Newbie looking for advice

DCowling

Hello all
I have only recently got back into cycling since my son came off his stabilisers, he is happy to potter about and I have been completely bitten by the cycling bug.#
I cycled a bit when I was younger and had a road bike ( Raleigh Quaser). now at the age of 40 I have finally managed to quit the ciggies ( 5mnths woohoo) and drifted into biking, and it's here where I am needing some advice.
I have currently on loan a Marin Alpine Trail full suspension , now this is great and I am upto around 20 miles at a time, but I hope to start biking to work some of the week and am looking to get onto the bike to work scheme. The Marin is a very good bike and never fails but on some sections it feels like all Iam doing is pushing into the springs and wasting energy. I have looked around an am quite taken with the " Boardman" Hybrid which would suite both my cycling and knocking about with my son, there seems to be plenty of good reports about this bike, with the only real bad one being the supplied tyres are a bit feeble and prone to puncture.
Anyhow, sorry to waffle, but does anyone have advice for this

Many Thanks in Advance

Dave

Butterd2

You've already got a mountain bike so why get a hybrid (worst of both worlds), use the m/b for knocking about with your son and for riding on the roads get a road bike.

You'll only end up changing the hybrid if you get into road riding.

Well that's my tuppence worth anyway.

DCowling

Butterd2

Good point! but strictly speaking the mtb is on loan and ouight to be returned ( although owner has a shed full of bikes) so I was just trying to cover all options, also there is allway the option of coming off road and onto towpaths for a change of scenery.
I will take suggestion and mull it over,

Many Thanks

Dave

secretsqizz

In all fairness, most on here ride 'road bikes' so you are mostly going to get the advice 'get a road bike'.
You have already cottoned onto the drawback of a heavy mtb for use on the road and 20 miles at a time on one is doin ok...

you can knock about on a robust alloy frame road bike as well.. you know about the Boardmans... but there is also the choice from Ribble...

night_porter

DCowling in a forum for roadies you will always get told to buy a road bike, perhaps if you had asked your question in the Commuter forum you would get a different answer.

The Boardman bikes are very well built and have great specs for the price bracket (road, mtb & hybrid). You only have to look on ebay to see how much 2nd hand ones are selling for to see that they are very popular.

The only thing I will say is that Halfords have their own ctw type scheme and if your employer is on that one you are fine, if not you will need to buy from a local bike shop and in all probability they won't be able to supply a Boardman.

ALaPlage

I would echo the advice given. I went down the Hybrid route with the boardman pro. A great bike and really got me hooked into cycling. I bought it with the thought that it would be for a mix of road use and tow path type rides. As it turned out I only ever went on a tow path type ride once on the Scarborough to Whitby Sustrans route on the old railway line. The rest of my rides were on the road and I started to hunger for a road bike - bit lighter and more comfortable suprisingly; more hand positions makes for better comfort on long rides.

Lots of choice out there and if you are on CTW scheme then you can get a good bike for your budget.

Certainly look at the Boardmans if they are available on your scheme. You get a lot of bike for the money with a full carbon frame option in at £999. The wheelset is ok to get you started and can be changed later for a lighter wheelset which is the biggest complaint about the boardmans in that the wheels are quite heavy.

I tried loads of bikes before settling on a Trek Madone and these included Trek 2.1, Specialized Allez, Cannondale CAAD9, Bianchi C2C and Infinito, Pinarello FP2, and Trek Madone 4.7. The two Treks were shortlisted along with the Bianchi Infinito. I went for a Madone in the end but found a second hand 5.9 with full Ultegra groupo for £1300. I have never regretted it and covering 250 miles a week now,

Try as many bikes as you can to find one that suits you as different makers have different geometries and they can feel quite different to ride. Plus the sizing also is slightly different by manufacturer too.

Road bike on the road - pleasure all the way.

mattward1979

If you really want to eat up the miles, get a roadie... Ive had many salesmen trying to flog me Hybrids, but after shopping around, there is no substitute for a tool made for the job.

A hybrid will just give you skiny tyres with an upright position... You can get that by sticking slicks on your mtb!!

DCowling

Thank You all for your advice

I am now starting to drift slightly from the hybrid and look at the road-bikes, are Cerrera bikes as bad as this forum leads me to think.

Please keep in mind that I am not looking to competition standard but more get fit / keep fit and enjoy the ride in the process. As far as I can make out the CTW scheme budgets upto £1k + accessories, however I currently hav a budget of £700 tops, what is recommended within that range for a reliable road bike that is capable of managing the roads without buggering the wheels on some of the poorer surfacing.

Thank you in advance for your input

night_porter

Nothing wrong with Carrera bikes and for your budget I would suggest the Vanquish.

Tiagra/Sora equipped with carbon forks that will take rack and mudguards on offer at the moment for £530 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710

Just buy yourself some clipless pedals/shoes, rear rack, mudguard, shorts, jersey, waterproof and a helmet and you can commute all year round.

Sorted!

Butterd2

night_porter wrote:

DCowling in a forum for roadies you will always get told to buy a road bike, perhaps if you had asked your question in the Commuter forum you would get a different answer.

The Boardman bikes are very well built and have great specs for the price bracket (road, mtb & hybrid). You only have to look on ebay to see how much 2nd hand ones are selling for to see that they are very popular.

The only thing I will say is that Halfords have their own ctw type scheme and if your employer is on that one you are fine, if not you will need to buy from a local bike shop and in all probability they won't be able to supply a Boardman.

I my defence you will see from my signature that I'm also the proud owner of a 15 year old PACE RC200 mtb which I still love to ride and rode long before I ever had a road bike (but god it is slow compared to the Scott!!).