Stick with my '02 Kona or buy new? Help please!

hurdy

Hope someone can help.

I have an '02 Kona Hahannah with hybrid tyres which I believe weighs around 28lbs. I always thought it was quite heavy and as I can access the cycle2work scheme I was going to buy myself a super duper lightweight hybrid. However, having lifted a colleague's brand new Giant today, it didn't seem any lighter than my Kona.

I make between 3-4 6 mile return journeys to work each week on tarmac and towpaths, and I have three pretty steep hills to climb on my journey. I'm six foot tall and weigh around 18 stone, so I need something pretty sturdy.

There's plenty of advice around on buying a new bike, but because my current one is quite old, there's little advice on comparison. So my question is - will the spec of a new bike make my ride quicker/easier or am I better off just sticking with what I have and maybe adjusting the height off the handlebars?

Thanks for helping a newbie!

gb155

I do 14 miles a day on a GT MTB, Im 6 foot 4 and weigh 22 stone, To be honest with you mate there isnt much point spending a fortune reducing a few pounds of weight on the bike when you can reduce the weight of the rider for free ( no offence intended at all)

Eau Rouge

hurdy wrote:

Hope someone can help.

I have an '02 Kona Hahannah with hybrid tyres which I believe weighs around 28lbs. I always thought it was quite heavy and as I can access the cycle2work scheme I was going to buy myself a super duper lightweight hybrid. However, having lifted a colleague's brand new Giant today, it didn't seem any lighter than my Kona.

I make between 3-4 6 mile return journeys to work each week on tarmac and towpaths, and I have three pretty steep hills to climb on my journey. I'm six foot tall and weigh around 18 stone, so I need something pretty sturdy.

There's plenty of advice around on buying a new bike, but because my current one is quite old, there's little advice on comparison. So my question is - will the spec of a new bike make my ride quicker/easier or am I better off just sticking with what I have and maybe adjusting the height off the handlebars?

Thanks for helping a newbie!

18st is no problem for the frame of almost any bike, especially with your height. If there is a worry, it would be the wheels.

The height of the handlebars should be set to be comfortable. If you want to make your current bike go faster, get thinner, slick, tyres.

You say it's a 6 mile commute, is that really it, or are longer runs on the cards? If it's just the 6 miles, there's going to be a real limit to how much faster you can be. Even a £5000 uber-bike isn't going to save more than a couple of minutes on a journey like that.

hurdy

gb155 wrote:

I do 14 miles a day on a GT MTB, Im 6 foot 4 and weigh 22 stone, To be honest with you mate there isnt much point spending a fortune reducing a few pounds of weight on the bike when you can reduce the weight of the rider for free ( no offence intended at all)

Ha ha, none taken! That was one of the things I was thinking of anyway! Is a super spec machine going to be any quicker up a hill if the rider is a lard-bucket! :twisted:

Eau Rouge wrote:

You say it's a 6 mile commute, is that really it, or are longer runs on the cards? If it's just the 6 miles, there's going to be a real limit to how much faster you can be. Even a £5000 uber-bike isn't going to save more than a couple of minutes on a journey like that.

Nah, six miles is it. Even if I change my workplace its unlikely to increase by more than a couple of miles. Anything longer will be on trips and hols and would be more off-road so I'd keep my Kona for that anyhoo.

OldSkoolKona

hurdy wrote:

I have an '02 Kona Hahannah with hybrid tyres

Only 7 years old? Plenty of life left in the old dawg :-)

I commute on my '95 Kona and she's still going strong. To be honest, getting a lighter bike isn't going to make too much difference, thinner slick tyres (e.g. 26"x1.25") and pumping them up to the max psi will have a bigger effect on speed.