looking for cheap run about bike for myself. and came across with this, i will agree these are heavy for what they are, however it doesnt bother me, at the end i am not lifting this bike but riding it for the added purpose of fitness.
may come in handy for someone out here.
some of these bikes are on Argos lowest ever price and most of them have average 4 start + rating.
Pretty bad bikes but they'll do the job. Hopefully they wont be nicked too!
At least there is no unnecessary "suspension".
ses6jwg
8 Aug 17#6
Didn't realise how much difference weight makes.
Bought my daughter a steel frame bike for £79.99 from smyths for her bday.
Day after an apollo theia (used but in good nick) came up on ebay for £40. Aluminium frame. The bso went straight back.
The weight difference is unbelievable. Can't believe anyone would buy their kids a cheap bike any expect them.not to moan as they have to lug this cast iron thing around! Must make a difference with adult bikes too.
POWYSWALES to ses6jwg
8 Aug 17#8
Difference is a steel frame will normally outlive an aluminium frame which can suffer from fatigue and fractures. Also just how lazy are today's youth if they moan that there bike is 3kg heavier than the equivalent aluminium frame.
MAdam98 to POWYSWALES
8 Aug 17#10
I cannot believe you're talking about a steel frame outlasting an aluminium alloy one. Let's be honest, most people aren't going to own a bike for as long as it takes for an aluminium alloy frame to degrade sufficiently such that it would be unrideable!
That is certainly not lazy. Consider a 25kg kid. 3kg is nearly one eighth of their bodyweight. That's like an 80kg adult lugging around an extra 10kg (except worse as children are much weaker per kg)!
0scar222 to POWYSWALES
11 Aug 17#36
Yes very true my kids bikes have lasted ages :laughing:
Ego-X to ses6jwg
8 Aug 17#17
Given that when you ride you effectively become part of the bike. How does shaving a few ounces off the weight of the frame help a casual cyclist once he parks his 12st butt on it? Surely the engineering quality is what mostly separates a good bike from a rubbish one?
MAdam98 to Ego-X
8 Aug 17#19
Plenty of studies have been done regarding that so you can Google it if you're really interested.
mattyr to Ego-X
8 Aug 17#20
A good bike won't be as heavy as a rubbish one. If it is well engineered, it won't be this price and is highly unlikely to be this heavy.
buddn07 to Ego-X
9 Aug 17#27
If you walk up a hill, or walk up a hill pushing a bike... which do you think would be easier? You're having to exert force on the pedals to get the bike up hill when riding. The heavier the bike, the more force required.
Jefft to buddn07
9 Aug 17#29
Better for keeping fit then.
buddn07 to Jefft
9 Aug 17#30
Agreed. Although, I know a couple of people who don't go out on their bike "because they don't like doing hills". So if it's a case of heavy bike = no bike then this isn't the case.
mac9091
8 Aug 17#7
The weight difference will make a difference and as you say for a kids bike it is more noticeable due to the smaller person riding the bike, however the difference between a cheap BSO (say £80) and a decent childs bike (£250+), most parents would end up in Halfords looking for a bike around about £150 due to the doubt of how long the bike will last, as in fit the child. Yes you are more likely to get more of your money back on a better quality bike but not all parents are aware, don't have the time to try and sell it afterwards or have the money initially to spend. Let alone the worry of your kid playing out and about with an expensive bike that is more likely to be stolen.
As for adults yes of course the weight still makes a difference (why else would pros cycle on the lightest bikes they can legally get away with?) but if you are only starting out cycling then you can find out for cheap if you actually like the sport and then keep the bike for work or sell it on. I started on a Tesco BSO, that i still use for cycling a few miles a day to and from work. I now race on a more expensive carbon framed 8.2kg bike.
apswfc to mac9091
9 Aug 17#26
I have just bought a second hand frog 62 for my daughter for £130. When both her then her younger sister are too big for it then i will re-sell it and hopefully get my money back (or more). Therefore quality bike at no cost for two children!!! No brainer really if you are prepared to wait for ond to come up then sell on later.
mac9091 to apswfc
9 Aug 17#28
I did mention that in my post earlier.
mattyr
8 Aug 17#9
Cheap bikes have cheap components which can wear out quickly and are costly to replace. Some bike shops refuse to attempt repairs on them because they are difficult to fix and customers are rarely happy with the results.
leaston
8 Aug 17#12
I don't understand the debate...it's a cheap bike. Nobody suggested it's going to win you the next Tour de Wherever :thinking: :laughing:
Dodge62
8 Aug 17#13
Interesting concept of "rigid suspension". No suspension is a good idea on a bike this cheap, but rigid suspension is a contradiction.
jaydeeuk1 to Dodge62
8 Aug 17#24
Marketing for you. Almost as bad as 'hardtail'
olivermills6
8 Aug 17#14
I was taken aback just what a difference getting a lighter bike makes to your enjoyment. It's evident not just when picking up your bike, as someone suggested, but in every aspect of your ride. Acceleration, top speed, smoothness and agility are all vastly improved with a light bike and I actually found it hard to get into cycling before riding my current bike, so I would disagree that you should use this bike as a tester to see if it's for you. It won't give you a great experience. I suggest buying this bike if you want a budget second bike that won't get nicked and doesn't need to travel for miles.
Jabaltariq
8 Aug 17#15
"Rigid suspension". I think this bike should be on everyone's shopping list, after all it comes with rigid suspension. Surely its got to better then the bikes without any suspension?
mac9091
8 Aug 17#16
Good luck with that. You'll just need to buy wheels, brakes, cable inners, cable outers, headset, handlebars, saddle, seatpost, tyres, inner tubes, groupset, stem and forks.
Plus Halfords will assemble it for you and do safety checks and you get a 6 week service thrown in. Sadly some Halfords don't do good job of assembling their bikes going by comments but in my experience they are fine.
MAdam98 to bonzobanana
8 Aug 17#22
I really don't trust Halfords...
mac9091 to bonzobanana
8 Aug 17#23
I remember spending a lot more time in one Halfords watching a "mechanic" put together a bike, i then took immense pleasure when he was finished, telling him that the forks were on backwards. Knowing that he would have to strip out the bar tape and cable to do it again.
Not all are the same obviously but that isn't an easy thing to mistake.
Quite like the look of that Decathlon bike but looks incredibly weak and has the same junk low end components, the argos bike has a saiguan derailleur and the Decathlon bike sunrace both below entry level Shimano in quality. Also single wall 700c rims are not going to be strong. I think you'd probably be better off with 26" wheels on such a low end bike. The Decathlon bike looks about £30 overpriced for the components on offer. The Decathlon bike is neither an upgrade or downgrade on the Argos bike just something slightly different parallel to it. Still a bike shaped object even if its the budget brand of choice by many cyclists. You really need to spend more before Decathlon bikes get decent quality, its probably over £250 they become good value, below that they are pretty much Apollo or BSO quality.
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Opening post
may come in handy for someone out here.
some of these bikes are on Argos lowest ever price and most of them have average 4 start + rating.
All comments (36)
Challenge Regent 26 Inch Female - £89.99
Hopefully they wont be nicked too!
At least there is no unnecessary "suspension".
Bought my daughter a steel frame bike for £79.99 from smyths for her bday.
Day after an apollo theia (used but in good nick) came up on ebay for £40. Aluminium frame. The bso went straight back.
The weight difference is unbelievable. Can't believe anyone would buy their kids a cheap bike any expect them.not to moan as they have to lug this cast iron thing around! Must make a difference with adult bikes too.
would be unrideable!
That is certainly not lazy. Consider a 25kg kid. 3kg is nearly one eighth of their bodyweight. That's like an 80kg adult lugging around an extra 10kg (except worse as children are much weaker per kg)!
You're having to exert force on the pedals to get the bike up hill when riding. The heavier the bike, the more force required.
As for adults yes of course the weight still makes a difference (why else would pros cycle on the lightest bikes they can legally get away with?) but if you are only starting out cycling then you can find out for cheap if you actually like the sport and then keep the bike for work or sell it on. I started on a Tesco BSO, that i still use for cycling a few miles a day to and from work. I now race on a more expensive carbon framed 8.2kg bike.
Not all are the same obviously but that isn't an easy thing to mistake.