Impossible to get a bike!

[Worriedmum999]

So! I’ve been trying to get a bike for weeks now for myself and DH. We had always planned to get some this summer as the children have just learnt to ride but now with Covid it’s proving Impossible as we can’t go to the shops to find one (shielding).

We’ve tried all our local (and further afield) independents. Earliest they can get them is late August. We have tried every morning on the Halfords website and everything is always gone. We’ve been able to get a few £800 bikes but our budget is more £150 ones. We also need them delivered built really. Although I guess I could get someone out to build them outside.

Can anyone suggest anywhere else we could try?

I’m selling a nice Specialized one for £500. In the Midlands.

How about the Riverside 100 from Decathlon?
www.decathlon.co.uk/hyc-riverside-100-black-cn-id_8405298.html

Didnt know they sold bikes new for £150. Get yourself on ebay, although even on there prices will be strong at the moment due to demand.

Ebay, amazon, halfords or Argos should have some around that price tag. Honestly unless your using it every day for commuting or regularly going on trails its a waist to buy an expensive one. The price dosnt always mean its going to fall apart within a week. Im still using a 12 year old cheap bike that was £80 in Argos when new.

I also think you’d be better off getting a used one - aim for an aluminium frame (‘search in description’ on eBay) and parts that are not rusted and you’ll be fine - maybe a Giant or Carrera or similar (Specialized if you’re lucky). If you’re planning to ride it on trails and uneven surfaces get a mountain bike, but if you plan to ride on the road or pathways a hybrid (skinnier tyres) will be ok.

My daughter got her bike for £135 from Halfords and it’s really good.

It’s mountain and does the job (ie peddles and moves) not sure what else it’s supposed to do? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Bikes are coming back into stock in Halfords now, I managed to order one last week which we picked up on Wednesday.

You need to find the bike you want and if it's not in stock you set up an email reminder and it'll let you know as soon as they're in stock, do click and collect and get it built in store as there's a limit on how many home delivery bikes that get built each day.

"It’s mountain and does the job (ie peddles and moves) not sure what else it’s supposed to do? 🤷🏻‍♀️"

Cheaper bikes will tend to be less durable & heavier, the cheaper ones also tend to be hard to adjust and align on things like brakes and gears. Also you'll find things like plastic brake levers, which aren't necessarily safe, and so on.

You can get a perfectly decent hybrid bike for about £200. We got one recently from Cycle King when pretty much everywhere else had nothing available. They will build the bike , you prepay and collect from outside the store. Stores in Midlands and SE.

At that price I would look at eBay. You can't buy a decent new bike for £150

Second hand frog bikes are great

Halfords have a eBay site. We had to do it this way as Halfords stores were all sold out. If you buy from the Halfords eBay site your local Halfords will happily build them. Maybe you could ask someone to drop them in to be built.

Even the Halfords staff don't recommend the Halfords bikes. They're massively heavy & use very cheap parts.

Decathlon is much better.

With bikes, it is tricky buying second hand if you don't know what you're looking at (gears/wheels/brakes etc.

Trying ringing the independents again and discussing what you want and ask them to ring you when they get something suitable in- bikes are starting to come back in stock

Any friends that cycle that could help you buy a second hand one?!?!

Good luck

For your budget definitely better to buy second hand and then get it serviced by a reputable mechanic to make sure it’s safe. Or find a mechanic or project that sells reconditioned. Also spend as much as you can on a decent D lock and always lock your bike through the back wheel and preferably next to other bikes that look easier to steal than yours. Sustrans has a good up to date database of independent cycle retailers and projects which might help www.sustrans.org.uk/campaigns/cycles-for-key-workers

OP, you need to look up how to choose the right bike - including size. It's important to buy the right size so that you don't end up with back pain from the wrong seating position.

Think about having suspension - standard road bikes don't have it but mountain bikes and hybrids do. Front suspension stops you shaking your arms to bits in rough parts of the road and gives a much smoother ride.
Also consider a bike with disc brakes as they are more efficient, particularly in wet weather.

I bought a £140 bike from Halfords at the beginning lockdown (it was on special i think)

It's great - done an hour most days and it's not falling apart. Look at Halfords further afield? Maybe it's just your local one being crap

I have a lovely "quite fat" friend who I go cycling with. She's faster than me at all times and especially brags about it on the downhills.

anyway, good enough for an hour's pootle she has a mountain bike she got from freecycle.

I think it's a disaster to buy something without trying it first. I don't know what your shielding situation is, but I am probably more risk adverse about spending £££ money that could so easily be wasted than I ever could be about the virus. I hope you find something you can be happy with.

I bought a 150 pounds run around to nip to the shops etc. I bought it online and it looks amazing, has a basket on the front etc.

It's absolutely shit and a year on its falling apart. It's stupidly heavy too and just doing five miles - I'm exhausted!

My £1200 road bike though is a thing of beauty and I can easily cycle 50 miles without problems. My ability to cycle 5 or 50 miles is purely to do with the bike!

If you want a run around - I would definately get a second hand bike. You'll get a great one for £150.

Oh I've just had a thought. Some employers offer the bike to work scheme whereby they buy the bike and you pay for it via salary sacrifice. Effectively it means you save a lot of money on the bike because you save on tax. So it might be worth checking if your employer(s) offer it - assuming one of both of you are employed.

www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/cycle-to-work-scheme-everything-you-need-to-know/

I have a ladies and a man's bike in our shed, need a bit of tlc but welcome to have them

Check your facebook for a recycle scheme. People give out bikes on long term loan, all they ask is when your finished with it you give it them back.

I agree with @runninguphills the is a world of difference between a cheap steel framed bike and a second hand aluminium frame bike.
I have what was about £300 hybrid bike from Halfords 10 years ago which I had been riding training for a charity bike ride and the day a friend lent me a Giant still a hybrid - oh my goodness the difference so much less effort to achieve the same speed.

I know it probably varies from shop to shop, but generally when you order a bike to be delivered to your home, some work still needs to be done on it, correct? So unless you're good at these things and have the right tools, you'd still need to take it to a mechanic to finish the assembly?

Decathlon have got bikes in stock for around that price and there’s are pretty decent quality.