General Cycling Discussion - Bike for £250 possible?

Hi guys, currenty looking for new bike for around £250, willing to spend alittle more if really needed. (I'm coming from store dept. here)

* Looking for a hardtail (no rear sus.)
* About 21-24 gears would be ideal but more important something that shifts nicely.
* Would like powerful v-brakes. I mean if I pull the front I am catapulted into the air (current bike wont fulfil that).
* Will be used mostly on roads and paths so wont benifit from monster truck wheels.
* Would like a pre-installed bashguard too. I notice some bikes not looking like them have them.

Looking at evanscycles.com, (there or anywhere else, but evans look good) there is quite a choice ... is it safe to assume anything from Specialized, Giant or GT is going to be decent?

http://www.evanscycles.com/

I'll hand the choices over to you guys, any Q's throw 'em.

Thanks

Well in american dollars thats $500.00,here in the states bikes run from 50.00 those wal-mart bikes to thousands for the cannondales.

Store dept. = $200

Gently used...from $10+
Look for names like Giant, KHS, Trek, etc. Not sure about the market over there; but I would steer clear of Mongoose among others. No longer a trusted brand.

Aaron:)

If you're willing to buy second hand it's easily done. Local paper would be a good place to start.

As to the brakes, have you replaced the pads and adjusted the firmness of them, rather than buying a new bike this would be relatively cheap to do and could give you that "thrown into the air" thing you're looking for.

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=70725

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86669

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86671

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=86632

Right going for the GT Av. with disc brakes.

Not that I would recommend them but Halfords do a few low end bikes within your price range. They are low end and assembled by persons that just sling them together.

Couple of pointers though- At this price range try not to go for front suspension. The forks will go up and down but be like a Po-Go stick and will not last long. Rigid forks can be replaced at a later date for a low end Rockshox or Marxocchi fork if required. Wheels will not be high quality but they can be detensioned and retrued by a competent Wheel builder and will then be Sensible.

My LBS is a Giant dealer and they can still get hold of 2007 bikes at a discounted price. Some of the low end bikes will come in your price range. They also carry Land Rover bikes at a lower price- and quality and these are not too bad compared to other makes.

Other makes to look at are Trek- Specialised or Marin- but beware of GT. They were a good bike but are not under the same ownership as when they were making good bikes. Same goes for a lot of "Big Names".

The other choice is to look secondhand but this will require a bit of bike knowledge and some mechanical skills.