Marin Urban Bikes - Any good?

[Nurburgsingh]

I'm looking for a new bike. I dont do down hill stuff and the most off roading I'll do is taking the kids over the park. So its all riding around town without any real purpose.. might do the odd comute but nothing serious.

Not knowing a great deal about bikes just had a quick look at the makes that I recognise and found the Marin Urban range. Are they any good? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Ta

NS

[mk1fan]

For alternatives look at the Edinburgh Cycle Co-Op range of Revolution bikes. Very good, well spec'd bikes. Chris Boardman range (from Halfords) have received good reviews and you're never far from a Halfords if there's a problem. Decathalon bikes are stupidly cheap for what they are. The Kona Smoke is also great value.

If memory serves me well there were a reviews of urban bikes in last months (ie November's) issues of Cycling Plus, WMB and MBR. I'm sure someone will be along in a mo and confirm / correct me. If not send me a pm and I'll dig them out tomorrow night and pdf them to you. I'm not around tonight.

I've had a similar conversation with a mate of mine this w/e and I ended up recommending the Carrera Vulcan (Halfords again) but he was looking for something that 'could' do some off-roading.

If the most challenging stuff you are going to be doing is a bridleway, fire road or tow path then you should look at a 700c sized wheels with a 32 wide tyre (people please don't jump on and get technical about tyre sizes keep the OP in mind). These will roll fast on the road, give you some cushioning against road buzz but still handle a tow path.

Don't get side tracked with what appears to be fancy suspension forks. On the road you don't need them.

[Nurburgsingh]

Thanks for the info... in my t'interweb surfing today to locate the boardman bikes ( cant find them on the hellfrauds site ) I found the US prces for the Marin bikes...

..they are almost a $=£ price!!!

Sudenly at £250 the Marin Novato looks almost too good even if I get stung by VAT and import tax

[pdV6]

You'll probably need to swap the brakes around and (obviously) get the bike built up, so do your sums very carefully first.

[Nurburgsingh]

pdV6 said:

You'll probably need to swap the brakes around and (obviously) get the bike built up, so do your sums very carefully first.

Now I'm confused?

Swap the brakes around? you mean like they'll be "left hand drive"?

and getting the bike built up...?

[pdV6]

If you source the bike in the US and have it shipped over it will:

(a) Come in bits and need to be built

and

(b) Be supplied with the RH brake lever controlling the rear brake rather than the front. Not a big issue with V-brakes but more of a pain wit hydraulic discs.

[Nevin]

pdV6 said:

If you source the bike in the US and have it shipped over it will:

(a) Come in bits and need to be built

and

(b) Be supplied with the RH brake lever controlling the rear brake rather than the front. Not a big issue with V-brakes but more of a pain wit hydraulic discs.

This becomes a problem when you go to grab a handful of rear brake to slow down and end up over the handlebars. Which I didn't do when I hired a bike in Arizona. Oh no. Not me.

[Nurburgsingh]

Found the bike i want found a UK dealer that will happily relieve me £500 but I'd rather spent $499.
Can I find a US delaer that will ship it to the Uk?? Can I bollox!!

[Pablo16v]

I've bought a couple of frames from here http://www.adrenalinebikes.com but never a complete bike. I think the duty on complete bikes is 15% so the total price will be $499 + shipping cost +15% duty +17.5% VAT.