Bike choice for budget of £200 to £300

[cubegame]

Good morning. I wonder if anyone could point me in the direction of the right sort of bike for my needs.

I've been a keen cyclist in the past, although I never really researched what I was buying and although I ended up with a decent bike it was more by accident than design.

I've had a good look at the sort of bikes available now and I've come to the conclusion a hybrid would be best for me. My cycling is largely going to be country lane and trail based, most likely with a biased towards the latter. I'd be quite happy to swap and change tyres to get the perfect bike.

I've never owned any bike with suspension before because I've always had the opinion that you don't get suspension worth having at bikes at the lower end of the cost scale. However, it seems to me that it would be nice if I could get a bike with decent front suspension to help on the rougher stuff. I am wary of the extra effort suspension causes you to expend on harder surfaces so is it possible to get suspension that can be locked in place for this sort of money?

 

[andyfromotley]

Not sure abput the suspension question, but i do know that edinburgh bike co-op offer killer value in their own range bike at around the £300 mark so it may be worth checking their website.

andy

 

[postman]

Chevin cycles are turning out Trek off road bikes 3900 and 4300 at the moment for 260 and 300.

 

[Moonlight]

To answer the suspension question - yes. Most entry level front sus bikes have SR Suntour forks, which have a manual lock on. A friend of mine takes advantage of this and tours on his MTB to trails and forests etc. then releases his suspension and off he goes.

There are some racier hybrids with front sus, but that's not my area of expertise.

 

[RedBike]

You'll find that most suspension forks at this level aren't exactly brilliant; and potentially not worth having.

Suspension forks do two jobs. They keep the wheel on the ground increasing grip and they absorb the bumps so you don't have to.

Cheap suspension forks will be undamped;

With no damping at all the fork will spring back after being compressed and act just like a pogo stick. Hardly the best thing for keeping that wheel on the ground!

To stop their forks acting like a pogo stick some manufactures actually build in stiction, a form of damping if you like. This means the forks are somewhat reluctant to start moving. It will take quite an impact before they actually move. This means the forks are absolutely ussless for small bumps.

 

[Dayvo]

No suspension, but it might suit your needs:

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=87372

 

[Moonlight]

Good call Dayvo, IMHO a larger tire is a more reliable and effective method of creating a smoother ride then suspension, at least at entry level.