Ebay Bikes

Hi all,

I am in the market for a decent Hybrid / mountain bike for lots of town
use, light off road / trail riding / wooded paths ( no Ariel acrobatics),
carrying a child on a bike seat and even pulling a two child carrier gizmo.

I was looking on Ebay and there are some nice "Looking" bikes there which of
course bears no reflection on quality or durability.
Also there are dealers ( Bolton etc) with very good feedback who are
obviously supplying a decent service or they would cease to trade.

How can a body determine the likely build quality of these Ebay bikes?....
the makers names mean nothing to me whatsoever, leaving me very little to go
on.

I am 5ft 10.5" with a 30 inch inside leg measurement.

Any advice on buying would be appreciated.

in message , Alan
') wrote:

Hi all,

I am in the market for a decent Hybrid / mountain bike for lots of
town
use, light off road / trail riding / wooded paths ( no Ariel
acrobatics), carrying a child on a bike seat and even pulling a two
child carrier gizmo.

In that case you want a hybrid, and you will be better off with slick or
semi-slick tyres and rigid forks. Knobbly tyres are only useful on
really gnarly off-road tracks and are actively a disadvantage on the
road. Good suspension forks are wonderful but very expensive, and cheap
suspension forks are much worse than useless.

I was looking on Ebay and there are some nice "Looking" bikes there
which of course bears no reflection on quality or durability.
Also there are dealers ( Bolton etc) with very good feedback who are
obviously supplying a decent service or they would cease to trade.

How can a body determine the likely build quality of these Ebay
bikes?.... the makers names mean nothing to me whatsoever, leaving me
very little to go on.

All sorts of bikes are sold on eBay and there are very good bargains to
be had in second hand bikes. But I would not buy the new bikes which
are offered there. They are broadly similar to the bikes you can get in
supermarkets, or free with Hoover appliances: extraordinarily heavy,
and fitted with rubbish components. They will not give you reasonable
service.

I am 5ft 10.5" with a 30 inch inside leg measurement.

Any advice on buying would be appreciated.

Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative's own brand ('Edinburgh' and 'Revolution')
bikes are inexpensive and reliably good value for money. Apart from
that, second hand bikes of reputable brands are often bargains - bikes
are pretty simple and reliable and usually you can fix them up to good
as new by a good service, and replacing any worn out components. Your
local supermarket 'customers adverts' board, or your local newspaper
classifieds ads, is the first place to look but you will also find
bargains on eBay.

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

There are no messages. The above is just a random stream of
bytes. Any opinion or meaning you find in it is your own creation.

Alan wrote:

I am 5ft 10.5" with a 30 inch inside leg measurement.

Any advice on buying would be appreciated.

What's your budget?

--

Burning_Ranger

To email:

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 09:37:28 +0200, "Alan" wrote:

Hi all,

I am in the market for a decent Hybrid / mountain bike for lots of town
use, light off road / trail riding / wooded paths ( no Ariel acrobatics),
carrying a child on a bike seat and even pulling a two child carrier gizmo.

I was looking on Ebay and there are some nice "Looking" bikes there which of
course bears no reflection on quality or durability.
Also there are dealers ( Bolton etc) with very good feedback who are
obviously supplying a decent service or they would cease to trade.

How can a body determine the likely build quality of these Ebay bikes?....
the makers names mean nothing to me whatsoever, leaving me very little to go
on.

I am 5ft 10.5" with a 30 inch inside leg measurement.

Any advice on buying would be appreciated.



If its anything like dvd players you find that the chinese/taiwanese
branded model sells for £30 but you can also find the same model with
a japanese case for £70 and a high brow brand name like Denon for £150
but fundamentally they are all the same.

A similar situation seems to be true of bicycles with many famous
brands buying in products from these countries to rebrand and charge a
lot more. You'll probably find that the bikes on ebay around £75 are
similar to budget branded offerings around £150-200 and ebay bikes
around £150 are similar to £300 branded bikes. In a situation like
this you'll be paying for profits twice as the taiwanese company
making the bike will make a profit and then the firm that brands the
bike making theres.

The main thing to watch out for I think is chinese made frames as its
the taiwanese that make low cost high quality frames where as chinese
frames are much more hit and miss. Most of the big american bike firms
and most of the other main brands have their frames made in Taiwan not
mainland china.

It amazes me how much bikes can sell for nowadays made in Taiwan and
China and no wonder Raleigh have stopped manufacturing in this
country. Look at this;

http://www.sterlinghouse.co.uk/Defau...roduct&ID=7981

I don't know how good it is and its probably rubbish but its an
amazing price point to reach for a whole bike. Some of the basic
components like shimano tourney gears which can be found on sterling
house bikes costing £40 can be found on bikes costing upto £400 with
decent branding.

"Alan" writes:

Hi all,

I am in the market for a decent Hybrid / mountain bike for lots of town
use, light off road / trail riding / wooded paths ( no Ariel acrobatics),
carrying a child on a bike seat and even pulling a two child carrier gizmo.

I was looking on Ebay and there are some nice "Looking" bikes there which of
course bears no reflection on quality or durability.
Also there are dealers ( Bolton etc) with very good feedback who are
obviously supplying a decent service or they would cease to trade.

How can a body determine the likely build quality of these Ebay bikes?....
the makers names mean nothing to me whatsoever, leaving me very little to go
on.

Have a look at online shops for the same/similar models. The prices
should give you a good idea of relative quality.

"Martin Wilson" wrote in message

It amazes me how much bikes can sell for nowadays made in Taiwan and
China and no wonder Raleigh have stopped manufacturing in this
country. Look at this;

http://www.sterlinghouse.co.uk/Defau...roduct&ID=7981



That's amazing value. Triple chainset, 10 speed rear cog, mudguards and
carrier. Even two cheapo alloy wheels cost more than the price of the whole
bike!
--
Simon M.

Alan wrote:
I am in the market for a decent Hybrid / mountain bike for lots of town
use, light off road / trail riding / wooded paths ( no Ariel acrobatics),
carrying a child on a bike seat and even pulling a two child carrier gizmo.

What Simon said. Especially the bit about Edinburgh Bikes - I've just
bought an Edinburgh Contour (£215) which came with a Blackburn EX2 rack
(£30) fitted as an optional extra - this rack is rated as suitable for
carrying a child seat, but many aren't, so be careful what you buy. You
can also get things like dynamos and bottle cages fitted.

Contour:
URL:http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/catalogue/detail.cfm?ID=19061
Blackburn EX2:
URL:http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/catalogue/detail.cfm?ID=5968

My requirements were very similar to yours and for this type of use I
reckon the Contour is probably about as good a bike as you'll get for
the money.

Ridgeback bikes are also worth a look - you can get something with a
similar spec to the Contour for about the same money (eg the Rapide
Speed - steel frame, rack and mudguards, triple chainset; or the Rapide
Nova - aluminium frame, no rack or mudguards, single chainset. Both are
£199. Judging by the spec, the Nova is a slightly lighter, sportier bike
but it will take a rack and mudguards should you wish to fit them.)

Speed:
URL:http://www.ridgebackbikes.co.uk/bikes/2004/bike.asp?seriesid=21&index=2
Nova:
URL:http://www.ridgebackbikes.co.uk/bikes/2004/bike.asp?seriesid=21&index=0

Also there are dealers ( Bolton etc) with very good feedback who are
obviously supplying a decent service or they would cease to trade.

I don't know about Bolton but SJS are very reputable - I wouldn't
hesitate to buy from them if they had something I wanted (as long as I
could afford it!)

Aside from the bigger companies, the only measure of seller reliability
on ebay is the seller's feedback rating.

How can a body determine the likely build quality of these Ebay bikes?....
the makers names mean nothing to me whatsoever, leaving me very little to go
on.

Ask as many questions as you like in this forum - whether it's about
specific bikes or more general questions such as the relative merits of
suspension vs rigid forks, what tyres/pedals/saddle to fit, etc. -
there's usually someone with an answer, and it's nearly always friendly.

I am 5ft 10.5" with a 30 inch inside leg measurement.

I'm a touch shorter than you but have slightly longer legs. The 18"
frame Contour fits me just fine.

d.

in message , Martin Wilson
') wrote:

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 09:37:28 +0200, "Alan" wrote:

Hi all,

I am in the market for a decent Hybrid / mountain bike for lots of
town
use, light off road / trail riding / wooded paths ( no Ariel
acrobatics), carrying a child on a bike seat and even pulling a two
child carrier gizmo.

I was looking on Ebay and there are some nice "Looking" bikes there
which of course bears no reflection on quality or durability.
Also there are dealers ( Bolton etc) with very good feedback who are
obviously supplying a decent service or they would cease to trade.

How can a body determine the likely build quality of these Ebay
bikes?.... the makers names mean nothing to me whatsoever, leaving me
very little to go on.

I am 5ft 10.5" with a 30 inch inside leg measurement.

Any advice on buying would be appreciated.



If its anything like dvd players you find that the chinese/taiwanese
branded model sells for £30 but you can also find the same model with
a japanese case for £70 and a high brow brand name like Denon for £150
but fundamentally they are all the same.

It isn't anything like DVD players.

The cheapest bikes have steel frames with oversize tubes. The reason
aluminium framed bikes use oversize tubes is because aluminium is
lighter but not as strong as steel, so you need a bigger tube to
provide the same strength. Oversize tube steel bikes are intended to
look like (more expensive) aluminium bikes, but are a lot heavier.

A similar situation seems to be true of bicycles with many famous
brands buying in products from these countries to rebrand and charge a
lot more. You'll probably find that the bikes on ebay around £75 are
similar to budget branded offerings around £150-200 and ebay bikes
around £150 are similar to £300 branded bikes.

No, you won't. There are a few reliable sellers of good, cheap, bikes in
the UK, the best known probably being Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op.
Otherwise you are buying a pig in a poke, and most of the pigs are
dreadful.

There are some good unbranded Taiwanese bikes around but they are much
rarer than the total crap and unless you know what you're doing buy a
brand.


--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
There's nae Gods, an there's precious few heroes
but there's plenty on the dole in th Land o th Leal;
And it's time now, tae sweep the future clear o
th lies o a past that we know wis never real.

"Simon Brooke" wrote in message news:u4cft1-

The cheapest bikes have steel frames with oversize tubes. The reason
aluminium framed bikes use oversize tubes is because aluminium is
lighter but not as strong as steel, so you need a bigger tube to
provide the same strength. Oversize tube steel bikes are intended to
look like (more expensive) aluminium bikes, but are a lot heavier.

To be fair, the hybrid in the photo uses narrow tubing and isn't trying to
pass itself off as alloy, although it will be poor quality steel of course.

--
Simon M.

OTOH look at the customer review at the bottom of this page:

http://www.sterlinghouse.co.uk/Defau...roduct&ID=7270

Ok the bikes probably/is rubbish but a lot of these bikes do need
setting up on arrival and a lot of people aren't capable of doing
this. Its almost a diy bike. I'm sure many of these criticisms are
related to the purchaser not tightening or adjusting various things.

I could be wrong of course but when you buy a bike from a LBS its
setup for you and tested. This isn't possible on discount mail order
bikes obviously.

I suspect that basic £60 Tourer is only 10 speed in total (2x5) and
that the image is of a slightly different spec bike. Surely it can't
be 30 speed for that money?