dutch bike?

[YellowLawn]

went for a long cycle with dc yesterday.
on dh's bike.
too big for me and men's saddle. outch.
so want to get a dutch bike.
are decathlon bikes good? halfords?
I want to spend around 200 ideally

[BoysofMelody]

went for a long cycle with dc yesterday.on dh's bike.
too big for me and men's saddle. outch.

Ouch indeed.

so want to get a dutch bike.

Any reason why you'd like a Dutch bike?

They tend to be very heavy and wafty in the handling department and slow to get up to speed and have a limited range of gears. If you live in a hilly area, they are a complete no-no and are only really cop for billiard flat areas like East Anglia or err... the Netherlands.


The ones sold in the UK tend to be dutch style bikes, especially at the budget end of the market in that they've got all the weight and lack of manoeuvrability of the real thing, but without the key advantages (their incredible durability and load carrying capacity).

If I were to blunt, they are bikes for people who like the idea of cycling in floaty skirts, rather than the reality. A typical dutch style bike will weigh around 18 kg (roughly two and a half stone) so you'll be propelling the weight of that up hills, with only a limited range of gears at your disposal.


are decathlon bikes good? halfords?

Decathlon stuff is usually good value for the price (my road bike is a Decathlon) and Halfords varies from the very good (Boardman) to the utterly crap (Apollo).

I want to spend around 200 ideally

With bikes, you get what you pay for. A bike for that money, will likely have a cheap, heavy steel frame, poor quality components and will cost you far more than the purchase price in repairs and likely put you off cycling due to it being utterly horrible to ride.

Read this review of the Pendleton Summersby which still sells for around£280.

[YellowLawn]

hmm, I want mainly something sturdy with a stand and 'luggage rack'. and mud guards.

saw the 'pendelton' (too loud) and the 'elise' at halfords which looked ok for me but that review put me right off.

it's for bike tours with dc on weekends but also alternative transport should there be train troubles. quite flat area.

[BarchesterFlowers]

I would look for a tourer from a used bike coop. People (like the BFlowers family) donate used bikes and/or parts on upgrade and they turn them into or service useable bikes.

There are lots around the country this is an example of a bike in the one near me. Just search used bike coop.

They have some really decent stuff. We gave them some wheels recently when we had new ones made with a dynamo hub. One set was almost new, good wheels, cost as much as the bike linked to.

DH is really supportive of the one near us, gives his time as well as donating more than he should.

More likely to be very honest about whether a bike is good for you than another sort of used seller.

[YellowLawn]

thanks

will have a look if there is something near me.

[BarchesterFlowers]

They are fab yellow, great components, properly serviced, decent bikes for a fraction of the cost of a new one. The one that we are involved with gives a full refund if you don't like it because they are built and serviced by people like me and DH, for free.

DH does much more than me but I am now proud to have completed a wheel building course, which means I still ask for my wheels to be checked by an expert wheel builder, but I have got a certificate 👍🏻, whatever that means 😁.

If I was biking on a budget they would be my first port of call.