I know very little about bikes but am about to buy one.

I've narrowed it down to three different ones (all mountain bikes), do any of you have any recommendations as to which might be best?

1. Dawes, v-brakes, alloy frame, front suspension forks, £250

2. Raleigh, mechanical disc brakes, alloy frame, front suspension forks, £250

3. Marin, v-brakes, alloy frame, front suspension forks, £350

For my useage, which will be cycle paths and the likes with the kids and nothing strenuous, are either of the first two ok and much of a muchness and / or is there any point in paying an extra 100 notes for the third option or am I just paying for a brand name?

Ta.


P.S. They all have "full" Shimano gears too apparently whereas some other bikes only use bits of Shimano (if you know what that means then you probably have a good idea about what bike is best!)

You tend to pay for spec and lighter weight and generally more expensive bikes are better but some of the less well known brands sold by the likes of Evans Cycles are cracking value. Best value at the min would be a 2013 bike that's been reduced to clear out.

If you're not going to do proper off road stuff consider a hybrid or at least a set of less knobbly tyres.

Disc brakes are nice to have, but V brakes are easier to look after, lots of cheaper bikes have shit front suspension that doesn't make much difference so think about one with no suspension which will be nicer to ride.

I thought about a hybrid as it would prob suit current requirements, but as the eldest is still only 4 where he wants to go out riding might change in the next couple of years so I want to get something that would enable me to do a little bit more in a couple of years if reqd and not have to buy another bike.

If you got into it you would buy another bike anyway, men are wired up to buy toys.

Can you post links to the 3 bikes & can you easily afford the expensive one as there might be better alternatives out there £350 should buy you a lot of bike.

check out strawberry cycles in peterlee.

Went there last week mate, best he could offer was gonna cost me £1k to get a bike each for Mrs R and I, and I don't intend to spend that much.

The closest thing we have to a decent bike shop nearby is Halfords (unless you want to spend the price of a decent cheap car or get ripped off by Fat Genie), I had £5k to spend on bikes and after feeling like the quotes local people were giving me were just taking the piss I phoned a couple of bike manufacturers and one of them flogged me 25 bikes at 20% below their usual trade price which meant I ended up with £300 bikes at £120 a pop.

Have a look at the stuff Evans cycles have listed online, the nearest shop is the Metro Centre but they have some good deals on stuff, I've spent a lot of money with Rutland Cycles too and they're very good at keeping promises and not taking the piss. My £300ish would go on a Specialized Hardrock and some extra tyres.

25 bikes?? Are you entering a team for the tour de France?

Everything in Halfords looked like over priced tat.

The bike shop on York Road is good though, seems to have proper bikes without charging the earth like Strawberry Cycles or the big place in Stockton town centre do.

Facchini's was always reliable too so I've been there and nothing has changed.

It's these two shops that I've narrowed my choice down to. The fact that they're both in town helps too as I like to spend money locally where I can.

I forgot about the place on York Road but have heard good things. Facchini's annoyed me when I asked for 12 bikes and he was going to charge me £300 for bikes that were available elsewhere for £200.

Bikescene in Guisborough could be worth a look they currently have this for £270 http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Specialized- ... -31-0.html a very hard wearing bike based on the ones we have.

Try Wiggle.com

wheres jack marshall when you need him?

also try www.cyclesolutions.co.uk, they're introducing the c2w scheme end of feb at work and are using these.

If u are in work mate try asking your company if there are signed up to the governments cycle to work offer ? U buy a bike through your company up to the value of 1000 and u pay monthly for it but u don't pay any tax or vat I got one last year from halfords it a boardman hybrid it has disc brakes light as a feather and it's a dream to ride there price from about 350 to 999 great value

Ever thought of buying second hand, I bought a nearly new giant mountain bike last year from ebay £300. the guy who I bought it off used it a handful of times and even give me the original reciept (£900) from peddlers cycles in redcar. Bargain I thought a quality bike for the same money you'd buy a shitty carrera from halfords.

Bike theft is a huge problem if you have something nice. Our lasses brother had 2 road bikes nicked from his flat in Newcastle, one was a nice bike and had cost him just over £1000 the other was a full carbon custom built race thing that he's put nearly £3000 into.

What annoys me more is that the feckless not nice people sell the bikes for fuck all, unless they're gypos then they end up on eBay or at some carboot sale or other.

I was going to buy a nice Hybrid late last year but blew my savings on a car deposit instead, but when I do buy something I'll probably buy one with no frame markings so it looks cheap.

Oh and ripper the £199 subway looks a good buy to me, its only really a change of wheels away from a mountain bike anyway so gets the best of both worlds without blowing a fortune.

agree with chip about the Carrera subway.I paid 199 for mine and it does for my 30 mile round trip to work,some of which is along gravel paths and mud.if you do buy from Halfords get the service plan,I think its 20 quid for a year,this gets you 3 services a year and makes sure your bike is safe.decent value.

If you want to know about the pleasures of Quumfing, let me know

Just a quick point. I got a raleigh a couple of years ago from Halfords half price. Its a great bike apart from things forever
becoming slack, from handlebars to seat etc. I am constantly getting allen keys out and tightening. Nothing to do with me,
but obviously a design flaw somewhere. And I even get the iron bar on the end of the keys to give it that bit extra!