in message , David
') wrote:

Thanks for the replies.

You really won't get anything decent at that price level. Suspension
will
be
poor quality and performance at that price. What's wrong with your
"ancient
mountain bike" that it needs changing. Either look to spend double
you
max
budget or put the money into giving your current bike a service

My current ancient bike was bought for £30 from the freeads to enable
me to chase after the kids and round 'em up when they go in opposite
directions on their bikes/scooters. I found myself (unexpectedly)
really enjoying riding. My bike is actually too big a frame for me. As
I have some redundancy money I can afford to buy a new bike, but
obviously can't spend an absolute fortune.

Seems to me that the front only suspension bikes are cheaper. Never
having ridden a bike with suspension, what are the pro's and con's of
front/rear suspension both on and off road?

On smooth roads suspension is not necessary and actually slows you down
- good suspension bikes have 'lockout' systems to lock the suspension
when it's not needed. On gentle off-road tracks and paths a bit of
suspension is quite nice but doesn't really make all that much
difference. Where it does make a big difference is on rough and loose
surfaced paths and tracks, particularly if you're moving fast. What
makes the difference is

* You're more comfortable so you don't get so tired and can go further;
* The bike will cope much better with bad lines and obstacles so you
don't have to concentrate so much so you don't get so tired;
* You can go faster over rougher ground;
* You have more grip and more traction on rough sections.

However, only good suspension systems will cope with these conditions
and good suspension costs serious money. Cheap suspension systems are
heavy, fragile and don't work very well. Suspension really needs to be
tuned to the weight of the rider, or it won't do much good. On a good
bike you will either have air suspension (where you can change the
pressure with a pump) or alternatively the bike shop *should* ask you
what you weigh and fit the right spring for your weight.

Related topic, cheap cable operated disk brakes are much heavier than V
brakes and don't work as well.

Essentially if your budget is limited a light bike with no suspension is
better than a heavy bike with poor suspension. Unless you can afford at
least £300 don't buy suspension - and don't buy disk brakes unless you
can afford a good bit more than that.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/