Team-BHP - The Bicycles thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3113824)

Bhpians, I'm planning to buy a new bicycle for fitness & recreational purposes. Last time I bought a bicycle we only had a few choices but now bicycle scene is completely changed. Can you all please recommend a one fitting right in my budget and requirement.

Budget: Rs. 10,000 Max. I know its less but want to start with something VFM and at a later stage could upgrade to a better one. Last bicycle I purchased in 2006 costed me just Rs. 3000, Hero RazorBack.

Requirements:
1. MTB. So it can handle rough as well as good terrain.
2. No gears. Why, complicated, difficult to use as bicycle will also be used by my parents and kids in my society would break it, no matter what.
3. 26" tyres.
4. Aluminium or steel body. So that it wont catch rust and be light as well. Since Mumbai gets a lot of rain and my car parking tough being a covered one, gets all splashed up with water by rain and car wash guys.

I stay at Vashi, Navi Mumbai. Thanks in advance.

Hey,
Check out the Schwinn cutter, it is a fixie and has lot of reviews going for it. But you may have to stretch a bit I think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by unk9ja (Post 3114342)

Hey,
Check out the Schwinn cutter, it is a fixie and has lot of reviews going for it. But you may have to stretch a bit I think.

Track and Trail are the distributor for Schwinn, but Cutter isn't listed on their site. I had called up the retailer in Navi Mumbai he said "only the listed cycles on Track and Trail are available" please:

I have decided to check Firefox - Axxis and Schnell - Scrapper, which is fitting my budget of 10K margin. Which would be a better choice in terms of reliability of brand.?
Had been looking for a geared cycle Btwin RockRider 5.1 would had been my obvious choice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3115273)

After doing a lot of R&D, found out Btwin Rock Rider 5.0 a very good match for my budget. Bhpains please offer your advice on how good is this bicycle.

Also can someone help me source the Btwin Rock Rider 5.0 in Navi Mumbai or Mumbai.

Lastly how good are the following Firefox - Axxis and Schnell - Scrapper?

Rockrider 5.0 is an awesome bike. I have been riding this for the past 8-10 months and have had no issues so far.

If you are looking to ride solely in paved roads, then you can also consider Btwin Riverside 1 which has thinner tires and hence lesser effort to pedal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3115273)

Nice bike, have one in my garage which is being used by my nephew. I must say it is better than the 5.1 which I own. Go ahead and you will not repent on the buy. Check if you can get slicks on the bike when you buy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3115273)

Sourcing Rockrider to a place outside Bangalore is a challenge. Decathlon stopped giving these in flatboxes and just the transportation alone would cost another 2K and with a guaranteed few scratches.

Best bet is to look at other value of money brands. There are quite a few and there are some available on line as well. Here is one of the large collections that I have seen at fabmart: http://www.fabmart.com/collections/cycling

Having been born and raised in the Netherlands I have always been a very keen bicycle enthusiast. There are more bicycles in the Netherlands than people. Many people will own at least two bicycles. One old banger for when you go in town and a really nice one. Say a touring, racing all ATB.

There are some amazing bicycle shops in the Netherlands too. Although the site is in Dutch it will give you some idea of the variety they carry (and prices!):

http://www.hansstruijkfietsen.nl/fie...etsenoverzicht

This shop is in the Hague (Den Haag). We used to live in a small village just 10 minutes from The Hague centre. The owner of this shop also sponsors numerous bicycle parking places all over The Hague. For Euro 0,75 you can park your bicycle. Bicycle theft is a big thing in all of the Dutch big cities. So either you ride a very very old bicycle and carry a huge lock, or you park in a proper bicycle place with a guard.

Dutch train stations will have huge parking places for bicycles. Many commuters will ride their bicycles to the station and leave it there for the day. So for instance central station in Amsterdam has literally thousands and thousands of bicycles in various places.

If you ever find yourself in the Netherlands, especially Amsterdam, and you want to do a bit of exploring, rent a bicycle. Best way to see it.

When we moved to Kansas City, USA in 2009, I had just bought a very nice new bicycle. A Koga. Although the name might suggest differently, it is actually a Dutch firm, although their bicycles get manufactured abroad somewhere in Asia I believe.

http://www.koga.com

I love my bicycle, it's relatively light weight, 24 gears and its beautifully finished. The picture was taken on one of the Americans trails. I used to ride about 80 - 110 kilometers in a day. We had an old 1998 Jeep Cherokee and the bicycle would just fit in the back. Very handy and convenient.

I will cycle at a nice brisk pace, averaging around 23-25 kilometers/hour. I was never into racing. I find it hurts my back and my butt! The saddle is an original Brooks. Real leather, takes several hundreds of kilometers to break in, but once that's done extremely comfortable. They are expensive though. Probably around Euro 100

http://www.brooksengland.com

So for up to fifty years I cycled in the Netherlands and a few trips to the UK, Germany and Belgium. Never had an accident. The three years in the USA saw my cycling ended in the Emergency Room twice.

You can read about it here:

http://jeroendorrestein.com/Frances%...to_the_US.html

I do not have a bicycle here in Delhi. Somehow going out in Delhi traffic on a bicyle does not appeal to me. I did buy a Royal Enfield Bullet though!

Jeroen

Quote:

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061 (Post 3113824)

I bought Firefox cyclone 1 month back. It is well rounded package and happy with it. I bought it for Rs.11k from lifecycle pune.

I do not have experience with other bikes so can not compare.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aditya (Post 3131742)

I use a 5.0. It's a fine, troublefree bike. All I do is clean it and fill air in the tyres. Problems till date: NONE! Great bike at 10K. Decathlon have opened a store on Ghodbunder Road, Thane. You can check it out there.

Me too thinking of starting to use a cycle. Want to start near 10k level and BTwin 5.0 looks to fit the bill. But I went to two shops in MG road in Trivandrum. When I mentioned these names (Btwin, schwinn , firefox) they looked at me as though I am coming from another planet! .Has anyone info on availability of Btwin in Trivandrum?