where the hell do I start?

Anonymous

Im giving major consideration to buying a road bike.

I need to cover some mileage for health reasons, I had ACL surgery 18 months ago and I am supposed to take regular exercise and I simply havnt been doing it. Im out of shape and badly in need of some cycling to sort my knee out (its getting increasingly more uncomfortable as time goes on)! I was hoping to venture more into off road based riding but at the moment I think its best if I just cover some mileage and improve my fitness.

Ill be sticking to country lanes as the main roads around here are evil (lots of arseholes in modified Novas who love overtaking cyclists and giving them 3cm of room). The North York Moors are a few miles from my doorstep so that seems like a good place to get some nice quiet long rides in with minimal traffic issues

I have absolutely no idea where to start with looking at road bikes. What do I need to look for in a bike (apart from 2 wheels, brakes and a frame)? What is the "sales hype" shite that I need to avoid?

Ive found some cheap bikes on eBay for around £150, Mercurio RA5's. I dont have a massive budget available so the cheaper the better. Are these cheaper bikes any good or should I spend a few more precious pennies and get something for say £250?Obviously Im budgeting for a helmet too and maybe some gloves but no lycra....its too evil


Thanks!

duckiciao

No lycra!! You cant go cycling without lycra! Everyone will laugh at you...

A good entry level road bike price is about £500, a Specialized Allez type of thing. As always, try to try before you buy, or try at a bike shop before buying off ebay. Its a bit shameful, but meh.

By the way, wiggle are doing a sale, so any peripherals (gloves etc) will be one there, have a butchers.

Shadowduck

nibbleit wrote:

Obviously Im budgeting for a helmet too and maybe some gloves but no lycra....its too evil

I'm not a fan of the lycra look either, but I'd strongly recommend a pair of padded cycling shorts to wear instead of your normal underwear. The padding's a godsend and the seams are strategically placed to avoid *ahem* chafing. You can get decentish dhb ones from Wiggle for about £16.

As my fellow duck said, about £500 seems to be considered entry-level for a road bike. Anything below that will be a bit bargain-basement in some respects but I wouldn't rule out stuff like Revolution (Edinburgh Bicycles own brand) or Decathlon's own brand bikes. My current bike is a Revolution and it's served me well in getting me about and getting my fitness up; I'm now looking to move up to something "entry-level" after the winter and the Revolution will be my spare beater bike for lousy weather / when the "proper" bike's got a flat / parking somewhere dodgy etc. I've certainly no regrets about buying it!

If you aim more towards the £250 mark and avoid Halfords (just search the forum to find out why, if you don't know already) you'll probably be happier with the result, but ultimately it doesn't matter that much what you ride - just try as many bikes as you can in your price range and get whatever feels best to you.

Incidentally, you may find the traffic on the main roads gets a lot less scary after a month or two - I'm happily negotiating multi-lane junctions now that would have scared the *expletive* out of me when I first got back on a bike! It's all about practice, confidence and knowing what you're doing - if nobody's recommended it already, "Cyclecraft" by John Franklin is the book to read.

redddraggon

Shadowduck wrote:

If you aim more towards the £250 mark and avoid Halfords (just search the forum to find out why, if you don't know already) you'll probably be happier with the result, but ultimately it doesn't matter that much what you ride - just try as many bikes as you can in your price range and get whatever feels best to you.

There's nothing wrong with Halford's bikes. The setting up might be slightly off perfect, but for the money you can't go wrong.

In my Local Halfords there's a Carrera with rear 105 and front Tiagra for only £350, I reckon that's a bargain.

Shadowduck

redddraggon wrote:

There's nothing wrong with Halford's bikes. The setting up might be slightly off perfect, but for the money you can't go wrong.

I've said similar myself in other threads but it's the lousy setup (and lousy advice) that I have a problem with. My darling wifey has an Apollo MTB which is actually not bad to ride now it's set up right, but it came out of the shop downright dangerous - anything that needs adjusting was misadjusted, several bits were loose, the front gearchange was jammed and the brakes barely worked at all. It took a good couple of hours to sort it out and I really can't recommend the experience to someone who's just getting into cycling.

Anyway, I didn't really want to start up the whole Halfords debate again so I'll change the advice to "avoid Halfords unless you know someone who knows a bit about bikes and is willing to give you advice and setup help".

bigjim

Nobody has mentioned going to your local LBS and see what he has in in the secondhand part of the shop. He can also advise and set the bike up for you. Plus easy to sort out any problems. I bought a beautiful virtually brand new Saracen Skyline [£600] bike from my LBS for £250. End of season they are looking to shift stock. I also bought a brand new i.e unused 80s Raliegh black/gold Sprint for £55 off e-bay. Fabulous quality road bike, fast, light, 22lbs and so comfortable. I can't keep off it!

Jim

Anonymous

thanks for all the info folks. I cant really stretch my budget to £500, Im having enough difficulty getting up towards £200 so it really is going to have to be a bargain basement bike from FleaBay. Im not intending on entering any races....just to loose the moobs I have developed and work on my ACL problems!

My LBS isnt really an option as all they sell is extremely expensive MTB's so Im going to take a look online and see what I can dig up.

Thanks for all the info, really appreciate it.

acorn_user

Try and find another LBS. If you are starting out in a hilly area, I must recommend a triple. In fact, for your uses, I think a touring bike like the Dawes Horizon would be more suitable than a road "racing" bike. They have lower gears for getting up hills, and mudguard, so you can ride whilst the roads are still wet, and a more relaxed position for your not-used-to-biking-yet body.
http://www.dawescycles.com/dawes/horizon.htm
http://www.lescycles.com/tourers/images ... enture.jpg

Panter

Have you got a Decathlon near you?

Their road bike range starts at £115.00.

TBH I'm a complete newb so can't offer any personal advice, but I know of people who've been very impressed with the Decathlon bikes for the money.
The cheaper ones qare obviously a bit heavy, although everythings relative.

We have a cycling mad roadie at work and he couldn't believe the spec of their bikes although TBH, he was looking at the higher priced stuff.

Just a thought for your budget anyway, anyone with some experience to comment on these?

Cheers

Chris


Edit: Decathlon do some good helmets and gloves very cheap too. I did find that with their "Blue product" real cheapie gloves (£5.00 or £6.00 something like that) the gel on the palm got crushed pretty quickly and were a false economy but I do suffer from hand pain and so personally need decent gloves.

i've got one of their helmets (as have the rest of my family) and have no complaints although none of them have been tested in anger yet, luckily.

Incidentally, I don't work for Decathlon although I do have a loyalty card

Panter

Talk of the devil

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12545132

cheers

Chris

LeighB

Entry level bikes £500! My best bike was a lump less than that. If you are on a tight budget a number of options are available. I have a Raleigh Airlite (£190 from Halfords) which I have used for a year of all weather riding consisting of an hour most evenings and 2 to 3 hours at weekends; this bike now needs a new chain and freewheel (LBS approx £26). I have a second hand (or more) bike that a friend gave me free when he was clearing out his garage; this is a steel framed road bike with Campag hubs, Mavic rims and aero bars; to make this bike road worthy I put some second hand tyres on (off the Raleigh) and recently replaced the chain and freewheel. My best bike is a Giant SCR4 which I bought after I sold my motor bike, if you look around some 07 models are being discounted. No matter what the cost you have to pedal a bike, how many pounds do you spend to save a pound in weight? Went out the other evening and met a bloke on a carbon framed bike, enjoyed talking to him but had to wait for him on the hills, I was on the steel framed bike. Same as you I have limited resources but it does not stop me enjoying cycling and you get a bit of a kick passing some carbon hot rod on yer old clunker.

PrettyBoyTim

Is it a road bike you're looking for, or just a bike to ride on the road? It always seems to me that the hybrids are a bit cheaper. I have a Claud Butler Urban 100, which you can get for £180 online, and it does me fine for my commute (6-7 miles each way). It's a bit heavy, but still fun to ride.

baudman

nibbleit wrote:

thanks for all the info folks. I cant really stretch my budget to £500, Im having enough difficulty getting up towards £200 so it really is going to have to be a bargain basement bike from FleaBay. ...
My LBS isnt really an option as all they sell is extremely expensive MTB's so Im going to take a look online and see what I can dig up.
.

I would still go to a LBS (somewhere) which does sell roadbikes and see what they have on offer. The KEY reason for this is to get sized - so you know what frame size will suit you. If you get this wrong, you will never feel as comfortable on the bike as you can be.

Then, you can do your eBay searches based on that frame size. And you never know, the LBS may have something 2nd-hand that will suit you.

Shadowduck

I'm currently keeping an eye out for a 1970's 12 gear Peugeot with down tube shifters and I'm certainly not expecting to pay much for that! My main reason is nostaligia - I rode such a bike to work for a couple of years in the 80's, through rain, snow and occasional sunshine - but I also want to see if those bikes really were as indestructible and comfortable as I remember them being. Who knows, if the retro-racer turns out to be as good as I recall I might even bin the idea of getting something up to date and just ride that!

Not sure if I can recommend getting something vintage since I haven't even done it myself yet, but reading the cycling mags and this forum ("What upgrade should I buy for £500?" threads) it's easy to forget that there are some decent bikes around for next to nothing, if you're not planning to race or ride round the world. It's just finding them.

chrisjsmith

Slightly off topic - but my cheap arse apollo fs 26 MTB came from Halfords in a "deadly" condition. It was assembled by monkeys who put the front wheel on the wrong way round (!).

Ste_S

Shadowduck wrote:

I'm currently keeping an eye out for a 1970's 12 gear Peugeot with down tube shifters and I'm certainly not expecting to pay much for that! My main reason is nostaligia - I rode such a bike to work for a couple of years in the 80's, through rain, snow and occasional sunshine - but I also want to see if those bikes really were as indestructible and comfortable as I remember them being. Who knows, if the retro-racer turns out to be as good as I recall I might even bin the idea of getting something up to date and just ride that!

Not sure if I can recommend getting something vintage since I haven't even done it myself yet, but reading the cycling mags and this forum ("What upgrade should I buy for £500?" threads) it's easy to forget that there are some decent bikes around for next to nothing, if you're not planning to race or ride round the world. It's just finding them.

I have a Carlton that I got for £35 from ebay. Swopped the bars, stem and derailleurs for ones from my bits box, bought a new Brooks B17 and got the wheels re-built on new rims.

Love riding it as much as my more modern Giant SCR.