Advice re buying first bike

Simon22598

Hi there. I am new to this forum and my first post. I haven't cycled for over 20 years and I am 38 yrs old so a complete novice. I am looking to get a bike for the ride to the station (4 miles) and to get my fitness up, use the car less and see how it goes. My budget is around £200 - £250 and I have been drawn towards the usual hybrid bikes.
Would anyone suggest a good buy for this budget, the Giant CRS 4.0 or the Dawes Discovery 101 look OK. There are some cheap Apollo bikes at Halfords for less that £100 but I am wary and think it may be false economy and worthless in 6 months plus niggly faults and no pleasure to own? If I choose wisely it may last me many years.
Most hybrids have a triple chain ring , 21 gears. Are they necessary? I considered the old 3 speed sturmey archer city bikes but they may have too few gears (bit hilly near me).

Thanks for any suggestions.

Simon.

Shadowduck

Hi Simon,

Welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately, we get a lot of "Which bike?" threads on here and some end up being ignored - nothing personal, but the answers tend to be the same each time...

You're absolutely right to be wary of Apollos - not good value for money, in my opinion. The main thing they're good for is convincing people not to take up cycling!

My personal feeling is that most people don't need a triple for normal commuter riding, they just add weight and complexity, but if it's very hilly where you are it may be useful. Some people swear by them... Remember, some of the hills that nearly kill you on your first time out won't be worth changing gear for after six months!

If you're going to be cycling exclusively on the road, I'd recommend you ignore the hybrids and go for a "proper" road bike - a lot of people (myself included) graduate pretty quickly and the hybrid sits lost and lonely at the back of the garage... The price range you're talking about is right at the bottom end, but you should be able to get something respectable - the Edinburgh Bike Cooperative do some decent bikes under their own-brand "Revolution" name, and the Decathlon bikes are good value for money though I'm not sure if their 2008 range is available yet. For specific advice on other stuff, have a look around online to get an idea of what you fancy that's around your price range then search the forum for information on that particular bike.

Good luck!