Cheap Bike for Commuting?

ucd_guy

I'm cross posting this in another forum as well!

Anyone know where I can pick up a cheap bike for commuting to work in Dublin? Needs to be light and fast - cheaper the better, funds are a bit tight!

Drapper

ucd_guy wrote:

I'm cross posting this in another forum as well!

Anyone know where I can pick up a cheap bike for commuting to work in Dublin? Needs to be light and fast - cheaper the better, funds are a bit tight!

buy and sell! budget?

Bunnyhopper

You do get what you pay for with bikes so be careful what you lumber yourself with. If you want light and cheap then the risk is that it'll be made of tinfoil and things like the pedals will start to bend before too long, or the chain/brakes/whatever will be rubbish and you'll end up having to fork out more to replace parts. Worse still is the risk of having something fail on you just when you really need it. (When some eejit decides to cut me up in traffic I really like having good brakes...)

Also, I'd agree with the earlier poster [in the other thread...definitely read it somewhere...?]: stay well away from full-suspension. Front suspension can be tolerable on some cheaper bikes but at the real budget end I'd try to avoid even that.

That said, if you need to get one cheap then there are some threads on here about second-hand bike shops that might be worth a look. Also keep an eye on adverts.ie (including the forum on free stuff) as well as dublinwaste.ie and jumbletown.ie. You get bikes given away there the odd times. A lot of them are rubbish but the odd one might be worth a look.

The other thing I'd say is learn some repair and maintenance skills. It'll save you a whole lot of hassle in the long run. The recommended links sticky at the top of the Cycling forum has some useful links.

It's hard to say much more without knowing what sort of budget you actually have in mind.

ucd_guy

Re: budget questions, E200 or less!