My sister is after a (budget) bike for local road and canal rides. She is never likely to be ridding loads of mikes, just shortish rides. I want her to get a semi decent bike, and this seems to fit the bill

Kona Smoke

£200 seems to be an absolute bargain, should I be looking at anything else?

just gone through a very similar process with a college at work. but the forks arnt disc compatible and neither is the frame,and as she seemed quite keen to only have to buy one bike we ended up buying a mongoose sabroso after we phoned rutland.the bikes are on ebay only i think and are really good value for money.

Lucky I'm not called mike then.

The Smoke is very good deal indeed. My partner got herself one and she loves it. It's not so expensive that she worries about locking it up outside the gym or the pub and mudguards as standard are great.

I took it for a quick spin to check it out after setting the gears/brakes and I was quite impressed. Very comfy.

Lack of a disc upgrade is a wee bit of a disadvantage I suppose and I thought the cables on the tektro Vs took a hell of a lot of stretching. Guards are a bit rattly on rougher surfaces, but overall it's a steal for two hundred quid.