As the family bike ‘expert’ (a loose term at the best of times…) I’ve been asked my opinion on a decathlon bike (the Riverside specifically) for my 10year old niece.
I guess it’s for normal family fun riding (no one in the household is a ‘cyclist’) on quiet roads, by the river etc.
It looks a reasonable design to me, but I don’t know how easily the components will break and the like.
We bought a cheap Decathlon MTB (about £120 I think) for my wife & son to use on a casual basis a few years back. I looked at all the reviews and it seemed considerably better than the alternatives from Halfords and the like. It hasn’t been used hard but it’s done everything we’ve asked of it. Overall the reviews of Decathlon bikes seem very positive.
I have the cheap RC120 road bike as an occasional commuter. It has been faultless despite me treating it like crap, nothing has failed, in fact all I have done in 2000 miles or so is change the tyres, tweak the cables and throw some oil on it.
They’re good “use and abuse” bikes but there was one quirk that used to exist on the more expensive road bike and may exist on others. For some reason, no one could find - a sharp turn on the handlebars slammed on the brakes. Really odd. But worth testing out before buying - it may have been resolved.
No idea, a friend of a friend found it when the bike was in the bike stand, spun the wheel and knocked the handle bars by accident. Suddenly the front wheel stopped. Nothing else moved, just the sudden stop on turning the handle bars.
If, and that’s a big IF, we were all being honest then we could probably all do 95-99% of our current speed on a Decathlon bike…
In my experience they’re pretty well built (certainly more built for use than looks) and would be my go-to place if I decided on a new “new” winter bike (I mostly buy 2nd hand though).
We’ve had a few kids bike from there which have been mashed more than any adult bike would. They still run really well with minimum maintenance. It’s also stuff such as fully(!) covered chains and other proper usable stuff that they do, where even Islabikes fall short and seem to go for looks or “fast and comfortable long distance bike for your 3 year old”. I’ve always found Decathlon stuff to be situation aware with price and equipment.
Decathlon bikes are generally heavier but it seems to come from well placed sturdiness rather than simply cheap stuff.
So that all sounds like an advert, but I actually really do believe it.