malc d Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Depends a bit on what kind of cycling you indulge in. If it's just off to the shops, then anything will do. If it's longer distances, or off road, then it's worth considering something more expensive as they don't require so much effort. :-| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky 8 Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 We put our good (expensive ) bikes in the loft and bought two cheap folding biked from Argos, they do the same thing as the others ,and you still have to pedal them ,they fold up and go in the rear locker out of sight, but at £50 something each I wouldnt have a heart attack if they got stolen, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ina Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 PJay - 2009-05-03 10:02 AM you can get light wieght bikes in Halfords for under £150, £650 each WHEW!! must be gold plated ! I'm with lennyhb on this one. We always take our bikes with us, and in the time we are in France, 6 weeks, on average we cycle about 500 miles during that time. I wouldn't like to do that on a cheap folding bike. But it's the same as with any hobby, isn't it? It costs money, and you get what you pay for. Ours are a similar price as lennyhb's, about £600 each. We bought them in Holland last year (I'm Dutch and like the Dutch bikes better), and £600 was by no means expensive, it was actually the cheaper end of the range, believe it or not. They are much more comfortable than the last bike I had, and if you do a lot of cycling, then as far as I'm concerned, comfort is a must. Ina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 £850 will buy you a nice new runner with a 110cc engine. Made in China but Jincheng ain't bad nowadays. Wife swears by hers and passed her MC test on it. Not bad for a pensioner what! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 It really depends on what kind of bikes you are leaving on the rack and how much you value them. if cheap, a reasonably priced lock should suffice but if expensive models, even with insurance rated lock's if on a Fiamma style aluminium rack I would be concerned, as you can cut through these alloy racks with a £ store hack saw in very little time. The best racks for security IMO and better for weighty bikes, are the tow bar type (from Thule and others) as you can then secure the bikes with a more substantial motorbike lock through the tow bar frame..... We have expensive E Bikes but have a garage. I can’t imagine not having bikes as we have always carried them and enjoy the freedom they bring. In south London were we live traffic is gridlocked most of the time and the bikes mean we get around much more efficiently..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky 8 Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hymer584 - 2009-05-03 1:50 PM PJay - 2009-05-03 10:02 AM you can get light wieght bikes in Halfords for under £150, £650 each WHEW!! must be gold plated ! I'm with lennyhb on this one. We always take our bikes with us, and in the time we are in France, 6 weeks, on average we cycle about 500 miles during that time. I wouldn't like to do that on a cheap folding bike. But it's the same as with any hobby, isn't it? It costs money, and you get what you pay for. Ours are a similar price as lennyhb's, about £600 each. We bought them in Holland last year (I'm Dutch and like the Dutch bikes better), and £600 was by no means expensive, it was actually the cheaper end of the range, believe it or not. They are much more comfortable than the last bike I had, and if you do a lot of cycling, then as far as I'm concerned, comfort is a must. Ina. :-D Ina, I totally agree with you I wouldnt like to do 500 mile on any bike let alone a Cheap folding one in fact we rarely do more than 2 miles on the folding bikes but to us they are only a means to get into the nearest town/village if I was doing the Mileage your doing I,d want an engine on it , But that's your hobby and as you said you only get what you pay for, and you only get out what you put in, Pleasant rides :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 JudgeMental - 2009-05-03 3:22 PM We have expensive E Bikes but have a garage. I can’t imagine not having bikes as we have always carried them and enjoy the freedom they bring. In south London were we live traffic is gridlocked most of the time and the bikes mean we get around much more efficiently..... Judge, please would you explain what E bikes are? We are looking at electric bikes but are confused with the different types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 Clive - 2009-05-02 7:03 PM When you don,t have two good legs a pedal cycle is a tad limiting! [/quote ] Yes I should imagine but while we can !the exercise does us good, and we dont go far our bikes are lightweight Raleigh folding bikes they do us for now anyway, and I dont mind getting on a bus or train its a bit of a novely when we never use them at home. :-D They are folding but the cost over £300 each and I think that is enough to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Randonneur - 2009-05-03 3:16 PM JudgeMental - 2009-05-03 3:22 PM We have expensive E Bikes but have a garage. I can’t imagine not having bikes as we have always carried them and enjoy the freedom they bring. In south London were we live traffic is gridlocked most of the time and the bikes mean we get around much more efficiently..... Judge, please would you explain what E bikes are? We are looking at electric bikes but are confused with the different types. I will try...... E Bikes: battery powered electric bikes which fall into two distinct types. the laws in Europe are different and only pedal assist are legal. here you can have a throttle, but EU law may make this illegal in a few years...... Pedal assist: These have no throttle and power assists while pedalling only. Normally they use the Japanese Panasonic system. They are very good at hill climbing. Main players are Kalkhoff and they start at around £1500. Kits: you can but kits for converting normal bikes into E Bikes. Many different types and cost varies significantly. But you need to be reasonably savvy. Cheap generic E bikes from China via ebay, motorhome shows etc..... cost between 400 - 800 and some more cheerful then others .......batteries on good ones are Lithium and 36 volts, but the problem with most of these cheap imports is backup and spare part availability......... Batteries tend to last 2 years or so. Will the cheap Ebike you purchase still be available in a year or two? and the necessary parts you need to keep it going be available? of particular concern is the battery, as these are not normally interchangeable but if you are technical you can buy generic batteries and get them to work. Quality E bikes with larger batteries (better range) and a throttle, which gives you a chance of a break when winded) Available from companies like Wisper and Ezee. We have Wisper bikes mine is the 905 SE (£1400) and my wifes new one on order 705SE (£1200).they both have powerful 36v 14amp batteries and throttles and can offer a range of approx 50 miles,. Dependent on terrain, weight etc...... I have had a few problems with mine and they have been fixed under warranty, that’s why we decided to get another Wisper for my wife and the new ones have a 2 year warranty. They weigh about 23kg. About twice the weight of our old bikes so will have to pack carefully for our family trips......OK when we go away on our own though. I have tried to sumerise as best I can but please ask away with specific questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 colin - 2009-05-03 12:22 PM I know someone who has brought a bike for nearly £3000, uses it mainly on road or hard packed surfaces, but has full offroad tyres, the words "what a" and "waste of money" come to mind, still keeps him happy. A friend of ours has just paid £15000 (yep £15thou) for a road bike !! Thats cheap compared with some of his mates (so he says !) Mind you he is the sort of chap that gets up in the morning and does a couple of hundred miles before breakfast. !! Me, if in France, I go as foar as the nearest baggette bakery, Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Looks like I've opened a can of worms the end of the day you get what you pay for, oh! the £650 doesn't include the £100 - £150 spend on each bike for bits & pieces & then there's clothing & cycling shoes that don't come cheap. We are not great cyclists most I've ever done in a day is about 55 miles I'm not very fit dodgy back & knees a normal ride when we are away in the van is 20 to 30 miles. Biggest problem we find is choice tyres when we have off road tyres on we seem top end up on roads & last weekend we had road tyres on did about 20 miles on the downs link although it's a cycle path (old railway line) there are a lot of compacted flints in the surface and we hadn't done much cycling over the winter ended up with sore bums despite padded cycling shorts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Many thanks Judge, didn't know that some were illegal in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Randonneur - 2009-05-03 6:36 PM Many thanks Judge, didn't know that some were illegal in France. Not knowing much regards the position in France I asked over on pedeleec forum and recieved this "Throttle only is not legal. Throttle that works after the PAS has given its ok, it is legal. In other words, you cannot use an electric bike whose motor goes on without pedaling (nor more powerful than 250W continous or with an assisted speed of more than 25km/h). That said, in France like in other countries "illegal" bikes are not rare." Like Leonardo says, I forgot about these bikes which have a throttle but only works while peddling. I would get one from here and you are unlikely to get pulled? Buy one in Italy if you have friends there as the Italian Government has just given up to a 700 Euro rebate for electric bikes purchased in 2009....... All Gordon Brown does is encourage more cars on to our ridiculously overcrowded roads *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirage Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 We have two Brompton Folding Bikes - marvellous machines done about 3500 Miles since 2002 including The Cote D`Azur etc. Best part is you just fold them up put them in a side locker , under the bed or simply inside, resolves the security problem as far as you ever can. If you want to do a one way trip fold them up and come back by train. Not cheap but well made and never had any problems, spares easy to obtain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 lennyhb - 2009-05-03 4:51 PM Looks like I've opened a can of worms the end of the day you get what you pay for, oh! the £650 doesn't include the £100 - £150 spend on each bike for bits & pieces & then there's clothing & cycling shoes that don't come cheap. We are not great cyclists most I've ever done in a day is about 55 miles I'm not very fit dodgy back & knees a normal ride when we are away in the van is 20 to 30 miles. Biggest problem we find is choice tyres when we have off road tyres on we seem top end up on roads & last weekend we had road tyres on did about 20 miles on the downs link although it's a cycle path (old railway line) there are a lot of compacted flints in the surface and we hadn't done much cycling over the winter ended up with sore bums despite padded cycling shorts. I use semi slick on back, full knobly on front, seems to give best compromise for use 1/3 each of road, gravel tracks, and soft/hard(weather dependant) fields. 12 (? ) years ago I had a fixed frame and was fed up of getting my fillings rattled and was looking at full suspension bikes, as I was unsure as to how well they worked I took the opertunaty to buy a cheep (£80?) nearly new second hand one just to test, everything needed setting up or modding to work correctly, once sorted it was/is great the only concern being weight, but as my reason for buying was to keep up fitness levels for racing it didn't realy matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Our bikes are hardtails same model with full sus was £300 more & I'm not keen on full sus for road use. A kobbly on the front & slick on the rear wouldn't wouldn't help the sore bum syndrome on rough trails with a hardtail. Looks like a bigger van & carry 3 pairs of bikes Road Bike, XC Bike, Off Roader or maybe 4 pairs and add a Downhill or get a 40 ton artic with a sleeping cab!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I had these tyres fitted recently and they have improved my bike no end, they are recommended on various bike forums and very good for cycle paths etc...... Schwalbe Marathon Plus Smartguard Tyre "The newly developed puncture protection found in the Marathon Plus means punctures are just a distant memory. The SmartGuard‚ layer made from a flexible, special rubber offers particular resistance to shards of glass and flints. Even a thumbtack cannot penetrate this protective layer! The SmartGuard belt does not increase rolling resistance. The MARATHON PLUS rolls as easily as a tyre without protection." Review from Cycling Plus "Thanks to its thick layer of springy sub-tread rubber - called SmartGuard -the Marathon Plus is virtually immune to through-the-tread punctures...even drawing pins won't penetrate. Apart from the slight speed loss, the only real negative is the dificulty in fitting them: I needed a helper and a pair of Pedro's Milk Levers. Still, they're so unlikely to puncture that this isn't a job you'll do very often. In conclusion...Almost impregnable. Heavy and hard to fit, but faster than you'd think." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Our road tyres are 'Continental Travel Contact' they have slick centre & knobbly edges suitable for light off road use, they are a bit skittish on gravel. They also are also puncture proof & come with a 1 year guaranty against punctures. Just looked at the Smarguard they are very heavy for a 26 x 1.75 980g Continental is 690g, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 The marathon plus tyres are rated best on the bike forum I use, both for comfort and puncture resistance. Anyway.....as I am not part of the sporty lycra fraternity (God what a sight that would be!) I don’t worry regards a few grams here or there........Especially when you have an E Bike and weigh as much as me! (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Really Judge No Lycra you don't know what you are missing! I can see the weight won't bother you much on the e-bikes, on our bikes an extra 600 grams is an additional 5%. We have been very pleased with the Continentals great on tarmac very low rolling resistance and much sharper braking. Not too keen using them off road with clipless pedals the wife always has a good laugh when I fall over in a heap and takes delight saying 'what did you do that for' that's by-the-by now at the weekend I put the girly pedals back on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Just though JudgeMental everyone would like to known Aldi have lots of shiny Lycra this & other cycling bits week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 lennyhb - 2009-05-07 11:03 PM Just though JudgeMental everyone would like to known Aldi have lots of shiny Lycra this & other cycling bits week. Blimey!.........I'll get my coat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Better hurry up Judge I'm on my way back to get another lot. Oh boy am I going to look cool this summer! (Can't repeat what the other half said.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted May 9, 2009 Author Share Posted May 9, 2009 As per usual you lot have gone off the question!!!!! In fact I have now forgot what I asked. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted May 9, 2009 Share Posted May 9, 2009 maggyd - 2009-05-09 10:54 PM As per usual you lot have gone off the question!!!!! In fact I have now forgot what I asked. :-D To summarise for you Maggyd: You wanted to know if it's a good idea to take bikes abroad. Everybody says yes, just keep them locked up as normal when not in use, and stop worrying. They will also add a lot more pleasure to your trips. ;-) ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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