C to W commuter bike reccomendations?

tubaonwheels

Hi, my son is after a bike through the cycle to work scheme, most probably from Halfords.
It is mainly to be used for his commute from North London into the City, he's worked out a mainly off road route. He has no real need for any suspension as he's not really into 'rough stuff'. So any ideas for a good value bike that would suit, I'm guessing he would not need to go go any higher than about £400.
Cheers,
Steve.

supersonic

I'd take a look at the Carrera Gryphon:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165534

There is a cheaper version too if you don't feel the need for discs.

A light, fast bike for the road but with a slighlty more comfortable riding position.

It will depend how rough the 'off road' bits are. In which case I would think about a mountain bike and changing the tyres, and maybe the fork to a rigid one.

tubaonwheels

Thanks for that SS, what do you think of the Carrera Subway at £350 ? The slightly less racy, low maintenace angle looks better suited to my son. The routes will be just parks, tow paths, cycle lane sort of stuff, nothing rough at all.

supersonic

Good value, well equipped, sturdier than the gryphon I would say. Might just hit that middle ground!

tubaonwheels

Great, thanks very much for the advice.
I think the next move will be for him to try and get a gander.
Steve.

glenwatt

Steve,

if you're son likes the look of the Gryphon.

I have just upgraded to a Trek and will be looking to sell my one soon.

It is a Med sized disc brake model, just under a year old and still in excellent condition.

tubaonwheels

Unfortunately I don't think you will be able to sell it to him through the 'cycle to work' scheme Glen
As it is, I think he likes the look of the subway more for his particular needs, but thanks for the offer.

glenwatt

I can confrim that I don't have the admin facilities to offer a C2W scheme :-)

No probs, I hope he sorts himself out!