Bicycles - I quite like them

[Nigel]

once you get a better idea of what you want check out ebay for bikes two or three years old, cyclists are absolute fashion bitches and must have this years colour/gimmick/gears/brakes etc.

You can't sell nearly new bikes for anything like you would expect them to be worth so there are bargains to be had.

You can do worse than ask if they have any 2012 bikes left, I bought a 2004 Specialized back in 2005 and got it reduced from £1900 to under £1300.

It's still going strong so you can tell I'm not a fashion bitch.

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Bought a Cannondale a few years back for £540 instead of £800 because it was last years model/colour preferred the old colour anyway and bought a Scott ally racing frame dirt cheap because it was 3 years out of date, brand new frame and built up a great MTB out of it.

[cabbage]

Consider a Trek 1.1, i bought mine new October before last for a very reasonable £475, as an entry Roadbike before moving up to something lighter and flashier.
But tbh i was and still am really happy with it, so changed the Wheelset to a pair of Shimano RS20s' and the rear cassette to a more Mountain friendly 11-28T and it should last me for many years now.
Here i am after reaching the top of Col du Galibier last Summer

after making my way up this

[Redmurty]

Apparently, best place to buy push bikes is from a lost / stolen Police Auction.

Loads of them all going cheap; set aside a few quid for a service and off you pop.

Check out Wilsons Auctions website (Never been to one, but friends have).

you can buy lots of things from the police auctions but there are usually lots of bikes going there. cheers Spud

[anagallis_arvensis]

MadCow was that a polaris event by any chance?

Anyway for the OP I'd recommend spending about £500-600 on a hardtail mtb putting a rack and some less knobbly touring/semi slick tyres and go for it as you would also have a reasonably bike for riding round the woods too. The thing to look for is one which has rack mounts which is increasingly rare, although you can work round this. If you don't want to spend any time racing round the woods a hybrid style bike would be ideal. Go to a good bike shop and have a chat.

Me lost whilst touring in Slovenia, I seemed to have strayed onto a worldcup downhill course

A few days previously

[Oldie]

Well, I got a bike on ebay It's a new (2012), unboxed, Claud Butler Legend which seems fine for the Dutch cycle paths that I'm planning on doing. Not cheap, but still less than £200 and only 5 miles away. There were 15 different bidders for it so I guess that it was never going to be a "steal".

I know that it won't be the same as the Claud Butlers of old, but it's only for leisure touring and the spec is as good as any that I've seen in the sub-£400 market. Picking it up later today and will post some pics. It looks like one of those onion seller bikes of old, and the fact that I like it really shows how the years are catching up on me

Probably saved the best part of £100 by asking for advice on here, so thanks folks for all the comments B)

Oh, and for the techies out there, it has the following spec....

Frame: 6061

Front: 28 38 48

Rear: 8 speed - 11/30

RST front suspension with lock-out

Adjustable stem

Tyres: 700x38 toughened

Mudguards

Chain guard

Pannier Rack

[Thedktor]

Well that sounds perfect for your use. Nice low 1st gear too for when you are not in Holland!

[Oldie]

Trying to post some pics but no idea how to do it now that PicasaWeb has become Google+

Why didn't they just leave it as it was

[Oldie]

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[Zookman]

That's a pretty good deal you got there.... handy to have the front suspension lock out, making the forks rigid really helps sometimes with pedaling efficiency.

[Morph]

Nice bike, well done.