera, Voodoo, Boardman. Service varies between shops.

Decathlon do some good cheap bikes but the nearest one is in Belfast and the weak euro won't help.

Chain reaction have some good cheap Vitus bikes.

Avoid suspension and make sure you don't buy a bike with a frame that's too big.

Get those stabilisers off the kids bikes and into the bin. Take off the pedals until they can balance. Any able four year old can ride a bike without stabilisers if given the chance.

OldBean

As Lumen suggested, Chain Reaction, Halfords or a spin north - But you really will have to look at upping your budget, otherwise you're more than likely going to end up with a bike that you'll never really enjoy cycling with, or will rust over before the Winter is out.

Can either of you look at getting on the Bike To Work scheme?

ftgu06

must of the advice you will get on here is just plain bonkers, call in to a good bike shop and the will give you some good advice on what suits your needs, even if you don't buy anything from them at least you might have a better idea on what size of bikes will fit yea both , there is no point listening to people on what the think are good brands or not as your budget is limited and you will not pick anything decent in any brand for €200, you might b better of trying to buy a couple of good second hand bikes at least that way the quality of bike you can buy will increase for that you would probably b best calling into a bike shop as well

Qualitymark

I'd disagree about advice here being bonkers - I've had very good advice from posters here.

But yes to the bike shop - and if you buy a secondhand bike from a shop it's got a couple of advantages:

• you know it's not stolen
• you can go back for repairs
• if you go to a good shop, they'll give you a reasonably good fitting for the bike
• you can get the accessories you need at the same time - bell, lights, etc
• if you're buying secondhand, the bike will probably already have mudguards and carrier

ted1

Lumen wrote: »

Decathlon do some good cheap bikes but the nearest one is in Belfast and the weak euro won't help.

.

Decathlon have a .ie store and they do free deliverys when you sepnd over 150
http://www.decathlon.ie/all-sports/cycle/bikes.html

http://customer.experience.decathlon.com/hc/en-gb/articles/202244612-Delivery-information-for-the-Republic-of-Ireland

delos

As suggested earlier, get the stabilisers off the kids' bikes. If you lower the saddle so their feet can touch the ground and remove the peddles they will learn to balance on the first good day that you take them to the park. Then just put the peddles back on and they only have to get the hand of starting-off instead of having to start-off and learn the balance.

If the kids make tight turns (and they will) the stabisers won't help and they will fall, especially as they haven't learned to balance. It's also much easier to fit kids bikes in the back of a car if there are no stabilisers

If your budget is tight, look at a second-hand bike from a bike shop and consider getting one rather than two - if you get two pieces of junk you will be just throwing your money away. You could always get a second bike in the spring. Cycling with my kids was one of the great pleasures of my life, and once the initial outlay is made, cost me almost nothing.

messrs

positivenote wrote: »

Hi all,
our two kids have started to cycle, albeit still with stabilizers, but they are only 4 and 5. I was thinking of getting myself and my wife a bike each for christmas so we could go cycling as a family over weekends etc... the thing is neither myself or my wife have had a bike in years and im not sure where to start with what to get.
Our details are: Shes 5.3" , I'm 5.10" and we have both cycled on roads previously having had to cycle to town for work etc years ago. We would predominantly be using the bikes to cycle in the phoenix park or around other areas like it, there would be some small road usage also as the kids get older.
Im hoping to be pointed in the direction of what I should buy for the two of us inclusive of helmets etc...
any help would be really appreciated. Budget wise I was hoping to spend under €200 each.
thanks and apologies if it all sounds a little ignorant

My oh bought me a bike for Christmas last year, he bought it on sports direct on line and think it was about €160 or so - def not much more and its a good bike

uck51js9zml2yt

delos wrote: »

As suggested earlier, get the stabilisers off the kids' bikes. If you lower the saddle so their feet can touch the ground and remove the peddles they will learn to balance on the first good day that you take them to the park. Then just put the peddles back on and they only have to get the hand of starting-off instead of having to start-off and learn the balance.

If the kids make tight turns (and they will) the stabisers won't help and they will fall, especially as they haven't learned to balance. It's also much easier to fit kids bikes in the back of a car if there are no stabilisers

If your budget is tight, look at a second-hand bike from a bike shop and consider getting one rather than two - if you get two pieces of junk you will be just throwing your money away. You could always get a second bike in the spring. Cycling with my kids was one of the great pleasures of my life, and once the initial outlay is made, cost me almost nothing.

Great advice on kids bikes.Bought my son a frog for Christmas and took the pedals off so he can learn to balance first.