Anyone ever tempted by a cheap bike?

[Mike Sales]

most bikes are not well assembled and in cheap bikes that goes double because the bearings usually do not have wonderful seals in them etc. I'd nearly always look to spend £200 on a better used bike rather than a cheap new one. In any event I'd be taking it apart and putting it back together again properly, knowing that it isn't going to last well or be very reliable unless I do.

Tensioning, truing and stressing the spokes is also worthwhile on a new cheap bike.

[Jamesh]

About £350 is the cheapest i would want to go for a road bike with carbon forks and claris gears.

£250 for a hybrid like the carrera mentioned above.

Of course great deals are available second hand off mamils who don't like road biking in about 3 months time....

Cheers James

[Vorpal]

We got some bikes like that for free as hand-me-downs for the kids.

They were mostly adequate, and lasted well enough for someone else to inherit them afterwards. They did require somewhat more attention (i.e. my time, brake cables & adjustment, etc.) than a better bike would have, but I didn't mind, given that they were free.

One of the bikes we got was completely knackered after three kids (two before us & one of mine), and went to the tip afterwards.

TBH, I wouldn't spend money on them, but as free bikes they were okay. £200 is better invested in an old steel frame MTB/hybrid.

[Sweep]

£200 is better invested in an old steel frame MTB/hybrid.

This.

Two of my favourite bikes come under that heading - both cost £30 though admittedly I did add a fair few bits I had lying around.

Soonish will set to work on a £20 one and I expect it to be every bit as good.

Agree with you - a quality second hand base better than a cheapo cheapo new bike.

[bigjim]

About 8 years ago I bought an Ali MTB for £60 brand new from Bolton cycles. Curiosity really. It looked fine, no Suspension. Fancy paint job. I oiled and greased it as a precaution and gave it to my son to use for work. He commuted on it every day in all weathers for two years. At weekends he would go on off-road jaunts on it. He didn't look after it and knocked hell out of it. It came back to me periodically for adjustment, brake blocks and oil and grease. It was never washed. Eventually it ended up back with me. In a sorry state but still rolling. Strangely the wheels never went out of true and it could have been reinstated with a good bit of work. I've still got the wheels and some of the drivetrain. The rest went in the tip. He got the cycling bug and now owns a top of the range MTB and a full carbon fancy road bike.

[Mick F]

Anyone else ever been tempted by a cheap bike?

We were out in the Middle East HMS Abuscade. October 1981 to February 1982.

I shared a cabin with a chap who owned a Messerschmitt bubble car .............. sorry, I digress!
He showed me a mail-order page in a newspaper - sorry, can't remember which - and there was an advert for Tensor Marketing Ltd and they were selling "racing" bike dirt cheap with the logo Eddy Merckx on the downtube.
I ordered one so it was there when I got home. Can't remember the price - maybe £70 or so.

Terrible thing really. 10sp gears - 5st double - heavy and the frame was poorly made. It got me into dropped handlebars for the first time though, and I commuted the five miles each way from home in Plymstock to Devonport and back.
After a new job in W Scotland, I commuted up and down the loch side to the submarine base and back - seven or eight miles each way.
After moving house, my commute extended to fourteen miles each way.

I really got into this cycling malarky for commuting, and even tried to see how I managed in a self-timed 25miles. Even on the Tensor bike, I did 1hr 10mins.

I sold the bike after a few years use, and bought a Raleigh Clubman in 1984.
The rest is history.

[gbnz]

£215.00 for a brand new bike (Falcon Monza)?

Well it's had a 11.5% price rise since Sunday. Now £239.99. Did seem too cheap to be true!

[belgiangoth]

If you keep an eye out you can get a decent budget bike at a low cost (not sure if EBC still do their courier line), but nowhere near what you can get second hand.

[Sweep]

I think EBC gave up ALL of their own brand bikes some time ago.

[ratherbeintobago]

There was a thing in Singletrack years ago where Chipps took Halfords’ cheapest “MTB” round the Towneley without fiery death. If memory serves it had no suspension and wasn’t quite a BSO, though they did have to shim the seatpost clamp bolt as it kept slipping.

[Marcus Aurelius]

‘Cheap’ is relative. I wouldn’t buy a new, sub 100 quid BSO ( for example) as it really would be more trouble than it’s worth. However, if you know where to look, and what to look for, there are plenty of very acceptable ‘cheap’ new bikes out there. One of my bikes, which is now my ‘go to’ bike, for quick(ish) ‘Sportive’ / training rides, cost 350 quid ( new ) in 2015. I upgraded the wheels and GS a few weeks ago, and now it’s a very competent road bike. It was never completely terrible, it came with a decent Alu alloy frame and Carbon forks as standard, the original Sora 9 speed triple GS, was adequate, the wheels ( although very heavy) were sturdy and well put together. I upgraded it to an R7000 GS and much better wheels, and it feels like a much more expensive ‘big sticker’ bike now.

[reohn2]

Speaking of cheap bikes,a couple of months ago whilst out for an early morning walk I noticed an MTB sticking out of a skip.On further inspection it didn't seem there was much wrong with it so I fished it out and carried it the 300m home.
The bike,one of these:- https://www.cyclerepublic.com/catalog/p ... 2IQAvD_BwE
Was stripped,cleaned and serviced needing only a couple of brake inners that were a bit corroded,a pair of new Landcruiser tyres(they were 559's not the 650b in the link),total cost £27 and the bike was in almost as good as new condition,the only mark on it being a small scratch on the toptube from being dumped in the skip.
I'd like to bet there are hundreds of such bikes up and down the country that could be put to good use.

The bike in question is now doing sterling service everyday on my 15 year old granddaughter's paper round and I've no doubt will be passed onto her 12 year old brother when she's finished with it

[mig]

as mentioned in another thread in the late 90s i got cheesed off keeping gears clean for every day riding and invested about £250 in a nearly new SJS fixed bike from a friend who didn't like it.
rode it to work, rode it in the hills for training when i raced, really hammered it miles wise.
it's now a tad of a trigger's broom as it's had 5 front wheel rims, two front hubs, one rear rim, new 'bars, new rear mudguard, god knows how many tyres and chains & two chainsets but the frame is still perfect (some tange job from that era but i like it!)
really not had a problem with it. just a simple, relaible machine for getting to where i want to go. saved me many many £s in transport to work so the initial outlay was tiny really.
at one point it ran 55 x 15 as i was given an unwanted TT ring. not so sure i could push that now!

[gbnz]

Speaking of cheap bikes,a couple of months ago whilst out for an early morning walk I noticed an MTB sticking out of a skip......such bikes up and down the country that could be put to good use.D

Yep, have to admit I wish I hadn't binned my Specialized Tricross frame in 2016. Made perfect sense at the time, as I didn't have space to store another "spare" bike and utilized all the components building/rebuilding a Spa Cycles frame/Giant road bike.

Nothing wrong with the frame, aside from nine years heavy use. But could easily/cheaply have made it into a run around perfect for the sort of ride I'd consider a cheap bike for now

[Stradageek]

Nope

I recycle bikes, the cheap ones are a total pain to repair and refurbish, nothing really fits or holds together.

AND there are literally millions of excellent second hand bikes out there. Especially as the fashionistas are always upgrading.

Which makes me think - in my 55yr cycling career I have only ever bought one new bike, and to prove the point the Bacchetta Strada I paid £1500 for new, can now be picked up on Ebay for <£500.