Second bike for family duties / off road

[mike80]

I'm considering getting a second bike, currently have a nice road bike (which I would keep!) but I'm not sure it would be ideal for what I have in mind.

I'm looking for something I can use off road, gravel paths, canal tow paths trails etc. Plus for slow stuff with the family, my nearly 4 year old is starting to take an interest in cycling, so I would like to encourage that!

My current thinking is a cheapish mountain bike from Decathlon or similar. Budget is flexible but under £500 would be good!

[C0ffin D0dger]

I was in that mindset when I bought my last bike. My mountain bike was broken, not much use for road biking or for pulling a kid trailer, tag-a-long, etc.

I ended up with a hybrid bike, got a Cube Nature Pro which I'm very pleased with, done everything it needs to do and can cope with light to medium off road use. Big wheels (29"/700c) with knobbly tyres but not the tractor jobs found on most mountain bikes these days, could put slicks on if I wanted to.

[mike80]

That looks pretty good actually!