Forgive me, for I know not about these contraptions.... My son has a birthday in 2 weeks and would like a road bike to replace his last cheap BSO from his early teens which died recently. I have little knowledge (and minimal interest...) in the technicalities of bike shopping, and I'm drowned in info online. I can spend up to £250 (tops), and realise that a good used one will be better than new, but would be led up the garden path on ebay or gumtree when it comes to buying one. He's going to be 18, riding it to school regularly, a couple of miles each way, and out and about when he's short of petrol money or out with his friends. So, it's nothing techinical, he's 5ft 11 and about 30inch inside leg for frame measuring . Over to you wise ones, or it's off to Halfrauds to buy a horror in a hurry!
For £250 Halfords own Carrera brand bikes are surprisingly not awful. Granted they are not fantastic, but the weight is reasonable and they are made from proper materials as opposed to the inexplicably heavy yet fragile mystery metal bikes you find in most stores. If it's for commuting and general tooling about he might get on better with a mountain bike, road bikes are famously easy to crash.
Thanks F-T-S, he liked his last cheap road bike, but hated the mountain bike (it was clipped by a car and died that way). Dropped handlebars are a must, apparently.
Interesting thanks, @Valo; I hadn't heard of them before I'll take a look. @B1GBUD - I'd forgotten about Decathlon, though I'd heard somewhere that their less expensive bikes weren't as good quality recently...
OK, it's shopping time. Any thoughts between these from the 2 retailers discussed above?? Decathlon Grey Road Bike £249 Inexplicably similar but not the same Decathlon Road Bike £249 Halfords Carrera Zelos Blue Road Bike £249 Halfords Carrera Crixus LE Grey Road (Cyclocross?) Bike £249 Many thanks
I would er toward either of the halfords offerings as the have a double chainring up front so basically doubling the gear range.
Thank you kindly @legoman, in m y dazed state (head full of cold this week...) I hadn't noticed the single chainring. OK, thanks again all - I'm off to Halfords this afternoon and taking my chances with them
Hopefully not too late for explanations... This one's a "flat bar road bike" - aka, a road bike without dropped bars. Given the "Dropped handlebars are a must, apparently" requirement, that probably rules this one out. TBH I'd call this a "hybrid" rather than a "flat bar road bike"... Cyclocross is basically on- and off-road cycle racing; the bikes, generally, are broadly similar geometry to "normal" road bikes but will have chunkier tyres, more clearance between wheel and frame, beefier frames, lower gear ratios, and such to make it better suited to off-road work. EDIT: Sorry, didn't see this - ah well!
Thanks Byron, good to have you in the case, spotting my failings and offering help on top of what the other fine fellas have chimed in with. Ohhh S**t, I am, so blind! What is wrong with me? I didn't even spot the lack of dropped handlebars on the "flat bar" road bike.... I did look at a CX variant for him, but he was adamant that he wanted a pure road bike =17 yr old - KNOWS EVERYTHING So, ordered a Carrera at the local Halfords; it's in stock and ready to collect a week etoday, all built. The guy in there seemed to know, and more importantly, like bikes. I did pay £25 for the annual service package, as I know my son will do damn all about caring for it. 6 week checkup, service later and one at the end of the 12 months.
