# New cycle help



## Paul04

Budget is £300. Don’t know anything about bikes so need some help. Halfords have some good discounts and have been to looking at some in decathlon, are the bikes in decathlon any good? Thinking of getting a mountain bike or a hybrid. Will be using it mostly on off road cycle tracks. Cheers for the help


----------



## kingswood

get on ebay, plenty of hardly used bikes that people have bought and not used.

or wait for jan sales, go outdoors do a good sale


----------



## Deathstar

The Decathlon bikes get decent reviews for the price


----------



## Bill58

Good advice above. Also have a look at the Calibre range from Go Outdoors. They always do very well in reviews (this one is close to your price) https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-saw-mountain-bike-p414114.


----------



## blurb

For light off-road use I'd try and avoid suspension, and put fat knobbly puncture resistant tyres on a hybrid that has decent clearance to take them. Much lighter at the that price point. 
If you are set on having front suspension, then try and get one which you can lock out, so it doesn't bounce around for when you're using it on regular roads.


----------



## Paul04

kingswood said:


> get on ebay, plenty of hardly used bikes that people have bought and not used.
> 
> or wait for jan sales, go outdoors do a good sale


Think I'll wait until the sales but not sure what to buy is the problem


----------



## Paul04

blurb said:


> For light off-road use I'd try and avoid suspension, and put fat knobbly puncture resistant tyres on a hybrid that has decent clearance to take them. Much lighter at the that price point.
> If you are set on having front suspension, then try and get one which you can lock out, so it doesn't bounce around for when you're using it on regular roads.


Thanks for that


----------



## Paul04

Any one own a decathlon bike? any experience?


----------



## mike13

You'd be better buying second hand, you'll get so much more for your money, Gumtree, local ads etc.Hybrid sounds ideal for what you want.


----------



## percymon

As above there are plenty of lightly or hardly used bikes around, provided you are happy to service it yourself or have it serviced. At the end of the day bikes are made to certain price points, so some elements are better than others - one bike might have a better gear set but a poorer front fork.

I wouldn;t even be adverse to looking at a frequently used bike - one in regular use has probably been reasonably well serviced and may have had some upgrades.

Decathlon are perhaps slightly better value than Halfords / Carrera.

Also look on ebay for 2016/2017 models - nothing wrong with them, just old stock. Bought a Merida Matts Trail for my sone years ago brand new delivered for under £300, 2 years prior it was a £750 bike (still with compromises on spec/price point !)


----------



## percymon

I'd also add that whilst it might not be the cheapest buying route if you have some local bike shops then go talk to them - they will often try to give some discount to win a sale, and you'll have someone experienced to set up a new bike and look after it under service/warranty.


----------

