Advice needed on new bike purchase

jryano

First time poster here so hello!

I'm going to be investing in a new bike for my dialy commute to work and a bit beyond. I've narrowed my search down to the following bikes and was after some advice on each.

Bianchi Camaleonte III Alfine Bike - http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2008

Thought this looked a good price and it has the Alfine gears I'm after. I can only seem to find this at Winstanley bikes. Is there anywhere else selling this? Is there a 2009 model?

Charge Mixer/Tap -

Either the Charge Mixer or Tap have grabbed my attention although the proce of the Mixer puts me off as do the Nexus gears on the Tap. Are the Charge bikes more style over substance?

Trek Soho 4 -

http://www.bikeradar.com/commuting/gear ... 0-08-29266

Ridgeback Nemesis -

http://www.ridgeback.co.uk/index.php?se ... _bike=TRUE

I'm swinging towards the Bianchi at the moment but does anyone own one? Are they a good bike? Are there any other bikes I shoudl be looking at?

lardboy

What surfaces and distances are you going to be commuting over? Is it hilly? City or country?

Budget?

What additional riding will you be doing? When you say "a little beyond", does that mean a 3 miler in the park with the kids or 150 miles over a weekend Sunday?

Do you have any particular needs? E.g. Bad back, weak knees etc?

The more info you give the better the answers from here will be.

Oh. Hello, by the way...

DonDaddyD

I'm going to ask/say it

Any reason why you're choosing a hybrid/flat bar bike?

jryano

Thansk for the quick responses.

The commute will be hilly/city and tarmac. It's about a 10 mile round trip.

Budget - £700

The additional riding is general leisure riding with kids and without. Nothing too far.

I'm looking at a flat bar/hybrid bike I suposse it's because what i'm use to.

fury21

There's also the Ridgeback Flight 04, though at 899 RRP, its the same price as the Mixer. Both can be found for under 800 if you search around. I haven't examined the specs closely enough to see why the Flight 04 is 200 more than the Nemesis

I have a Mixer, but it was ordered when the RRP was still 699 (i.e. before sterling nose-dived) and I got it through a cycle-to-work scheme, so I got a pretty good deal in the end. Whilst the endless Charge Plug variants might be more about style than substance, I've found the Mixer to be a more than capable commuter. My only gripe is that it has no braze ons for a bottle cage, so I had to use some ugly clips instead


btw I think the Alfine Bianchi was discontinued. There's certainly not a lot of them about.

jryano

The Mixer is unfortunatley more out of the price range. I was wondering if the 2009 model would come down in price when 2010 is released.

The Bianchi does seem to be discontinued which is why I was after some feedback on the bie efrom Winstanley website. It looks a good price.