Advice Needed - Norco Bike - VFR 3

philspeck

Anyone any ideas on the quality of this urban bike ? I'm new to the world of cycling and considering this a bike to take me into serious training on bikes for doing a 400 mile + ride in 18 months time - from snowdon to scafell pike to ben nevis - my blog says more on what i'm planning to do.

A few bike shops i've been to have suggested an urban hybrid might be more appropriate than a road bike.

it would be great to hear what people think

RonB

Hi Phil. Good luck with your plan btw and welcome to the forum.

Your blog suggests that you will actually be walking up the hills. I think you would actually be better off with a road bike, maybe with a triple/certainly a compact to give you plenty of gears, which will enable you to ride with a decent cadence. A few other things to throw in to the mix...

- drops to give you several different hand positions when riding. Those long distances can make your upper arms and shoulders sore if your not used to them.

- depending on your final choice you might be able to reduce the overall weight of the bike. Obviously costs are a major factor here and a carbon frame might be ott.

- weight saved on wheel choice and tyres will be important. There is a trade off between lightness and comfort though but if you decide on the road bike option I wouldn't have thought you would need a tyre width of more than 25mm.

- depending on your level of support it might be worth considering a frame with dropouts which will enable you to take rear panniers (at least) as this might offer more comfort than carrying a rucksack.

- last but not least check out the other posts here, which are full of handy suggestions and tips for these sought of decisions.

Anyway, as I said at the start, good luck with your support for this worthy cause.

philspeck

thanks for your reply !

i'm still undecided on which bike yet - but all advice is gratefully received and will help me choose
the way i have been looking at the moment is that now we plan to carry nothing but hydration with us and have a van with 1 / 2 people as support - so now maybe leaning towards a road bike for speed and less weight - but i have to balance the price, which has leant me towards a hybrid / urban bike which would help with the price - have looked at a norco vfr3 - but its not set in stone yet - want to be exactly sure on which bike - can't afford the wrong choice !

i have such a long time as it stands, but hope to have the bike sorted in the next month to begin the long training schedule !

ride_whenever

vfr 3 is a nice little bike, but not really suited for what you're planning on doing. You need a road bike, but a fairly comfy one rather than an out and out race rocket!

Something like a scott CR1 or a specialised roubaix.

philspeck

yeh - road seems to be the way forward - just gotta find one that i can afford !!