Looking to buy a good bicycle

I live in Beijing, and I am looking to buy a good bike to use for my 4 year stay. If you have a used or new bike that you are looking to sell/get rid of, just post on this thread or send me a message.
Thanks! :D

If you want a fixed gear bike, I'd point you to Factory Five in Shanghai. I'm sure you could work out some sort of shipping arrangement.

Hi Guadalcanal,

you can try Merida which is from Taiwan and available on every corner in China and all the Giant, USA made in China bikes. All decent stuff. Sometimes a wee bit pricey.

My favorite is http://www.decathlon.com.cn which is a french sports outlet. They sell their own brand of bikes BTWIN. I drive a BTWIN Rockrider 5.2 which is a reasonable beginners mountain bike.

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I didn't pick it at the shop, i got it delivered via their online store - same platform as Taobao. Decathlon is the biggest bicycle seller in Europe although i don't think you'll see them in the States. There's their site in the uk http://www.btwincycle.com/EN/ They have excellent after sales and chassis are guaranteed 5 years.

Disclaimer : I am french so you are permitted to think it's just gallic pride : ) I'll let you check for yourself and I guess you can find reviews on the net. But you should bench whichever bike you choose against a Decathlon one, as the bicycles between 500 to 5000RMB offer the best value for money.

Take care,

Alex

there lots of choice... you could go look on the beijinger website or shanghaiexpat or enjoyshanghai - all these websites have for sale columns and there are usually plenty of bicycles advertised for sale on them. Another brand to consider is Dahon (USA designed, manufactured in Taiwan (for international market) or Shenzhen for the Chinese mainland market). I've had several Dahons over the years and still have a Courser 20" foldie with air shocks front and rear. Excellent ride, and I've taken at all over the world with me - including many trips around China. That's the great thing about a foldie... fold it up, then put in the boot or seat of a taxi, hop on a bus or train... I even used to fold it up and take it into the odd SH restaurant - when I lived there. Again so many choices.
I've seen the Btwin's from Decathlon, the Rockrider's look nice. But there is Merida, and some higher end Giants that also come nicely specked.

Hi Bikerdoc, I second that.

Foldie is what I wanted to buy when i lived in Chengdu, but I just relocated in a place with mountains, hence the Rockrider. But I drive a minivan and even with back bench removed, my bike doesn't fit in easilyy. If you are not going to play in the mud, an expensive foldie is going to be awesome. And with virtually all my friends having had their bicycles stolen , I always have to take my bike upstairs at work. That would be way easier with a foldable bike.

On top of my head, when i considered a foldie i was looking at : BTWIN, Dahon and Oyama.

Great, someone else who appreciates a foldie. I too can relate to not having a vehicle with lots of space as I have a Suzuki Swift (which is great understated car, quick, economical, great handling, agile, and did I say understated meaning I can fly under the radar). Dahon also have a couple of full sized frame foldies too. Interestingly it is still possible to buy a Dahon foldie MTB (Joe Murray designed/endorsed) with full sized wheels. The prices have come down a lot to for the FLO and Jack MTB's. Do a search on taobao for some Dahon foldie MTB bikes still available or check out the Dahon website www.dahon.com.cn The full sized MTB foldies are no longer sold in the international markets, but they are still available in China. I looked at buying one when I lived in SH back in 2004/5 but at rmb12000 MSRP at the time, the ride wasn't that good although the functionality was there. The prices now are around 4000-5000 for the same bike, albeit with some improvements given that was 8 years ago.

The convenience of a foldie just can't be beat. The 20" wheeled rides hit that sweet spot between a full sized ride and the little 12-16" wheeled bikes.

There is a Merida/Dahon dealer right by where I live, they opened a few years after I moved here from SH, so they have been open for about 4-5 years and they do a good trade. They organise rides and the foldies are well represented amongst the full sized rides. I see groups of folks out riding wearing all the gear with good LED's at so on including many wearing helmets too. I'm usually blowing past them in one mountain or another, though 99% of the time I'm riding one of my motorcycles.