Hi Although most of the echos arent generally begginers bikes, i dont see any reason why you couldnt use these bikes as begginers all the way up to pro. £450 isnt a bad price for the bike considering you may be able to use the bike all the way through the learning process and further. There are begginers bikes on the market at the moment for fairly cheap such as the onza Pro from www.tartybikes.co.uk for just £426.66 brand new with duel cable disc!, or if your looking for something slightly cheaper the Onza bird (although this has a rear v brake) for £362.16.. Try looking around on different sites etc before buying 2nd hand, as you dont know exactly how the bike has been treated or rode before. Also be sure to check for any cracks, large dents etc in the frame before buying, as these will harm the bike drastically. The majority of the buys of ebay are guniune, however some people are purely just trying to be greedy and charging over the top prices. Im not sure of the weights of echos so i am unable to help you there sorry. I hope that i have helped. Thanks Shep.