Hybrid or Racer

flippo

Hi All

I am about to take advantage of the C2W scheme but cannot decide what sort of bike to get.My budget is a £1000. The commute is about 4 miles each way with the return journey going up a couple of long steep hills, so bearing that in mind i have been looking at the Boardman team carbon as this has had excellent reviews, but is it suitable for a commute?

I have also been looking at some Trek hybrid bikes would they be better?

Any help and ideas gratefully received.

Many thanks

waddlie

Why not go for the Boardman Hybrid Team? Save £200, spec can't be beaten at that price and it comes with disc brakes too for stopping awesomeness.

If you're C2W is Halfords-only, that's the one I'd go for.

Aidy

Are you planning on extending your commute any? Or doing weekend/evening rides of a kind?

For 4 miles each way, you really don't need anything too special...

Eau Rouge

Aidy wrote:

Are you planning on extending your commute any? Or doing weekend/evening rides of a kind?

For 4 miles each way, you really don't need anything too special...

+1

£1000 to go 4 miles at a time is a bit much. Buy a bike that best suits the other riding you do or want to do.

cjcp

Eau Rouge wrote:

Aidy wrote:

Are you planning on extending your commute any? Or doing weekend/evening rides of a kind?

For 4 miles each way, you really don't need anything too special...

+1

£1000 to go 4 miles at a time is a bit much. Buy a bike that best suits the other riding you do or want to do.

+2.

rally200

Will you have toride every day - i.e. through the winter?

I use a road bike to commute about 4 miles each way most of the year, but in the recent snow and ice I was graetful to have my old hybrid with fat tyres & full mudguards to fall back on.

What about a CX - with frame, forks and brakes spaced to take wide tyres, just a change of tyres will convert it from a ruggged commuter to a road bike.

I've seen a few Kona in my local Halfords - would they get you a Jake?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/kona/jake-the-snake-2010-cyclo-cross-bike-ec021793?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

gbsahne001

look at ebay, you should be able to pick up something reasonable for £100 which is still going to be cheaper than £1000 on the c2w scheme.

If you're planning to do a lot of cycling then sure, but 4 miles each way a Ridgeback meteor / comet / velocity would be more than sufficient.

shouldbeinbed

+ several.

just cos you've got a grand it doesn't mean you have to spend a grand. just a few random questions that spring to mind?

are you new/returning to cycling? if so, are you sure that you'll still love it after a near miss with the local speed nut, a good few drenchings and a sub zero snap of weather? £1000 is a lot of obligation to pay off for something that may become a spiders climbing frame in the shed.

Assuming you're in it for the long haul, do you intend to go all out for speed or sit back and commune with nature as you pedal along?

how much stuff will you be carrying and how do you want to do it? on your back or attached to the bike?

could you find different routes to commute that take you off road or onto trails and no tarmac paths / tow paths etc

have you considered a tourer as start point - drop bars but built for all weathers, to be a bit more relaxed and to carry stuff, also will be geared more sympathetically for long drags uphill
(doubtless someone will be along tomorrow with the offer of some leather elbow patches and sandals with socks to go with it )

have you got a local Edinburgh Bike Shop or mail order facility in your C2W, they do some well specced entry level Revolution bikes (all knocking around the £500 mark) across a range of road/cross/hybrid/tourer that always seem to offer good value for money, you could lash out on all the kit too within C2W still with change from £1000, then you could upgrade to a costlier more specialised machine if you wanted the next time you're eligible to apply for a voucher. by then you'll have figured out if day in day out commuting and cycling generally is for you, if you want to club it up and be heading for 60 milers every Sunday, what your preferred bike type & riding style and had a chance to test ride a few in the genre.

Greg T

Friends don't let friends ride hybrids.

We live in a diverse world where we embrace the wide and varied spectrum of people we meet.

But Hybrids suck the sweat off a dead man's nuts.

Fact.

DonDaddyD

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12645896

£1000 on hybrid in my opinion is a waste of money.

£1000 on a road bike that is only going to see 4miles is a waste of money.

To give you a perspective, you could do 100miles on a bike costing half as much as that. Though you'd arguably enjoy it more on the lighter more expensive bike, this is dependant on the bike itself and th ability of the rider.

The upshot of buying a £1000 road bike is that you'll likely end up wanting to ride more than 4 miles. At least with the road bike you'll open up this possibility. With a hybrid (mountain bike with slick tyres or flat bar road bike - see link), not so much.

Personally I would and did get the road bike, mine cost £350 (in todays market you're looking at £600 - £700). I did 30 - 40miles on it once, it was fine. I ride 20miles a day on it. It's still fine. It's cheap, winter is cruel and of the parts I've had to replace (even if the bike did cost more those parts would still need to be replaced the parts wear out) they're cheap and almost any improvement is an upgrade, which feels good.

The most important thing is that the bike is cheap to run and maintain.

My £1000+ carbon fibre bike, not so much. It only gets ridden on the weekend.

A point in the right direction.

Roadbike
Alu frame
Sora or Tiagra or equivalent groupset
Upgrade the wheels to Fulcrum racing 7's
Put Continental 4 season 23mm tyres on it.

Boardman road bike comp

Specialized Allez Elite

Or a bike like it.

Aidy

DonDaddyD wrote:

The upshot of buying a £1000 road bike is that you'll likely end up wanting to ride more than 4 miles. At least with the road bike you'll open up this possibility. With a hybrid (mountain bike with slick tyres or flat bar road bike - see link), not so much.

Other bikes are quite capable of being ridden for more than 4 miles
In fact, the longest rides I've done have been on mountain bikes.

Cafewanda

Greg T wrote:

Friends don't let friends ride hybrids.

We live in a diverse world where we embrace the wide and varied spectrum of people we meet.

But Hybrids suck the sweat off a dead man's nuts.

Fact.

Sharpening the pitchfork................. :twisted:

Apologies, you were referring men. Carry on :roll:

stickman

A competant bike and being able to fit full length mudguards.

DonDaddyD

Aidy wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

The upshot of buying a £1000 road bike is that you'll likely end up wanting to ride more than 4 miles. At least with the road bike you'll open up this possibility. With a hybrid (mountain bike with slick tyres or flat bar road bike - see link), not so much.

Other bikes are quite capable of being ridden for more than 4 miles
In fact, the longest rides I've done have been on mountain bikes.

I'd rather ride a sportive or around Richmond park on my road bike as oppose to my hybrid.

will3

Meh, I rode my lady's hybrid home for her the other day Was quite enjoyable actually, particularly the climbs as the handlebars give more purchase. Didn't really seem that much slower if at all than my CX, which is unsuprising really.

ride_whenever

buy a mountainbike, a proper one.

It'll be more fun for such a commute and you can go off-roading at the weekends.

daviesee

Been there, done that, wouldn't do it again.

If you are going off road get a mtb.
If you are only going on the road get a road bike.
If you are doing both get 2 cheaper bikes.
If you are doing both in one trip get a mtb with high pressure tyres.

A hybrid is a compromise that loses the best of both worlds.

Just a humble opinion

MrChuck

Greg T wrote:

But Hybrids suck the sweat off a dead man's nuts.

Fact.

That gets a , but it's rubbish.
Hybrids make great bikes for getting around on, and if that's all the OP wants to do then why not?

Or he could put some drop bars on, call it a CX bike and then it would all be different I expect...

DonDaddyD

MrChuck wrote:

Greg T wrote:

But Hybrids suck the sweat off a dead man's nuts.

Fact.

That gets a , but it's rubbish.
Hybrids make great bikes for getting around on, and if that's all the OP wants to do then why not?

Or he could put some drop bars on, call it a CX bike and then it would all be different I
expect...

+1

I saw this brilliant bike, it had front suspension, for off road and slick tyres so it could go on road faster. Had disc brakes , TT bars attached to flat bars, a wicker basket, mudguards, panniers adn it was made from carbon fibre so it's light and stiff. :roll:

When did we let the hybrid lovers get a say?

A hybrid= Mountain bike frame with a rigid fork and slick tyres so it can go faster on the road = sucking balls for sport.

They're rubbish compared to a proper road bike designed specifically for the road. Not some half assed trend to please the frightful. I own a hybrid, its rigid riding position gave me bad back after 7miles, getting the thing uphill was a fight each and every time.

Yes the brakes were superb, the best braking comes from anticipation. All you end up doing on a hybrid with disc brakes or any bike when in an emergency is locking the wheels and skidding.

Fact is they're rubbish, heavy and full of gimmicks. Even flat bar road bikes suffer due to the riding position.

Want to ride on the road. Road bike.

Want to do a TT. Tri bike

Want to go off road. Mountain Bike (front, full suspension or downhill depending on the requirement).

Want to go off road and on road fast and over a longish distance. Cyclo-cross.

Done.

Mombee

As an owner of a race bike, MTB and a hybrid - and having commuted on all of them (into and out of Bath via the cycle path and over the hills to the East), I have to say that the hybrid is by far the most versatile.

The race bike may be the fastest on the flat, but once in traffic you lose much of that - the head-down position doesn't inspire confidence. The MTB is great in traffic and on the cycle path, but it's a slow-haul. The hybrid doesn't lose much speed over the racer (unless you planning to do the commute in balls-out time-trial mode every day), it inspires confidence in traffic (you get a good view and much more flickable than the racer for those closeshaves with stupid drivers) and you can load panniers (and mudguards) on it.

My 'best' time down Lansdowne Hill from the Park and Ride to the office near the theatre was on the hybrid by a good few minutes (faster on the hill and quicker through the traffic and lanes)... also the ride back up Lansdowne was more pleasant, albeit slightly slower, than on the racer.

Last weekend, having had the freewheel on my MTB fail, I even took the hybrid to the Forest of Dean with the kids - it was fine.

If you're doing an urban commute, only want to buy one bike that's versatile, then get a hybrid... but don't spend a grand on one - £500-600 gets good frame, sturdy wheels and decent components. In my opinion, spending more will save weight, but I'd question that's at the expense of durability which is key for a commuter.

Good luck.

ride_whenever

You guys do kinda miss the point of hybrids, in particular the urban mtb.

It isn't about going fast, it's about it being an utter hoot to ride. They're for people with an inner kid who runs their life. Long easy manuals down the street, bunny hopping puddles, dropping flights of steps and generally pissing about on on your way to work.

Like this I ride my fixed gear cx bike most days. But every now and again I take my mtb, it's a bit slower but I arrive with a huge grin on my face and generally have fun.

DonDaddyD

Right that's it, where is my uzi...

ride_whenever

Bring it...

I did dream about cycling through a running gun-battle the other night... God knows why i didn't get off and hide like a sensible person.

MrChuck

Like Mombee I have a road bike, an MTB and a hybrid. The hybrid is great for my commute and general getting around. Both my other bikes suck at that. So why the hurry to write them off?

sarajoy

Hybrid seems to be a dirty word here.

It tends to mean one of the following:

1) a slicked MTB
2) a 'shopper' style bicycle
3) a flat handle-barred road bike

I would argue that 1 and 3 are just variations on their original themes (MTB or roadie) and that the middle is a 'town bike' as are most bog-standard hybrids (though they don't all have the step-through frame and basket, of course).

I did a silly diagram somewhere...

amnezia

I used to have a hybrid but I sold it to a girl, who loved for a while but now also wants a road bike

Most people start on a hybrid and upgrade to a road bike 6 months down the line. I wish i'd just gone straight for a road bike, it would've saved me a lot of hassle and cash.

sarajoy

amnezia wrote:

I used to have a hybrid but I sold it to a girl, who loved for a while but now also wants a road bike

Most people start on a hybrid and upgrade to a road bike 6 months down the line. I wish i'd just gone straight for a road bike, it would've saved me a lot of hassle and cash.

Maybe, and that seems to echo what a lot of people here have experienced - but also some of us are happy with what we've got!

Here we go, my daft diagram:


I don't see the problem in there being lots of types of bikes and a nice continuum of what you can get and what people might prefer to ride...

R_T_A

amnezia wrote:

Most people start on a hybrid and upgrade to a road bike 6 months down the line. I wish i'd just gone straight for a road bike, it would've saved me a lot of hassle and cash.

As I've officially "come out" about liking my hybrid, I would like to make a small adjustment to the above.

Most people just keep the hybrid . Not everyone is as obsessed with cycling as us forum types, and want a jack-of-all-trades bike.

It's only natural to want to upgrade if you enjoy it. How many people with road bikes want a more expensive bike/components?

I love cycling, and given more money I would buy a CX/tourer for my 20 mile round trip commute. But I still do the journey 5 days a week on my hybrid, and enjoy it.


@Sarajoy - brilliant diagram, and shows the natural progression depending upon the rider.

UndercoverElephant

sarajoy wrote:

amnezia wrote:

I used to have a hybrid but I sold it to a girl, who loved for a while but now also wants a road bike

Most people start on a hybrid and upgrade to a road bike 6 months down the line. I wish i'd just gone straight for a road bike, it would've saved me a lot of hassle and cash.

Maybe, and that seems to echo what a lot of people here have experienced - but also some of us are happy with what we've got!

Here we go, my daft diagram:


I don't see the problem in there being lots of types of bikes and a nice continuum of what you can get and what people might prefer to ride...

Yup, spot on. As for me, the further away from the shopper I get, the happier I am. I think a hybrid would have kept me happy for a few months, but I hate getting overtaken, so I'm glad I bought a road bike.

sarajoy

And don't forget another thread reckoned that those on big heavy pashleys look the happiest!

I don't really want a full on road bike but also didn't want a shopper like my last one - so flatbar roadie it is (though it's edging onto town bike territory now what with the guard, rack, 32mm semi-slick tyres etc). Happy me

DonDaddyD

Argh! I'm overwhelmed in positive hybrid spiel... I'm starting to develop a need to wear corduroy, sandles and smoke hemp...

I'm going to need to shave my legs just to tear away the feeling of dirt.

Seriously is this a hybrid appreciation thread... It's like zombie invasion and despite the fact that you can't run (or sprint, climb or go fast on your hybrids) I just can't seem to pull away on my svelte, sexy and rigidly stiff road bike (relative to the hybrid).

Help!

Zombie on a hybrid: