Road bike or commuter

konarob8

I am a fairly experienced cyclist, but mainly been into mountain biking. I have a lovely hardtail Kona Caldera, that I keep in the country but I have started riding in London for a bit of fitness. I have £500 to spend on a new bike through the bike to work scheme at Evans and I'm after some advice, I've tried a few, a Pinacle, and a Specialized Sirrus and I'm trying the Kona Dew and the Trek 7.3 on Friday.

But I'm not sure now whether to go for a hybrid thing like these or to go for a "proper" road bike.

Any advice?

asprilla

Road Bike.

UndercoverElephant

Give both types a try, but yes, Road Bike.

il_principe

PROPER ROAD BIKE.

The Rookie

Before answering I'll try and be more objective than the above jingoists, what is best is what is best FOR YOU, not me or anyone else answering, so the length of commute, the 'hilliness', what you have to carry, traffic density and the surfaces you will cycle on, how much filtering in tight spaces you'll have to do (where drops help) low speed manouvering (flats better) and so on.

I ride a touring frame fitted with flats, I use a rack and panniers to carry lunch and a laptop bag, I have to use very rough road surfaces (so run 26x1.3" tyres at 60-80psi for a little more give) and have little or no filtering to do, so figure its best for what I want and where I cycle.

Simon

wgwarburton

Hi,
Depends what you mean by a "proper" road bike... I'd say to get an Audax style light tourer, but it's not a popular category these days, so there may not be a wide range of options. A Cyclocross bike offers a broadly similar range of attributes but at the cost of some weight, since it's built for some off-road use. Both of these would be more comfortable than a "race" bike and would have fittings for racks, 'guards etc.

Cheers,
W.

DonDaddyD

My road bikes are my commuters. They serve the purpose far better than my flat bar hybrid ever did.

CiB

Road.

Next.

nich

Road bike I'm afraid (from a keen MTBer!). You could pick up the Spesh Allez for that money

Greg T

Road

SimonLyons

If it was me I would look at roadbikes which can take mudguards and a rack.

anton1r

CX bike as i've been commuting on a hybrid for 7 months now and now i want something a bit sportier without going for the full on road bike.

FrankM

In your position and with £500 I wouldn't buy a road bike or a hybrid.

Buy some new wheels, buy some slick tyres, buy a road cassette (e.g. 11-23) and a new chain. Then simply switch wheels and chain when you want to commute.

And you ought to have cash left over.

SamWise1972

Don't think Cyclescheme will let you buy a pile o' parts.

FrankM

SamWise1972 wrote:

Don't think Cyclescheme will let you buy a pile o' parts.

Very true (I hadn't read the post properly) but a pile of parts would still be cheaper than a new bike.

waddlie

FrankM wrote:

SamWise1972 wrote:

Don't think Cyclescheme will let you buy a pile o' parts.

Very true (I hadn't read the post properly) but a pile of parts would still be cheaper than a new bike.

To be fair, it would also be a pain in the arse and the OP would find themselves in breach of n+1.

I tried the "two sets of wheels approach" and it was a stupid idea - £130 for a decent pair of wheels, £60 for tyres and tubes, £60 for disc brake rotors and maybe another £50 for a cassette and chain too. That's £300 all ready. And you've still got the weight and barn-door MTB aerodynamics to contend with.

Then you can't be arsed faffing about with it all and just end up commuting on whatever wheels, chain and cassette you used the last time you used the bike...

waddlie

For £500, it's hard to argue against a Ribble Winter/Audax Tiagra for £580 if your budget can stretch...

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/specialedition.asp?action=showframes&sub=conf_SERW&type=RIBMO

stuaff

Road. And that's speaking as someone with two very nice flat-bar bikes. But for maximum speed/minimum effort, my two road bikes are even nicer. Waddlie's suggestion is an excellent one.

konarob8

I was doing the MTB on slicks with my old Trek, but it is so stiff and heavy, bloody cheap aluminium crap....My Steel Kona is lighter! (Also nearly twice the price....And no the cyclescheme won't let you buy a bag of bits, more is the shame. Otherwise I would have tarted up my old Dawes. But £300 later for the bits, I might as well avail myself of the tax mans largesse and buy a new bike and not have to assemble it.

Have never had a "proper" road bike so don't really know much about them. I've been on MTB's since 15 and had a BMX for several years before that.

The "commute" isn't really, it is a 5 minute ride direct, but I take a long loop around the Thames and turn it into a 20-30 minute ride morning and evening (sometimes a bit longer in the evening) it is all in central London though so it's flat although there is a lot of traffic and even more lights! I don't carry much stuff, just 1 or 2 days a week I'll have a rucksack with food and or spare clothes.

I'm doing it partly for weight/fitness and partly for the fun factor. Its been working so far, but the Trek is a damn uncomfortable ride (despite front suspension) and I hate the cable disk brakes, utter rubbish and impossible to set up, they either rub or don't work very well. At least with V's you know where you are and mine normally stop me pretty much dead.

Bernie leg

I would be inclined to go road, I recently bought a condor fratello admittedly more expensive than your budget but my previously loved Dawes discovery 701 has been in the shed ever since. If you intend to ride sub 18mph and take in the scenery hybrid, if you fancy making you lungs scream and legs hurt occasionally whilst racking up a few more miles than usual, road.

supersonic

A CX bike is a hybrid lol.

Stevo_666

supersonic wrote:

A CX bike is a hybrid lol.

You're going to upset a few people here SS

aldric

I don't think you can even get a CX bike for £500 can you?

I thoguht the spezialized was one of the cheapest and that starts at £699.

konarob8

I fancy the idea of something that will go a bit faster and make the legs burn (not that that takes much a.t.m.) I had a look on Evan's website (who the work scheme is with and they are my LBS anyway!) and the cheapest is some Raleigh at £650 so that knocks that idea on the head. With road bikes, the Spec Allez, one of the better specced bike in my price range, looks much like the Sirus but with drop bars. The specs are very nearly identical, the road bike is a tad lighter, but not much in it. Guess I'll give it a try and see, the drop bars worry me a bit, never ridden them. The other thing that is even more worrying is a slightly rotund chap like me doesn't look good in Lycra :shock: It isn't compulsary on Road bikes is it?

thel33ter

Go for the road bike, there are enough 'I've bought a hybrid and now I want something faster' thread

I normally ride in baggies (or trackies if its cold) on my road bike, doesn't bother me.

Canny Jock

aldric wrote:

I don't think you can even get a CX bike for £500 can you?

I thoguht the spezialized was one of the cheapest and that starts at £699.

Here you go:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 155c018341