Advice please PH cyclists.
Discussion
Hello everyone.
I will be SORNing my car soon and wish to start using a bike for food shopping trips and daily exercise. I have a Reebok Voyager mountain bike which has gone unused for around four years. It's outside but under a veranda and looks rather tired but seems basically intact. It was not an expensive bike by any means but did the job perfectly well in the past.
My question is, what's my best course of action here to get back on a bike? I think I have these options:
1. Take the Reebok to a local bike shop where a big service is around £100. I think this would include new tyres, which presumably it would need based on time.
2. Try to resurrect it myself, but I'm not practical and don't have tools.
3. Buy a new bike.
Money is a big factor because I am without a job due to the current situation, and due to the total shutdown of the cruise industry, this may be for quite some time.
Any advice much appreciated.
I will be SORNing my car soon and wish to start using a bike for food shopping trips and daily exercise. I have a Reebok Voyager mountain bike which has gone unused for around four years. It's outside but under a veranda and looks rather tired but seems basically intact. It was not an expensive bike by any means but did the job perfectly well in the past.
My question is, what's my best course of action here to get back on a bike? I think I have these options:
1. Take the Reebok to a local bike shop where a big service is around £100. I think this would include new tyres, which presumably it would need based on time.
2. Try to resurrect it myself, but I'm not practical and don't have tools.
3. Buy a new bike.
Money is a big factor because I am without a job due to the current situation, and due to the total shutdown of the cruise industry, this may be for quite some time.
Any advice much appreciated.
If it’s been left outside, even if covered up, I would expect it to need a fair bit of work to get it running well again. Lots of potential for corrosion inside cables, bearings, small moving parts.
Unless you can stick some air in the tyres and oil the chain, and the bike is good enough for what you want it for at that point, I would get on amazon and get another cheap bike personally.
Unless you can stick some air in the tyres and oil the chain, and the bike is good enough for what you want it for at that point, I would get on amazon and get another cheap bike personally.
gazza285 said:
A quick look online tells me that £100 would be a waste of money, these are very much bottom of the market bikes and sell between £50 and £75 on eBay, even in good nick.
How far will the new bike budget creep to?
I suspect you are right. How far will the new bike budget creep to?
I'd not want to go much over £200. I have some money, but I don't know how long I am going to have to make it last...
I wouldn't use those tyres on the road if they've been standing outside for 4 years, so yes that's £30 straight away...
I bought a cheap new bike from Halfords, partly because in my mind, even if they are poor quality I would get a year out of it with nothing going wrong. All bikes become a bit "Trigger's Broom", eventually!
Their basic bikes are much cheaper than the sum of their parts. The first year service package looked expensive to me (£40, I think) but it includes free labour for any other purchases, so if later on you buy lights, need a tube changing, bottle holder, etc. it might be worth it, ok now I've just read what I've written, £40 of tools would get you a lot of DIY!
If you go down that route, consider joining British Cycling or CTC first for the 10% discount, small print says "cycling stuff only" but my local store just give me 10% off everything, most recently £10 off a £100 car satnav, for example.
Just clicked on the site to see where prices start now, cheapest is £100, alloy bikes from £160, looks like 12 months interest free over £99, so £160 less discount = £144 / 12 = £11-ish per month for a year, by which time you'd hopefully be working again!
No connection with Halfords , just explaining the route I went down in case it helps the OP.
I bought a cheap new bike from Halfords, partly because in my mind, even if they are poor quality I would get a year out of it with nothing going wrong. All bikes become a bit "Trigger's Broom", eventually!
Their basic bikes are much cheaper than the sum of their parts. The first year service package looked expensive to me (£40, I think) but it includes free labour for any other purchases, so if later on you buy lights, need a tube changing, bottle holder, etc. it might be worth it, ok now I've just read what I've written, £40 of tools would get you a lot of DIY!
If you go down that route, consider joining British Cycling or CTC first for the 10% discount, small print says "cycling stuff only" but my local store just give me 10% off everything, most recently £10 off a £100 car satnav, for example.
Just clicked on the site to see where prices start now, cheapest is £100, alloy bikes from £160, looks like 12 months interest free over £99, so £160 less discount = £144 / 12 = £11-ish per month for a year, by which time you'd hopefully be working again!
No connection with Halfords , just explaining the route I went down in case it helps the OP.
Edited by deeen on Wednesday 15th April 12:03
deeen said:
Just clicked on the site to see where prices start now, cheapest is £100, alloy bikes from £160, looks like 12 months interest free over £99, so £160 less discount = £144 / 12 = £11-ish per month for a year, by which time you'd hopefully be working again!
No connection with Halfords , just explaining the route I went down in case it helps the OP.
Thanks again, everyone.No connection with Halfords , just explaining the route I went down in case it helps the OP.
I think I am going to do exactly as suggested above. I think under the circumstances, interest-free over 12 months is very sensible.
I am looking at the 'Carrera Valour' on the Halfords website, at £250. If anyone has time, perhaps someone might take a quick look and see if there are better options?
You'd get quite a long way with some lube spray (GT85 or WD40) and very basic tools, a screwdriver and Allen key.
YouTube videos cover all the basic servicing needs and nauseam.
I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it, better to save it and buy something better, loads of bargains out there.
YouTube videos cover all the basic servicing needs and nauseam.
I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it, better to save it and buy something better, loads of bargains out there.
paulguitar said:
I ... wish to start using a bike for food shopping trips and daily exercise.
So basically you could get by with a simple non suspension bike. Try doing a gumtree and ebay search for 'single speed bike' rather than MTB or whatever. There are plenty available under £100, auction or BIN.Currently zero bids, offers invited:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pitango-Single-Speed-Bi...
VoAAOSwZRFebkSr
Edited by ReverendCounter on Wednesday 15th April 14:47
ReverendCounter said:
paulguitar said:
I ... wish to start using a bike for food shopping trips and daily exercise.
So basically you could get by with a simple non suspension bike. Try doing a gumtree and ebay search for 'single speed bike' rather than MTB or whatever. There are plenty available under £100, auction or BIN.Currently zero bids, offers invited:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pitango-Single-Speed-Bi...
VoAAOSwZRFebkSrEdited by ReverendCounter on Wednesday 15th April 14:47
TurnedEmo said:
Nothing will put a 'new' cyclist off cycling like a single speed bike.
Possibly (as long as not a fixie) - but given the circumstances that the OP put forward, all options need to be explored. And given the last bike didn't quite benefit from the intended service intervals, a cheap banger might be a good solution.A new bike is hard to resist, though.
paulguitar said:
Thanks again, everyone.
I think I am going to do exactly as suggested above. I think under the circumstances, interest-free over 12 months is very sensible.
I am looking at the 'Carrera Valour' on the Halfords website, at £250. If anyone has time, perhaps someone might take a quick look and see if there are better options?
All I would say is think about what you will use it for, if you are staying on tarmac, a hybrid might suit you better than a mountain bike, the tyres will be a bit more efficient, for example. I noticed their Apollo Guru with front suspension, or Belmont with no suspension but includes mudguards and rack - I think mudguards are good for regular use, if I was just looking for a "riding to work every day" bike, that might be the one I'd pick.I think I am going to do exactly as suggested above. I think under the circumstances, interest-free over 12 months is very sensible.
I am looking at the 'Carrera Valour' on the Halfords website, at £250. If anyone has time, perhaps someone might take a quick look and see if there are better options?
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