WANTED: 18" Mountain Bike to last!

[daniel11]

Hi,
I'm Daniel, a 14 year old boy who has a paper round and needs a bike for it!!

I have a bike at the moment that I got cheap from Sports Direct, which as I later found out was a huge mistake. From day one it started to fall to bits and after having to replace several parts and last week the rear wheel disintegrated so I have decided to look for something a lot more sturdy and long lasting.

After looking for various new ones I decided they were too expensive to get a quality bike and was recommended on another bike forum to look for something older with a better spec and that is actually well built and likely to last.

So basically what I am after is an 18" mountain or hybrid bike that won't fall apart and will ride well. Preferably without a suspension fork as it will be mainly used on the road, but anything will be considered. Up to £200 or possibly £250 pounds would be the price limit. As for area I am in Trowbridge, Wiltshire so something local would be OK for pickup and anything that can be posted is great.

Hopefully someone will be able to help me!

Thanks Very Much,
Daniel

 

[dablk]

Hello Daniel,
I would advise a few things. your 14 so ignore a bike to last issue as you will outgrow it and probably if your into riding want a downhill weapon or like in the next few years .. or is it bmx again at the moment.. "them pesky kids"

Dont spend £250 on a paper round bike. You wont be bothering to lock it up all the time. And theres a chance it will go wondering. you will be dumping it aginst hedges/on the pavement every few feet so it will take a bit of a battering. I agree that very cheap shop bikes are pretty poor these days if you actually use them.

£100 should easily get you a good bike on here or ebay. agree avoid suspension s/h at this price point.
Have a bit spare for broken parts which the seller wont have told you about and also spend about £30 on road tyres for an mtb. will make your life much faster and cleaner on the road.

Orange/kona/GT/Specialized can all be got from the late 90's early 2000's still with rigid forks. or go further back and get a Raleigh, yes they used to be good and very expensive some of them!

I'm sure somone will be along to try and sell you somthing in a moment.

Good luck.

 

[daniel11]

Re:

Hi,
Thanks for that. I think it is a good idea to get something cheaper but it's just a case of finding something. I need something reliable that isn't likely to have tons of problems.
An older rigid mtb from a good brand is exactly what I am after.
So the budget is now lowered to around £100.
Thanks Daniel

 

[daniel11]

Re:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=304514
There is this! Started at £200 but open to offers and seems desperate to sell. So I could offer £150 and that includes slick tyres and spare brake blocks. Looks in fairly good nick.
Would this be OK?
Thanks Daniel

 

[dablk]

Its a nice bike Daniel,
A kona of this age is actually a bike you can eventually add all modern parts too if you decided to keep it longer

frame looks good, its a 1 1/8 inch aheadset which is the same as most modern bikes so getting parts is easy. You can also add a more moderne sus fork at a later date without problems.
Its a later retro kona so it has the important brake mount on the frame which makes life easy if you want to change the v-brakes ever. It also comes with the the correct 27.0mm seat post so you wont have to hunt to find that. most modern ones are 27.2mm so dont fit.

Some minor points and none of these are bad but just so you understand.

The forks are from a different make of bike. So although they look blue they probably dont exactley match the frame colour.

its 8 speed so if you do break a bit of the gears you will have to find 8 speed spares, probably 2nd hand. or you will have to change the lot. not a big problem as the rear wheel will be able to swap to a 9 speed set of gears.

the wheels will look slightly different as they are different rims.

It would not be fair on me to comment too much on the price as thats really for you to chat with the seller. There are rules on this forum for those who wish to discuss sale prices. if it was on ebay thats a different stroy.

I would say however its a respectable price as it includes postage. Without sounding patronising, if you dont fully understand paypal. it might be best for you to work with an adult to understand different payment methods and what insurance to protect yourself.

 

[daniel11]

Ok. Thanks very much. Looks don't bother me too much although it does look great. I am more worried about whether it is likely to have any mechanical faults but has some fairly high spec components so should be OK.
I currently in contact with the seller regarding the price. As regards to PayPal do I get buyer protection if I pay through PayPal but not if it's a PayPal gift?
Thanks Daniel

 

[dablk]

its somthing to confirm with the seller.

paypal (pp) yes you get protection and buyer should then send the item with tracking (to protect themselves should you claim it never turned up).

paypal gift (PPG) then no protection for you. your effectivley leaving it all to trust.

most seller will indicate if their advertised price is via PP or PPG.
or it might be PPG or add 4% for fees and pay by PP. so if you agreed on £100 you need to send £104. buyers gets £100 pp gets £4.

Its up to you wether you want to take the risk or not. Everyone is different as to their risk level. not that this sure fire way to be more confident but that seller has over 500 posts so they have been around the forum for a while. if it was the other way they would be looking to buy off you with 5 posts. If you get my drift.

All the best

 

[dablk]

and one last thing.. you might need a new saddle for that kona... a Flite is a quailty retro seat still made today. very very popular for its light weight and looks. You may find it a little extreme on the comfort side of things its no sofa till your used to it.

 

[secret_squirrel]

and one last thing.. you might need a new saddle for that kona... a Flite is a quailty retro seat still made today. very very popular for its light weight and looks. You may find it a little extreme on the comfort side of things its no sofa till your used to it.

Now that just cruel I would avoid flites until your ass is numb and leathery like most of the fogeys on here. I managed a week before I binned mine for a proper saddle.

 

[daniel11]

Yh. I will probably swap the saddle if it needs it.