slowster wrote: ↑27 Feb 2025, 12:49pm
My twopennyworth:
1. If you are up for a project, then potentially you could end up with a very nice suitable bike. The caveat is that you need to find a used bike that is suitable for such a project, and be able yourself to assess what extra would need to be done to it and spent on it. That means something so cheap that it would still be a bargain after adding the cost of necessary parts, i.e. either like Cadence's £35.00 MTB which he spent £250 on, or a bike which needs relatively little extra expenditure. If you are reasonably competent messing about with bikes and have a suitable bike to work on, I would say go for it. If not, the Carrera is going to be very difficult to beat at that price.
2. Regarding your comment about "huge wide tyres that would be hard going in the wet", unless you are riding on very slippery muddy paths where you need the extra traction provided by knobbly MTB tyres, it is likely that the most suitable tyres will be wide (ideally 2"/50mm or thereabouts) with a semi-slick tread, like the Schwalbe Big Apple tyres Cadence fitted. Wide semi-slick tyres give good comfort and hit a sweet spot for being fairly quick rolling on road while giving good grip on tracks by virtue of their large contact patch (providing the surface is not slippery mud).
3. IMO the ideal bike would be a hybrid/rigid MTB with hub gear, ~50mm tyres, mudguards, rack and dynamo lights. Sadly, such bikes are quite niche and not widely available off the shelf, and consequently they are not as cheap as the usual derailleur equipped MTBs and hybrids. By way of example, see zenitb's Cube Travel Pro here - viewtopic.php?p=1666918#p1666918, but that is now over £1,000. The Ridgeback Supernova EQ is similar and is being sold at a discount now, e.g. £699 here - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196323443644? , but appears to be limited to 40mm tyres.
The Ridgeback looks nice.
I tend to agree. Projects are great, but can quickly escalate price wise. I would be getting a brand new Carrera or Voodoo Marasa for not much over £300 with the cycle to work scheme.
Nearholmer wrote: ↑27 Feb 2025, 12:28pm
Off-piste really, so feel free to ignore, but ……
Where I live, these 1990s rigid MTBs that everyone says are freely available and cheap as chips are actually quite rare, and steel hybrids of the same date rarer still!
I keep an eye out for them, and the odd one floats by on the stream of gumtree, FB marketplace, and the bike charity, but most of the truly cheap secondhand bikes are slightly later boat-anchors, with long-dead front suspension, or more modern aluminium ones with equally rubbish front suspension.
A local peculiarity?
Maybe, I just had a look in my local Gumtree and there are several rigid old-skool MTBs in there at ~ £40, quill stems and everything. These range from the BSOs of the day to some actually pretty decent looking bikes from "proper names".
Here's a pic from the "refurbished bikes" page of The Bike Station, a Scottish bike refusrbisher, showing typical fare. That's where I donated my 90s rigid 26" V-brake MTB a few years ago. The red Raleigh in the foreground would fit the bill here.
Nearholmer wrote: ↑27 Feb 2025, 12:28pm
Off-piste really, so feel free to ignore, but ……
Where I live, these 1990s rigid MTBs that everyone says are freely available and cheap as chips are actually quite rare, and steel hybrids of the same date rarer still!
I keep an eye out for them, and the odd one floats by on the stream of gumtree, FB marketplace, and the bike charity, but most of the truly cheap secondhand bikes are slightly later boat-anchors, with long-dead front suspension, or more modern aluminium ones with equally rubbish front suspension.
A local peculiarity?
Maybe, I just had a look in my local Gumtree and there are several rigid old-skool MTBs in there at ~ £40, quill stems and everything. These range from the BSOs of the day to some actually pretty decent looking bikes from "proper names".
Here's a pic from the "refurbished bikes" page of The Bike Station, a Scottish bike refusrbisher, showing typical fare. That's where I donated my 90s rigid 26" V-brake MTB a few years ago. The red Raleigh in the foreground would fit the bill here.
Pete.
I will do some research and see if anything like this is available in the east midlands.
Trek Marlin 5 can be got for about £500. Uses the same frame as the rest of the Marlin range and comes with rear rack and mudguard mounts, good multipurpose bikes - we have used ours for off roading and mixed on/off road bike backing.
How did you get on?
My adult kids have Pinnacle Lithium 3s and I have a Genesis Vagabond gravel bike.
With 40mm mixed use tyres (Schwalbe Land Cruisers, Continental equivalents) they are go most places machines
Both can take ~50mm tyres without mudguards and set up like that we have tackled muddy and rocky routes
I prefer the dropped bars so I can get into a tuck in a headwind. Kids like the more upright flat bars, which I find far too wide.
Rocky descents on dropped bars are not easy, or quick, but they are both really versatile bikes.
I've also got a Specialized Tri cross, which with 33mm tyres is quicker on the road, but although the carbon forks are great the Vagabond beats it hands down on a bridlepath - I think it is down to the tyres.
I also recently got a 90s hybrid (3x7 with Vee brakes & city tyres) and for £100 its amazing for local stuff and works fine on the one dry bridlepath I tried so far.
So what ever bike you get, experiment with the tyres and I think you'll find it will tackle everything you want.
