Beware of flat packed bikes says BBC Watchdog

The price is certainly tempting!  £99 for a full suspension mountain bike, 'buy one get one free' on a pair of his and hers commuting bikes - but are bikes like these, typically found in supermarkets, toy stores and mail order online companies good value for money?

With cycling on the up and thousands of consumers contemplating buying a bike for Christmas BBC's Watchdog programme put some bargain basement bikes from some of the biggest retailers in the UK to the test.

Of biggest concern to the experts on the show was the fact that the bikes are delivered to customers flat packed from the factory and require extensive assembly.  Assembling cheap bikes (which naturally are constructed from cheap and poor quality components) is quite a task even for the most experienced mechanic, let alone a new cyclist with little bike maintenance experience - the members of the public tasked with assembling the Bicycle Shaped Objects (BSO's for short) certainly made a valiant attempt, but the quality of the build and assembly shocked the experts.

The outcome, not surprisingly is you get what you pay for.  The recommendation, buy a bike from a specialist retailer who will professionally assemble your bike before it leaves the shop.

Watch the show

How we assemble our bikes

At Evans Cycles we take pride in how we assemble our customer's new bikes.  EVERY bike purchased from us, in-store or online are fully assembled and tested by qualified Cytech trained mechanics.

Click here to find out more about how we assemble our bikes prior to delivery.

Plus every bike purchased from us receives a free of charge checkover after 4-6 weeks of use.