Anyone recommend a good Hybrid for around £1000?

martylaa

As above please, been looking at the Boardman Hybrid bikes, that Pro Ltd Edition looks really nice, is there any others i should have a sit on before turning up at Halfords?
Needing one as i may have to switch workplaces and want to commute to work rather than take the car all the time especially in the city.

c2c

bianchi camealonte 5, had mine about a year now and it has proven to be an excellent commuter.

Shen2010

My missus is drooling over the Chord by Moda seen at Mercian cycles Derby. £999.99

Shen2010

martylaa

Ok thanks i'll have a look at these, seen some bikes which have an internal gearing on the hub i think however they only give you 8-9 gears, where i live its quite hilly so if i was on it at the weekend at home would these gears be enough for me or should i be looking at a hybrid with 18 + gears?

Scott Sub 10 2010 Hybrid Bike £899
Scott Sub 10 2010 Hybrid Bike £899

ketsbaia

martylaa wrote:

Ok thanks i'll have a look at these, seen some bikes which have an internal gearing on the hub i think however they only give you 8-9 gears, where i live its quite hilly so if i was on it at the weekend at home would these gears be enough for me or should i be looking at a hybrid with 18 + gears?

Scott Sub 10 2010 Hybrid Bike £899
Scott Sub 10 2010 Hybrid Bike £899

I've got 8-speed hub gears on my commuter and I only ever use 5th, but then I live in London.

The gearing is usually OK to tackle hills (I can get up pretty much anything in 1st), but it's worth remembering hub gears are considerably heavier than derailleur, so you need to weigh up whether you want to be carting that extra poundage up the hills.

Hub gears are a bit of a pain when taking the rear wheel off as well. There's more faffing about involved in comparison to a derailleur set-up.

They're great if you want to change gear while sat at the lights, though.

marcusjb

Also worth remembering that with an 18 gear derailleur set-up, you don't get 18 gears - you'll find that several of the combinations of front chainring and rear sprocket give the same gearing ratio. So, you might find you only get 13-14 distinct gear ratios.

Obviously, that's still more than the 8 on a Shimano Nexus - but certainly I found this particular hub gear perfect for almost everything I did when I had a Cannondale Badboy 8 for commuting. As has been previously mentioned, the ability to change gears at traffic lights is very awesome.

Hub gears are heavier for sure, but equally, there's very little maintainence and adjustment required and everything's nicely hidden away from the weather etc.

wizzlebanger

Have a gander at Trek's range. Lot's of options depending on type of bike you want to ride.

http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/road/fx/77fxz/
http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/ro ... /portland/
http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/urban/soho/soho/

I commute 3 or 4 times a week on my 7.5 fx and go for longer rides at the weekend also. About to fit mudguards soon though!!!!

Clever Pun

a grand on a hybrid... daymn... *mutters and walks away*

jetsstar1

I would recommend the Marin Alp range and the Trek FX range. I have a 7.5FX that has been a great workhorse and a Marin Highway One that I use less often, more for sportives etc.

I picked up my ex-demo Highway One for well under your budget from the importer, ATB. You could email them from this link and ask if they have any ex-demos of the alp range in your size, good customer service from them and good value:
http://online.atb-sales.co.uk/c-44-ex-d ... FilterID=0

martylaa

Ideally i'd like one with disc brakes and carbon forks.
Choice is unreal out there, need to narrow it down to a few and go and sit on them, Scott, Specialzed and Trek look good though the Trek don't have disc brakes?

wizzlebanger

Personally I wouldn't get hung up about disc brakes. They add extra complexity and service issues whereas a plain old V-brake is a pretty simple setup. Plus, should one fail on the way home it's not going to lock up or worse (in my opinion).

You can always unhook a v-brake without tools and still ride home. Although if you can do that with a malfunctioning disc I hold my hands up. (Never had discs)

Having said that the Trek Portland does come with discs.

Obviously just my opinion but disc brakes wouldn't be the deal breaker for me.

Just make sure you get what you want mate and more than anything whatever you are riding you will enjoy yourself much more than being in a car or public transport!

martylaa

Yeah i have both types of brakes on my road and mountain bike, your right about the disc brakes having more complex issues if something goes wrong, ok that'll bring a lot more bikes into the equation, problem is i am identifying bikes and ringing stores only to find i would have to order one in, i want to sit and ride various bikes before i hand over my hard earned cash mind, hopefully the stores don't have an issue with this

wizzlebanger

If a store doesn't let you ride a bike before you buy it I would walk out there and then. Yes it's very tricky tracking down what you want to look at, test ride and finding one in the correct size. If your lucky you'll be able to get your top 2 or 3 under one roof.

I narrowed my selection down to a Scott and a Trek. Went to look at the Trek 7.3 FX first at Mike Cookson. (I'm in the Manchester area). They let me take it out for a spin no problem but they didn't have one in my size ready for me to take.

I spied they had two 7.5 FX's in the store so took one of those for a spin and loved it. Haggled them down by £70 as I'd be taking it there and then!!!!

Everyone will recommend what they have (human nature) but I'm glad I bought the Trek and haven't had a single problem with it.

Good luck in your quest!

Stevo_666

This is what I have, very happy with it and almost bang on a grand
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/hybrid/hybrid_proltd.html
Oh, and it has disc brakes which are ace

martylaa

Yes that Boardman looks nice, hard to find though, gonna look at Trek and Scott bikes in LBS tomorrow.

Fixxxer87

Just curious...why not go for the extra couple of hundred quid and get an Allez and Rockhopper (or something)?

Or are you limited with Cycle to work scheme? (In which case I'd suggest slicks on a Rockhopper for a year if mtb'ing is important, then in a years time get an Allez or something).

Just a thought

...And yes, my experience is limted to Specialized if you couldn't guess!

gs3

I ran a Sirrus Pro for two years over some very pot-holed roads and had nothing but praise for the bike. Initial commute was approx. 10 miles each way but due to a promotion, my distance went up to 25 each way. It was only at this point that the flat bars started to show their lack of hand position so I upgraded to a Tricross Comp.
Throughout that whole time the wheels on the Sirrus never went out of true once - not bad when you consider the road conditions and my 15 stone mass on top.

My advice is to short-list your choices and go and try them out before you buy and go with your own opinion - after all, it is a bike for YOU that you're looking for.

And to answer one of your other questions (other thread), go with the carbon forks - they are a lot more forgiving than you think!!

.

martylaa

its for communting and shortish rides out with the missus, also i like the position of flat bars over drop bars better, not going 40-50 miles on one its for commuting and riding, have a mountain bike in the garage but thats no good for the roads