Hybrid Bike....for £230!??

silverman567

I have to confess I'm a complete newbie. I have ridden bikes before but they've all cost me about 10 quid and been terrible. I'm looking to buy a light comfortable hybrid bike for commuting to work. My budget is around £230. Is this enough money to get even close to a quality bike?! And if so, what would you suggest (I'm a man, 5'10').

Preferably looking to buy new rather than used.

Any help much appreciated!

Onan

On that budget, second hand, or halfords might be your best bet. Halfords give terrible customer service, and are notoriously bad at building and fixing bikes, but their own brand bikes are pretty decent for the price.

The carrera subway is their 26" hybrid, and the crossfire is the 700c.

I have a subway 2, and it's given me 2 years of good service, despite my horrible neglect. It lives in a leakey shed, and the most attention it's had is a clean once a year. Just broke 2 spokes on the back wheel now, and I don't blame it, since I weigh 17 stone.

rogerthecat

Tom there are hundreds of bikes out there, Halfords would be my last choice, go to your Local Bike Shop (LBS) and speak to them. Ridgeback, Orbea, Scott plus many other brands are available to you. I would look for a 28 inch wheel (700c) rather than a 26 inch, You may be able to get a ride for £230, look on sites like Wiggle, Evans and Chainreaction to get an idea of what is available. I hope this helps

N0bodyOfTheGoat

How hilly is your likely commuting route?
How are your aerobic fitness levels?

If the answer to these is no higher than moderate, a single speed or a Nexus-3 hub geared bike might fit the bill.

For a Nexus-3, you would do very well to beat the price of the Saracen Pylon 3 at Rutland's Ebay store, just 190 squids. My only doubt is whether an 18" frame is big enough...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/18-SARACEN-PYLON- ... .m14.l1262

I bought this model's bigger brother [Pylon 8] from the same store back in March, which fits me well and could be adjusted to fit someone upto ~6'2". Like you, I am 5'10", with short legs (32" using the book method for bike fit) and a relatively long torso/arms).

Must confess I am semi-pondering on buying one of these myself as a bike I can feel less worried about leaving locked up in town, instead of leaving my Pylon8 at the one place that has security staff.

beaders

I currently ride a Dawes 201 Discovery hybrid. it is fine for doing approx 20 miles but am now looking at upgrading to a road bike as I only use it on the roads. I have had mine for a couple of years with no problem. It has 700cc wheels and 21 gears. Admittedly I only strted riding again last year after too many years without a bike but it been okay for me.

The Evans site has it at £280 but when I was discussing road bikes with them they were quck to offer discounts!

(and I'm 6' and 13 stone)

paulo76

this Pylon looks great! do you reckon it will convert to an offroader? whats the tyre clearance like? i want a cheap hub geared bike that will plow through the winter crap. ie no derailleurs. I've got some spare sus forks to swap too.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

SuperSonic, a guru in the MTB section, is probably the man to ask. A while ago he posted the suggestion of swapping the fork of a Pylon8 for a suspension fork, to make a nice unique XC bike.

As the ad writes, the bike comes with monster 2.5" tyres. I immediately swapped mine for a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus 1.75", for "bullet proof" 95% on road use. Would not like to guess at how much bigger you could go than 2.5s.