First road / touring bike suggestions?

chrisjsmith
chrisjsmith Posts: 280
edited May 2008 in Road beginners
Someone nicked my Dawes Sahara (and the street sign it was attached to!). Lovely bike but it's gone now and the wife spent the insurance payout on QVC :(

I rode the thing a bit hard anyway which suggests it wasn't ideal. I reckon I'm more suited to road/touring type bikes for the commute. I'm also after getting out of London for an evening and roughing it overnight (mini tour!). So I'm after something fast and not too evil to ride.

My options (unfortunately from littlewoods only as the cow blew the credit card as well on QVC) are as follows:

1. Raleigh Airlite 200 + my large manky hydration backpack.
2. CBR (is this actually Claud Butler?) venturer + panniers.
3. Raleigh Pioneer Urban 2 + rack + panniers

Any help appreciated!

As I said - limited to Littlewoods only (otherwise I'd buy a Super Galaxy!). Littlewoods category for reference: http://www.littlewoods.com/rf/navigatio ... Id=7507619

Comments

  • daz51
    daz51 Posts: 159
    save your money for the divorce ???????? lol
  • chrisjsmith
    chrisjsmith Posts: 280
    She accepts my excessive spending on computer bits, so I have to give on the QVC thing :(
  • Swannie
    Swannie Posts: 107
    Don't do it! I can't see sizing options on Littlewoods!
  • graham_g
    graham_g Posts: 652
    WTF?! Littlewoods? Why?!
  • robmanic1
    robmanic1 Posts: 2,150
    Littlewoods......NO! Can't you look for a good pay monthly deal? You'll have a far greater choice no to mention better quality. There's some good deals to be had out there, I'd steer well clear of anything you can't test-ride. Alternatively, you could flog the telly and use the money for a shiny new bike which will have the added bonus of stopping the fuhrer spending all your hard-earned on tat.
    Pictures are better than words because some words are big and hard to understand.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/34335188@N07/3336802663/
  • CrookedCucumber
    CrookedCucumber Posts: 324
    Second hand? eBay?
  • acorn_user
    acorn_user Posts: 1,137
    This is meant kindly.
    Your LBS may offer a 6 months interest free credit deal. That will be much better than Littlewood's credit.
    Of the hybrids, pick the one without a suspension fork and grip shifters.
    It sounds like your bike is a tool, not a toy. This is an important distinction, and should be made.
    It also sounds like you need to work out spending habits with your spouse.

    Good luck :)
  • iga
    iga Posts: 155
    If you really have to buy from Littlewoods I'd go for the Raleigh Pioneer Metro - that way you get a rack and guards for £219 with change from the CBR thing (I've no idea who CBR are, they aren't Claude Butler anyway from what I can tell).
    FCN 7
    Aravis Audax, Moulton TSR
  • chrisjsmith
    chrisjsmith Posts: 280
    Thank you for the kind words ;)

    I've shown the thread to the wife (part of the ploy of posting about littlewoods - expecting some flak) and she's agreed to ebay some of her crap so I can get a new "tool" (it is a tool). I reckon there's about 500 quid of stuff around. Add a couple of months of Oyster cash to it (pah!) and that's a decent bit of kit.

    When that's sorted, I'm going for a 2007 Dawes Horizon as the frame is ok and the rest can be upgraded slowly. Should be some change left over for some illumination and suitable lycra apparel as well that beats my historical usage of duck tape, tesco luxeon torch and soldier 95 combats.

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