which hybrid for ~£250

oli_ramsay

I currently have my eye on this:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_551221_langId_-1_categoryId_165534

But is there anything better I can get for my money?

http://www.bikemagic.com/reviews/bikes/rigid/carrera-subway-1/reader-reviews/23202.html#review16141

This review is putting me off. Says that a lot of the parts are unservicable and it's not a very reliable bike.

All suggestions much appreciated, the bike will only be used on roads and getting to work. I want something reliable and lightweight

Thanks

oli_ramsay

I'm also considering this:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gt/ ... e-ec016398

oli_ramsay

Or maybe even this:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/daw ... RRWidgetID

artaxerxes

For £250 you could consider this flat barred bike from Decathlon.

Or for £20 more this road bike.

itboffin

t's £249 and it's Specialized
http://www.cyclesurgery.com/1027989/Spe ... sco-1.html



Okay so it only has one gear, which is perfect for commuting unless you live in the mountains. I almost bought one myself, then I remembered I already have 7 bikes

deptfordmarmoset

artaxerxes wrote:

For £250 you could consider this flat barred bike from Decathlon.

Or for £20 more this road bike.

Being poor, I couldn't afford a pricey bike so I got the Decathlon road bike above. It's pretty good for the price but it's definitely not a hybrid - off-road it's a bit of a bone shaker. BTW my experience of Decathlon's workshop people has been good and they're far less snobbish than the LBS at the end of my road. But you'd have to live near one of their stores to make use of that.

Jay dubbleU

The spec seems good for the price - the bike may be OK - the problems are more likely to be caused by Halfords not setting it up properly

NGale

I have to admit I am slightly tempted by the Subway (only the Halfords thing puts me off) as a second commuting bike which I would happily add a pannier rack to. It does seem to be able to stand up to to the current weather siutation more than my present flat bar roadie

Tempted but still thinking about it

fossyant

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/triban-road-5-34962561/

This is on half price at Decathlon.....

jamesco

I was about to recommend my Trek T30 which cost me £250 in 2006, but it's now £350 or so.. if you'll consider buying second-hand then it's been a great bike in my experience. It comes with the rack, mudguards etc. that you need for commuting.

markp2

I have just pensioned off a Saracen Hytrail hybrid after 5 years and about 15000 miles. I bought it new off Ebay for £175. Nice bike to ride and pretty quick on the flat. Slowish uphill due to it weighing 18kg
The trouble with cheap bikes is that they seem to wear out faster. The Saracen needed a new chain, cassette and bottom bracket at around 1000 miles from new. When I questioned the wear rate at the shop where I got the replacement parts, they were surprised that they had lasted do long! Their view was that cheap bikes are normally bought by people who ride them twice and then put them in the shed so wear wasn't normally a problem!
I bought better quality parts to replace the originals which came to around £100. These lasted for about 3000 miles each time, but eventually I got a bit worried about the safety of the now rather wobbly front forks and decided to buy a £999 bike on the Ride to Work scheme.
Only time will tell if it will last longer. I haven't noticed any wear in the first 500 miles at least.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Mark

Canny Jock

This is perfect at £250:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 333c018336

Or the Classic at £225 with 26inch wheels instead. Really don't think you can get better for the money.

markp2

The above looks like a bargain. I havve never heard of the brand but the spec is excellent for the money.
Go for it.

Salsa

Subway ones are great bikes, I work for Halfords (boo hiss, lol) & it's a bike I always try to sell people. We rarely have any problems with those bikes as they are supplied with decent quality components.
I can't talk for every store but at mine only full time experienced employees setup customers bikes, I personally built 200+ bikes last month & none came back with any problems. However if any do come back we always go out of our way to fix them for free (even if it's a user error fault).

Those reviews you pointed to are a bit out of date, the jockey wheels bit is wrong as they now use SRAMX4, also as it's 21 speed all 7 speed cassettes come with a 12t cog. The lack of replacement parts again is wrong as we sell/can order in all the parts on that bike.

W1

Canny Jock wrote:

This is perfect at £250:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 333c018336

Or the Classic at £225 with 26inch wheels instead. Really don't think you can get better for the money.

I've got one of these - when I was looking for a new hybrid at around this money it was the best specced bike available, and still is I think. Simple, durable, light and comfortable. Done 1,000 miles on mine so far and apart from eating brake blocks no complaints, except I got plenty of p*nctures on the original tyres (although Contiental did stump up for new tryes and tubes under their guarantee). Edinbugh co-op were also very decent to deal with.

NGale

I have to admit I am looking at extending my budget a bit and going for one of these next

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f_ProductID=10834&f_SupersetQRY=C440&f_SortOrderID=1&f_bct=c003155c018343

Canny Jock

markp2 wrote:

The above looks like a bargain. I havve never heard of the brand but the spec is excellent for the money.
Go for it.

I've been commuting on a second hand classic for a few months, it's great and I would have carried on until the cyclescheme started at work and I went a bit mad

They are really simple - the single front cog and 8 speed is all you need for city commuting unless you live somewhere really hilly. I only use 3 gears for my commute.

As above, they are also a decent shop to deal with.

Sailorchick

I have a carrera subway, been commuting on it since March 2009 and it seems to be fine for the job. Nothing has broken on it yet and the only thing I have replaced on it is the brake pads.

Can't compare it to anything else as it was my first bike for over 10 years but I've been perfectly happy with it so far.

shuffer

I got the Triban Road 5 last month, but haven't really had much of a chance to ride it yet due to the weather.

For the money, you simply cannot argue with the spec. The Dual Drive system alone (whether you like it or not!) costs more to buy than the whole bike. The short ride I took it on confirmed that this system is ideal for city riding, with stationary gear changes being particularly handy.

Or try the Triban Trail 7 which I can heartily recommend.

Better than all this, the service and support at Decathlon is second-to-none, presumably because they face an uphill struggle to attract a fairly dismissive biking market in the UK.