I would never recommend anyone spend "just" 100 quid on a new bike.

Double that to get acceptable. Double *that* to get tolerable. Double
*that* to get reasonable.

The Halfords jobs look OK and are under £100 - been looking for my daughter

"Martin" wrote in message
...
I would never recommend anyone spend "just" 100 quid on a new bike.

Double that to get acceptable. Double *that* to get tolerable. Double
*that* to get reasonable.

The Halfords jobs look OK and are under £100 - been looking for my
daughter

How old is she?

Be aware that anything with any suspension for that price is a mechanical
disaster area. You'll either spend large amounts of time trying to keep it
working and swearing at the crap materials they've used (bolts made of
cheese etc), or it'll just stop working.

They may 'look OK', but are you looking with an experienced eye?

cheers,
clive

How old is she?

Nearly 8

Be aware that anything with any suspension for that price is a mechanical
disaster area. You'll either spend large amounts of time trying to keep it
working and swearing at the crap materials they've used (bolts made of
cheese etc), or it'll just stop working.

Why? - never had suspension problems with powered 2 wheelers

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005, Martin wrote:

Be aware that anything with any suspension for that price is a
mechanical disaster area. You'll either spend large amounts of time
trying to keep it working and swearing at the crap materials they've
used (bolts made of cheese etc), or it'll just stop working.

Why? - never had suspension problems with powered 2 wheelers

You've probably never bought suspension that cheap for a powered
two-wheeler. Seriously, if you're getting a complete bike with boingy
forks for under a ton, the forks themselves are probably 10 or 20 quid,
which is basically buying you two bits of gaspipe with a sockful of old
rubbers inside, held together with gaffer tape and wishful thinking.
You're far, far better off sticking with rigid forks, which will give you
just as a good a ride, soak up less power, give you more control and take
less looking after. Suspension forks don't get good until you're in the
several tens of pounds range at the very least.

That's just my 2p, anyway. Someone'll doubtless jump in and tell you that
shocks costing less than 250 UKP aren't worth bothering with ...

tom

--
Punk's not sexual, it's just aggression.

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li...

That's just my 2p, anyway. Someone'll doubtless jump in and tell you that
shocks costing less than 250 UKP aren't worth bothering with ...


I paid £120 for my bike and it's got lovely shocks.

But that's EBay for you ;-) 4 year old Scott midrange hybrid. Needed a new
chain and a bit of tweaking... for the amount I ride it it's perfect. And
about £300 less than a new one would have been!

But then my latest car was a £250 EBay bargain too - I fancied taking a
chance for a change...

You've probably never bought suspension that cheap for a powered
two-wheeler. Seriously, if you're getting a complete bike with boingy
forks for under a ton, the forks themselves are probably 10 or 20 quid,
which is basically buying you two bits of gaspipe with a sockful of old
rubbers inside, held together with gaffer tape and wishful thinking.
You're far, far better off sticking with rigid forks, which will give you
just as a good a ride, soak up less power, give you more control and take
less looking after. Suspension forks don't get good until you're in the
several tens of pounds range at the very least.

Thanks!

Martin wrote:

I would never recommend anyone spend "just" 100 quid on a new bike.

Double that to get acceptable. Double *that* to get tolerable. Double
*that* to get reasonable.

The Halfords jobs look OK and are under £100 - been looking for my daughter

Is this for a young child?
Their play bikes may be OK but the rest, at that price, are just not
worth it.

They are very likely to be made of poor materials and aimed at being
sold to the inexperienced.
yes, the bikes will 'look' OK, but the aim is to sell on features and
image, not quality.
For example, children will cry out "it must have suspension" because
suspension looks 'cool', yet at that price it will be more truoble than
its worth.
After a couple of months, perhaps less, you will probably be rueing the
day you bought the bike and it will be left unused at teh back of teh shed.

Last Sunday I had two children for cycle-training who had recently been
bought new bikes from Halfords.
One had the front quick release done up finger tight - it was clear no
spanner had been used.
It could have dropped out if a bump or pot-hole had been hit
The other had handlebars that were so loose as to be lethal.

Both bikes were also completely the wrong size.

These are not isolated incidents.

I am sure some stores have competent mechanics, but whenever I hear of
someone with a bike from Halfords my heart sinks. I'd advise you go to
your local real bike shop first, where you should receive better advice
on what would be best, together with back up service.

That said you may be lucky.

John B

JohnB wrote:

One had the front quick release done up finger tight - it was clear no
spanner had been used.

Why would a spanner be used on a quick release?

--
The Caretaker .........

The Caretaker wrote:

JohnB wrote:

One had the front quick release done up finger tight - it was clear no
spanner had been used.

Why would a spanner be used on a quick release?



Of course you are right.


the quick release should be tightened by means of the lever.
Some people turn the lever like using a spanner to hold the wheel in place.
Of course the leverage is far less than using a spnner on ordinary wheel nuts.

i suspect they think of the QR lever in teh same way as they do a spanner.

The Caretaker wrote:

JohnB wrote:

One had the front quick release done up finger tight - it was clear no
spanner had been used.

Why would a spanner be used on a quick release?

Of course you are right.

slaps head with wet fish

The quick release mechanism should be tightened by means of the QR lever.
Some people turn the lever like using a spanner to hold the wheel in place.
Of course the leverage is far less than using a spanner on ordinary
wheel nuts.

I suspect they think of the QR lever in the same way as they do a spanner.

Thanks to the US litigation culture many bikes have those 'lawyers'
lips' on teh fork ends which help prevent a wheel falling out should the
QR not be tight enough, but then they negate much of the purpose of the
QR in the first place.

John B