Yet anoher newbee looking for advice.........

Fabian62

Hi there, I'm looking to take up cycling and am looking for advice.

Having done a fair amount of research I have decided to start out with a Hybrid. I am signed up for a charity London - Paris cycle in August so I'm looking for something that will offer a fair amount of comfort...... hence the decision to start out with a Hybrid.

Initially I only intend to spend around £300 then I'll make a decision whether to go for a higher spec hybrid or opt for a road bike.

So in conclusion I'm looking for something around £300 that will get me from London - Paris (plus the miles I will have to put in in preperation)

I have spoken to two local bike shops, one recommended Giant CSR 4.0
http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDeta ... 1&catID=13

The other recommended Merida Crossway 10
http://www.holcroscycles.com/catalog/pr ... ts_id=1946


Both are around the same price, any advice on these? I suspect they are both very similar and either would be fine for what I'm looking for but any advice one way or the other would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Infamous

Carrera virtuoso
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710

£250 (£225 if you reserve one ! )

It will do london-paris in half the time of the other 2. I've done 6000km+ on mine, no problems. There's no real reason to buy a hybrid (IMHO), road bikes can be just as comfortable, with the added bonus of being able to go a lot faster when you want to. And in terms of very long rides, a road bike is more comfortable.

That's what I'd do, well, that's what I did.

rally200

The CRS is a great round town commuter/shopper - I use one when I need to carry a load on my commute. but dont dont dont buy one for that sort of distance it would be hellish. (in fact you really feel the difference betwen road bike and hybrid on even the smallest distance )

If you're lucky you might find a Giant SCR 3 or 4 road bike near your price range (if shops still have em they'll be discounting them heavily as now being replaced wiith Defy range.) they have all the mounting points for racks and mudguards, and will be plenty comfy for a newcomer.


If you enjoy riding a hybrid on the road you'll end up spending out again soon to buy a road bike - I did

gb-locks

I got a Ridgeback Element this year as I've returned to cycling after a long time out of the saddle, it's a great bike but after nine months I'm really fancying decent road bike for next season. You're probably doing the right thing getting a cheaper bike first, you'll be wanting to upgrade before long. Good luck with the London-Paris.

Beige

Infamous wrote:

Carrera virtuoso
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710

I got myself one of those after getting bored of cleaning my MTB after every short off road ride in the winter.

The stock hardware is a bit clunky, the machined bits of the frame are a bit rough (rear wheel wouldn't sit straight with a fresh frame), a little fettling and all is well.

i've done 300 odd miles on it, sometimes not on the smoothest of roads and it's still just fine, I'm fairly impressed considering it's price, however, like everyone would, i've already spent about £80 on replacing some of the parts I really didn't like




I must admit, it does make me want a nice road bike

bice

This is the patch for road bike enthusiasts, but I used a hybrid for years and I still commute on an old, ladies' steel racer with flat handlebars (which is a good deal nippier than cheaper hybrids).

You could get to Paris perfectly happily on a hybrid, though you would be left behind if everyone else was on road bikes). It might be you want a hybrid for commuting, going to shops, occasional use, and they are fine for that. I would say forget shock absorbers at the front as utterly pointless and heavy. I would check out Halfords for bargains, but dont get too hung up about brands at this price point.

il_principe

Fabian62 wrote:

Hi there, I'm looking to take up cycling and am looking for advice.

Having done a fair amount of research I have decided to start out with a Hybrid. I am signed up for a charity London - Paris cycle in August so I'm looking for something that will offer a fair amount of comfort...... hence the decision to start out with a Hybrid.

Initially I only intend to spend around £300 then I'll make a decision whether to go for a higher spec hybrid or opt for a road bike.

So in conclusion I'm looking for something around £300 that will get me from London - Paris (plus the miles I will have to put in in preperation)

I have spoken to two local bike shops, one recommended Giant CSR 4.0
http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDeta ... 1&catID=13

The other recommended Merida Crossway 10
http://www.holcroscycles.com/catalog/pr ... ts_id=1946


Both are around the same price, any advice on these? I suspect they are both very similar and either would be fine for what I'm looking for but any advice one way or the other would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Why waste £300 on a hybrid?

Firstly: You admit that you'll probably be wanting to upgrade and IME you almost certainly will. On that basis £300 on a hybrid now is a bit of waste of money.

Secondly: A hybrid will not be more comfortable than a road bike. Road bikes are designed for the road, there are models out there that are designed for long distance riding - eg Sportive models like the Specialized Roubaix. Drop bars on road bikes offer numerous hand positions as well, this is v important for long distance rides.

Thirdly: Road bikes are just better! Lighter, faster, more fun to ride. Hybrids are a compromise.

At the end of the day you should test ride some hybrids and some road bikes - see which you prefer. But I;d go for the roadbike everytime and say this as someone who started with a hybrid and regretted it!

Saturn

If I was riding London - Paris I'd much rather do it on a road bike. I did 2,000 miles on a hybrid type bike before getting a road bike as most of my rides were by then on road. Out of my last 11,000 miles only a handful have been on the hybrid although it seemed like a good idea at the time. Sorry to confuse the issue but with the benefit of hindsight if I were you I'd seriously consider where your cycling is likely to head after the L-P ride. If you think you want to be left with something for popping round to the shops on or pootling along off-road paths or other short leisure rides maybe the hynrid is the way to go. If you see yourself doing decent distances on the road, in preparation for L-P and afterwards maybe a road bike would be a better investment.

GavH

I'd add to the Carrera Virtuoso. I took up road cycling a few months back with a used Virtuoso and have since done over 600 miles on it, with the only thing needing done being the gear cables replacing, but that was probably by virtue of the fact it was about 3-5 yrs old. For the price, you can't got too far wrong although I'd echo what others have said, it'll make you really want a higher specced bike.

Fabian62

Thanks for the replies folks.

Because I have not been on a bike for years I will mostly be sticking to cycle paths initially until I build up enough confidence to cycle on road. Also, I suspect I will be looking to do quite a bit of cycling on gravel cycle paths & woodland paths during the summer, this would therefore mean a road bike would be unsuitable?

Having read all the replies to my initial post I am now tempted to bite the bullet and go straight for a road bike but as mentioned above a road bike may not be suitable for my needs? I was talking to one of the guys in halfords over the weekend and he was telling me there's not much flexibility with road bikes ie anything other than roads would be unsuitable - including woodland paths etc.

Again, any more advice woulod be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

Infamous

The only surface that you can't ride on is mud/grass. If the woodland path is paved, then it's fine.

I also started on a hyrbid, got bored in no time and got a virtuoso, now I wonder WTF I was ever doing on the hybrid. When I first got the road bike, I was around 2mph faster on average, and hills were suddenly half as difficult.

As has been said, road bikes are more comfortable, ask all the riders who do sportives, Audaxs, tours, LEJOG etc. They all sit on their road bikes for 6 hours plus.

Anonymous

hello,

Go for a road bike within budget, if you take to it then get a better bike later on and rig up the first bike as a winter trainer. thats the advice I got when buying and it was pretty sound.

bice

I don't agree with the propagandising for road bikes, to the exclusion of everything else.

For example, I don't think they are much good for commuting in central London, and they pretty useless for anything other than decent asphalt. Sure, you can get tourers and tougher types that will cope with gravel, but then you dont get the lightness and speed which makes road bikes such fun.

Flat handlebars are really useful. I find them far better for London traffic - for the control and ease of hitting the brakes - and, on a mountain bike, when doing bridleways etc. On gravel they will give you far firmer control than drops.

It sounds to me like you are not quite sold on a road bike, so I'd stick with your inclination for a hybrid. You can get more athletic geometry with a more road bike type with flat handlebars, although then you get lightness and thin wheels and that means gravel is for short distances only.

Road bikes are great, but they are not versatile. They are for having fun going fast on roads (leaving aside the sporting stuff and timing yourself etc). I would say it's neither fish nor fowl to get a cheap one. i would find that the worse course.

I spend far more time on a 1970s, five-speed, steel woman's light tourer converted with flat handlebars that I commute on. It was abandoned and given to me from the office car park (although it is a Claud Butler with 531 Reynolds steel). It has a rack and mudguards, which are mighty handy. I really like it and it is brilliant for going to shops, leaving around London etc. When I ride off with the family at weekends, we use cheap Saracen mountain bikes (£35 from eBay).

Right now, I use my £750 Trek 1.7 road bike about once a month, if that. And I can't even use that to go off to the shops in Balham, SW17, as it would almost certainly get nicked. So there are some frustrations. The compensation is that - so long as I am carrying nothing and the roads aren't wet (no mudguards) - I can go for a blast in the countryside.

But if I had to chose which of my three bikes to keep, I would go for the old Claud Butler.

il_principe

bice wrote:

I don't agree with the propagandising for road bikes, to the exclusion of everything else.

For example, I don't think they are much good for commuting in central London, and they pretty useless for anything other than decent asphalt. Sure, you can get tourers and tougher types that will cope with gravel, but then you dont get the lightness and speed which makes road bikes such fun.

Flat handlebars are really useful. I find them far better for London traffic - for the control and ease of hitting the brakes - and, on a mountain bike, when doing bridleways etc. On gravel they will give you far firmer control than drops.

Sorry but this is just not the case. I commuted on a roadbike in London for ages - now use a single speed roadbike. I find drops far better than flats and riding on the hoods gives plenty of access to the brakes and riding on the flats is the same as using flat bars, drops offer versatility and IME greater control. As for road surface that's down to tires and not many tires are going to cope well with loose gravel. At the end of the day you are buying a bike for L2P not for cycling in the woods, so a road bike is the way to go and this is the approach recommended on the L2P website for good reason.

ride_whenever

I'd agree with the statement that roadbikes play on everything except mud/grass (although they will with different tyres and some perseverance: see cyclo-cross!!!!!)

If you are worried about commuting get some cyclocross levers fitted to your road bike, they normally cost about £25 and allow you to also brake from the flat bit on the top of the drop bars. These are great for commuting as you can see better and are more visible.

The other thing worth considering is getting some slightly fatter tyres fitted at purchase, these will make the bike feel more stable, add grip and help on your planned slightly off-road antics, albeit at a slight speed penalty.

bice

jashburnham wrote:

bice wrote:

Sorry but this is just not the case. I commuted on a roadbike in London for ages - now use a single speed roadbike. I find drops far better than flats and riding on the hoods gives plenty of access to the brakes and riding on the flats is the same as using flat bars, drops offer versatility and IME greater control. As for road surface that's down to tires and not many tires are going to cope well with loose gravel. At the end of the day you are buying a bike for L2P not for cycling in the woods, so a road bike is the way to go and this is the approach recommended on the L2P website for good reason.

Well, different preferences I suppose. But I actually do regularly use the three bikes, and occasionally my wife's hybrid if there is a problem with the commuter. IME drops are nothing like as steady as flat handlebars and it can't be said putting cyclo brakes on them mean they equate to flats. Flats should be wide enough for a good grip, and the narrower the bar - ie 1970s narrow drops, or drops with cyclo cross brakes - the more twitchy it will be. Having a good grip on flats has saved me a number of times commuting in London.

il_principe

Thats all well and good but the OP says

Having done a fair amount of research I have decided to start out with a Hybrid. I am signed up for a charity London - Paris cycle in August so I'm looking for something that will offer a fair amount of comfort...... hence the decision to start out with a Hybrid.

Initially I only intend to spend around £300 then I'll make a decision whether to go for a higher spec hybrid or opt for a road bike.

So in conclusion I'm looking for something around £300 that will get me from London - Paris (plus the miles I will have to put in in preperation)

Surely a Roadbike is the answer here?

I've owned a £300 hybrid and a £500 roadbike and regularly ride metric and imperial centuries. The thought of doing 100miles (or even K) on my old hybrid fills me with dread!
Thankfully the hybrid was stolen and I upgraded to a roadbike, best cycling decision I ever made.

Wooliferkins

Get a lightweight touring bike. Something along the lines of the Tifosi CK7. It will do roads, bridleways and tracks and mine got me round the Paris-Roubaix Cylcotourist this year. Light enough to get you round a sportive and certainly comfortable enough to get you to Paris. A certain weekly cycling publication gave it a healthy review earlier this winter. Brand new they are about the £800 mark but you may pick one up second hand. Second hand is worth looking at as people upgrade to higher end bikes But of course be careful second hand.