BIke weight limit

[swampyseifer]

Right affords are not liked!! lol

I have a cycleking near me...they do a range of MTBs starting at £89. Are these a better choice?

 

[BrumJim]

You missed the message. New bikes <£100 are not worth it, regardless of where you get them from.

Buy 2nd hand, then when you have learnt to cycle, have started enjoying it, and can prove to yourself that it isn't a quick fad, then buy something good that will last, and you will love.

 

[swampyseifer]

You missed the message. New bikes <£100 are not worth it, regardless of where you get them from.

Buy 2nd hand, then when you have learnt to cycle, have started enjoying it, and can prove to yourself that it isn't a quick fad, then buy something good that will last, and you will love.

Sorry i thought you meant more from quality of build! Guess ill scour the papers then!

 

[Arjimlad]

My local council does free or very cheap cycling lessons for beginner adults... might be worth asking yours. Best of luck.

When I started out on the bass, I bought a secondhand Peavey bass & sold it later for what I paid for it, once I had proven I enjoyed playing & would carry on. I then bought a nice Fender Precision but I do use it in a music group, so that has kept me going on with it. Same goes for shotguns, incidentally. A good used Beretta or Browning will always be worth what you pay for it if you look after it. So on the bike front, I'd be inclined to adopt the same reasoning.

 

[swampyseifer]

I was thinking, in the last year I have taken up a diet, walking back to Euston (3 miles) from work and the gym...I've stuck to them and I've lost 4 stone so far...so I personally think that says plenty about whether I will make time for the bike or not?

I had been put off course a bit by the negative comments by family and friends and it made me divert my attention from getting the bike for my health, to getting a bike cus its something "new and shiny" to "play with".

So anyway....the ebay sales have come through, I made £130 and I also have £80 in savings and I could probably swing near enough another £100 out my current account and not miss it greatly. I would prefer to keep it below £300 total (I only really need to by a helmet and chain for accessories for now)...so is £250-ish an amount where I could buy a reasonable quality bike?

 

[WychwoodTrev]

Do you have a go outdoors near you ? They do Raliegh and Claude Butler. I meant what I said about bringing my mtb over to you for a day and help you learn how to ride. If you got on well with riding I could go along to a bike shop with you to look for a bike.

 

[swampyseifer]

Do you have a go outdoors near you ? They do Raliegh and Claude Butler. I meant what I said about bringing my mtb over to you for a day and help you learn how to ride. If you got on well with riding I could go along to a bike shop with you to look for a bike.

Hi, thanks for the offer but its a big deal for me that I cannot ride and I dont think I'd feel comfortable. Anyway, it should only take me a few hours to learn, which seems hardly worth the trip from Oxford!

 

[WychwoodTrev]

No probs I understand I just wanted to help if I could, I hope you learn to ride and have great fun while getting some good exercise, Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress

 

[gb155]

Hi, thanks for the offer but its a big deal for me that I cannot ride and I dont think I'd feel comfortable. Anyway, it should only take me a few hours to learn, which seems hardly worth the trip from Oxford!

Good luck

Keep us all posted

 

[swampyseifer]

hey all...

Well that was a suprise weekend...went to see my folks on saturday and it seemed that despite family members not being particularly enthusiastic about me utilising a bike...they had all ganged together and got me vouchers for halfords (clearly the halfords bikes are my destiny!!) for an early Christmas present.

So anyway, I tried to reduce the "damage" as much as possible and plumped for a medium/18" Carrera Velour MTB (£269.99). Plus a helmet (that was priced at £24.99 on the shelf and clocked in at £49.99 at the till) a tyre pump (£16.99) and a combination lock chain (£13.99).

Crazily I chose to build it myself (crazy because I have never even rode a bike, never mind put ont together). I started that night at around 2330 and finished at nearly 0300! I spent at least an 1.5 hours trying to get the front brake pads in place so that they didnt catch the wheel....then realised I had them on upside down

I then had a problem where only one side of the V-brake would clamp to the wheel when using the brake...after much googling, this turned out to be because the spring that pulls the brake pad back away from the tyre when the brake is released wasnt tight enough. So I tightened that and it now works perfectly.

The pedals also seemed to not want to screw in for some reason...but I think it was more the tiredness was getting to me...as I left those and had a can of coke to perk up, came back and they went on first time!

I have no way to guage how much PSI the tyres are pumped to, so I just keopt pumping till the tyre was solid to the touch but there wasnt any bulging.

So anyway, I was working from home today...ideal for riding the bike as it meant I could go out to the local park when everyone was at school/work and have a go. Firstly I found a low (6") wall that I could stand on with one foot while having the other foot on the pedal...this was sort of succesful for pushing away from easy, but I was finding it hard to get the other foot on the pedal before I slowed down too much to keep any momentum. I then moved on to just trying to push away from a standing-stop, but again I was either not getting my foot in place in time, or I was catching my foot/shin on the pedal as it was going round and nearly falling off. Eventually I found a sloped bit of path so I could get one foot on the pedal, push off and then I would roll down and not have to worry about getting my other foot on the pedal ASAP. This went a bit better....course typically then some woman decided she was going to go for a jog and chose to run round the same area of path that I was using. Being embarassed to keep trying in front of her, I just stopped for the day. Still, I was there nearly an hour and I had got to being able to stay on the bike for a metre or so!

I will keep posting about my cycling attempts (and I might also make some more to ask questions about cycling...like I really dont understand the concept of the gears) but I think I might start a new thread as this has moved away from the OP now.

 

[jifdave]

how did this go? are you a keen road rider clad in bright lycra yet?