I plan to buy one in the next month or two. I sold my motorbike last year as I had stopped riding 2 years ago because of the upper back injury that I had (and still have, though vastly improved).

If I'm by myself I generally walk around, or at the most take an autorickshaw for 20 bucks. A bicycle will be useful for such distances, and should also give me a workout better than lazy walking.

My question is, what's the best bicycle one can buy for 5K rupees or less?

Are you looking at a geared bike or gearless? I'm sure you can get a great bike for a 5k budget.

I'm out of touch with cycles nowadays but the Hero Devil that I had for quite some time was a great buy for only thousand bucks (around 7-8 years ago though)...

These Indian bicycles are too heavy. I checked out a thai imported one last year and it was around 5k, geared and so light you won't believe it.

This is run by some IT weekend adventure types. Way over my budget though. I'd rather spend it on a new guitar. bumsonthesaddle.com/

maybe fox bikes?? but i think they might be over the budget, you should get a fairly decent imported bike within 5k. Plus you might wanna check out the new indian ones, they might be as good as their international counterparts.

Firefox and Trek are the two main foreign brands available here, and they used to have bikes starting at around 5K-odd, but I think the prices have gone up for some reason. At least I think so, I called the Firefox guy here a while ago and he said it starts somewhere around 8K. I have a Hero Thunder bike, 7 x 3 gears, it was 5.5K but you could probably get it for 5. Aluminium, so it should be pretty much the same as the basic foreign bikes weight wise. Repairs might be a problem outside the city, the parts etc (ball bearings for instance) aren't the same as your regular cycle, and if you bang it up the frame can't be straightened out with a hammer like an iron bike.

But yeah, it's worked well for me so far. Bangalore though, jeez, the pollution on the roads is just scary (apart from the traffic itself...)

Mountain bikes ?? They're the only ones I've ever tried. I had a Hercules BMX or something - really crappy bike with no suspension to speak of but fun to ride, for a little more you can get one with great suspensions (which will be needed on Bangalore roads). But I'd suggest just getting a scooter instead =P

Vile E wrote:
Firefox and Trek are the two main foreign brands available here, and they used to have bikes starting at around 5K-odd, but I think the prices have gone up for some reason. At least I think so, I called the Firefox guy here a while ago and he said it starts somewhere around 8K. I have a Hero Thunder bike, 7 x 3 gears, it was 5.5K but you could probably get it for 5. Aluminium, so it should be pretty much the same as the basic foreign bikes weight wise. Repairs might be a problem outside the city, the parts etc (ball bearings for instance) aren't the same as your regular cycle, and if you bang it up the frame can't be straightened out with a hammer like an iron bike.

But yeah, it's worked well for me so far. Bangalore though, jeez, the pollution on the roads is just scary (apart from the traffic itself...)

That's the kind of response I was looking for.

I guess I'll just have to go visit all these local shops and the firefox showroom. I'll also find out more about the thai one I was talking about.

Hellion wrote:
Mountain bikes ?? They're the only ones I've ever tried. I had a Hercules BMX or something - really crappy bike with no suspension to speak of but fun to ride, for a little more you can get one with great suspensions (which will be needed on Bangalore roads).


Yeah that's probably an important point, apparently "true" mountain bikes have no suspension. Same with my bike although it's far from being a proper mountain bike (they market it as an "all-terrain" bike but it really won't handle anything really rough). You just have to get your ass up off the seat everytime you hit a bump. You get used to it, though. What I haven't got used to is the groinal soreness caused by the crappiness of the seat. That's one area I'd think the foreign bikes are probably better in.

Vile E wrote:
Hellion wrote:
Mountain bikes ?? They're the only ones I've ever tried. I had a Hercules BMX or something - really crappy bike with no suspension to speak of but fun to ride, for a little more you can get one with great suspensions (which will be needed on Bangalore roads).


Yeah that's probably an important point, apparently "true" mountain bikes have no suspension. Same with my bike although it's far from being a proper mountain bike (they market it as an "all-terrain" bike but it really won't handle anything really rough). You just have to get your ass up off the seat everytime you hit a bump. You get used to it, though. What I haven't got used to is the groinal soreness caused by the crappiness of the seat. That's one area I'd think the foreign bikes are probably better in.

Exactly. I remember driving around after the rains left nearly half my body paralysed because of that. But aren't mountains supposed to be really rough terrain? I don't get why mountain bikes shouldn't have suspensions then.

And oh yeah, whenever you buy - always test drive to see if it suits you.

I have no idea. Looking at wikipedia it seems that a lot of MTBs do have partial or full suspension while some have none at all. Why you wouldn't have it, I dunno. I did this biking thing in Ladakh a while ago and the guy who was renting out the bikes was going on and on about it - "sir bike does not have suspension" "mountain bike have NO SUSPENSION!!"" "sir no bell" "mountain bike have NO BELL!" and so on, also covering mudguards, water carriers, luggage carriers and christ knows what else. I suppose we were lucky to get wheels...

If I were him I'd go back home to my woman and say "honey, mountain penis have no condom" and go for it.

Skateboarding would give you a better workout than cycling y'know =P Hell you can even throw in the whole skater persona by wearing a baseball cap the other way 'round and listening to Blink 182 all day.

Right.

Hellion wrote:
But aren't mountains supposed to be really rough terrain?

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^^^

Geez, cut me some slack mate =P