Cycling on the cheap - ideas please

[Over The Hill]

Is there a cost barrier to cycling? I would think it is about the cheapest from of transport after walking and very cheap compared to most sports or forms of exercise.
There are bikes all over the place. I have three in my shed I am trying unsuccessfully to give away!
You can get going for next to nothing. Wifey still cycles in a pair of black long johns instead of proper leggings.

 

[Davidc]

Good stuff in the thread. I'll add

1. Don't replace a bike until it's uneconomic to repair it. A life of 15 to 20 years is a good target. Buy in about March when the unwanted Christmas presents appear in the local paper/ on Ebay etc.

2. Go for good quality mid range parts and spares. (Avoid buy cheap, buy twice, and avoid expensive stuff that's of no benefit at your level of cycling)

3. Learn to do all your own maintenance and apply (2) to the tools you get.

3a) Learn to true and build wheels. (Best school I know is beside a French D road in the middle of the night, second best is at Hook of Holland waiting for the ferry after you've got caught in a rail track.)

 

[michaelcycle]

Take no notice of advertising I guess

And understand a bike "review" maybe as much use as a chocolate teapot...

 

[MarkF]

1. Buy in about March when the unwanted Christmas presents appear in the local paper/ on Ebay etc.

Yes, Also, buy from lardy arses, they've given up, they never want to see the bike again, they'll take anything to get shut of it.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Do Shimano do cling film?

Probably, but Campagnolo's is much better

 

[swee'pea99]

[quote="Davidc, post: 2710161, member: 4662"
1. Buy in about March when the unwanted Christmas presents appear in the local paper/ on Ebay etc.

Yes, Also, buy from lardy arses, they've given up, they never want to see the bike again, they take anything to get shut of it.

I'm not so sure about this. I think in part it depends what kind of bike you're after. I've always thought the best time to buy was round about now, when the idea of cycling is about as unappealing as it gets, and the worst was spring, when people are full of good intentions and the sun is shining. But like I say, I suppose it depends in part on the kind of bike: Christmas present-type bikes (eg kids bikes), definitely March; £1000 bikes maybe about now, when the lardarse comes to terms with the fact that April's good intentions ended up lasting about 30-odd miles, and the thing's just getting in the way now...

 

[redcard]

Save money, particularly on brake cables, by not riding

 

[Davidc]

I'm not so sure about this. I think in part it depends what kind of bike you're after. I've always thought the best time to buy was round about now, when the idea of cycling is about as unappealing as it gets, and the worst was spring, when people are full of good intentions and the sun is shining. But like I say, I suppose it depends in part on the kind of bike: Christmas present-type bikes (eg kids bikes), definitely March; £1000 bikes maybe about now, when the lardarse comes to terms with the fact that April's good intentions ended up lasting about 30-odd miles, and the thing's just getting in the way now...

When I want a new bike I start looking. I try (as with other things) not to be in a hurry. I write a spec. I write down what the most I'll pay is. Then I keep looking at all possibilities. When a bike appears that meets the requirement I buy it. Then I keep it for the next 15 to 20 years.

One of my present bikes was from Ebay, virtually unused, year old, and I paid what the owner had paid for it new a year earlier, which was by then half the price of a new one. The other was in a stock clearance sale at a lbs, bizarrely just before Christmas.

The March for the unsolicited Christmas presents idea comes from the previous two bikes. Fantastic bargains. I do remember that both owners met MarkF's Lard Arse criterion, and neither had been ridden at all.

 

[asterix]

Save money, particularly on brake cables, by not riding

You could do much the same by not using your brakes and still cycle (very slowly and carefully).

 

[EltonFrog]

Save money, particularly on brake cables, by not riding

I see what you did there.

 

[craigwend]

Save money on toilet paper & put it towards your bike....

 

[Fnaar]

Weetabix for brake pads :-)

 

[Fnaar]

Weetabix for brake pads :-)

Or maybe slugs

 

[alicat]

Police bike auctions

Never buy a bike magazine except the CTC's Cycle - which inadvertently recommends a regime of reduce, reuse, recycle

Get cable ties off lampposts

Make a bike out of cable ties

 

[400bhp]

Visit "found a bargain" thread regularly, but not regular enough to make you buy stuff you want bud don't need.