"Road" or Hybrid for long commute?

Boy Lard

I know the only way to find specifically what bike is best for the individual is go and test some and see, but I wanted a more general opinion on what type of bike would be best in the following circumstances.

My friend is a fitness freak, he won Mr UK twice and hits the gym every day and has done for the last 25 years. He is finally giving it a rest. He can manage his weight ridiculously well, he has a very high metabolism and can easily switch from 19 stone monster, to 14 stone, ripped, but high CV work within a few months.

He has become very interested in commuting to work, but his commute is going to be 20 miles each way. He is going to spend all winter preparing himself, changing his training and doing small rides until sometime next spring when he will start trying to come to work on a bike.

He is tempted by a full on road bike, because, knowing himself pretty well, he thinks he's going to want to push it faster and faster as his fitness levels rise. I'm thinking he would be better with a hybrid and making sure he can cover the distance he is wanting in comfort and safety rather than speed. I've advised him to look at a hybrid for commuting and getting a separate bike for weekends if that's what he wants to do, but to be honest, I ride a mountain bike and don't really know what I'm talking about.

I'm not looking for a specific bike, but examples would be helpful. Budget £800-1000, but pretty flexible.

The Rookie

I would think he wants a road bike by the sound of him, but he may need either a winter bike (mudguard and therefore rack holes) or a cross style bike depending on the specifics of his commute.

Comfort is subjective, most people with drops ride most of the time on the hoods or top of the bar anyway, only dropping for those parts where they want to push, or downhill for the aero benefit.

20miles we have, surfaces, hills and how much he will or won't need to carry (a backpack over 20miles is going to be seaty and horrid) you haven't told us, I have to use a rack for the stuff I have to carry, so a proper road bike would be out, I'd need one with rack mounts, also for year round commuting mudguards are a good idea unless he plans a decent shower before work.

You could sell him the idea of a heavy clunky bike as bing a better work out, but no-one wants to stick to that, they always want to follow a process of continuous improvement on any bike!

Simon

Anonymous

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Boy Lard

It's all on reasonable roads, well lit, but may be quite busy. I also thought it would be best to run with panniers or bike rack rather than a ruck sack over that distance, but I would have thought a rucksack would be easier on a hybrid than a road bike. Like I said, I don't really have much of a clue, my tyres are this wide {

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simonaspinall

Steel or ti road bike with the best tyres you can afford - Ideally vittoria paves

Anything else will drive him mental

Boy Lard

So do we think that we are looking at Giant Defy, Trek2.1, Specialised Secteur, Boardman Road Bike, etc? What will he have to do with the bike to make it commute friendly? Mudguards and panniers?

roger_merriman

if it's over a hr, I suspect he'll find flat bars uncomfortable as unlike MTBing you tend to just stay in one position. so for that alone I'd suggest a drop bar.

amaferanga

simonaspinall wrote:

Steel or ti road bike with the best tyres you can afford - Ideally vittoria paves

Anything else will drive him mental

Strange thing to say :?

Care to explain why a carbon or aluminium road bike would rive him mental?

Underscore

FWIW, my commute is now 18.7 miles (on-road) each way and I have both a hybrid (Spesh Sirrus) and a road bike (Giant Defy) and the road bike is waaay more comfortable... to the point where I've just bought some butterfly bars to put on the Sirrus in an attempt to make it more comfortable...

_

aldric

What about a Cyclocross style bike. You then have the opporunity to put full mudguards and fit a panier rack if required.

http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDeta ... ctID=21639

Whatever bike he gets I would recommend swapping the tyres straight away and gettnig some with puncture protection. Cycling that distance the last thing you want to be worrying about is getting a puncture.

Anonymous

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biondino

There is no way this dude won't be a speed freak - he'll need the competition (with himself), the motivation to go faster and faster. A hybrid will feel so clunky and frustrating. Aerodynamics will make a huge difference.

At that price, I'd suggest he goes all in with an entry level carbon number from Halfords, Planet X or the like.

biondino

Also, if you're doing 20 miles each way every day, lightness becomes a big factor - you want to a) take as little time and b) suffer as little as you can. It'll be a real chore, then kind of chore where even a small negative can seem really of-putting.

simonaspinall

amaferanga wrote:

simonaspinall wrote:

Steel or ti road bike with the best tyres you can afford - Ideally vittoria paves

Anything else will drive him mental

Strange thing to say :?

Care to explain why a carbon or aluminium road bike would rive him mental?

Just an inherent trust of steel and ti. Something I don't like about the alu and carbon is that a small crack or fracture can manifest into something catastrophic. Sounds a bit paranoid but for a long distance, long-term commute i'd plump for the lowest fatigue-prone, lowest risk option - Steel or ti

Underscore

PeterKraus wrote:

Underscore wrote:

a hybrid (Spesh Sirrus)

Is that really still a hybrid? Okay, it doesn't have drops, but other than that....

Well, depends on what you mean by a hybrid. It's got 135mm rear drop out spacing and all the (branded) components are from Shimano's MTB ranges so, although it's got 700c wheels, I still view it as a hybrid. However, it is probably right on the cusp of being classed as a flat bar road bike... still bloody uncomfortable for longer road journeys, even with Ergon GR-2 grip/bar-ends compared to drop bars!

_

electric_blue

Boy Lard wrote:

IMy friend is a fitness freak, he won Mr UK twice and hits the gym every day and has done for the last 25 years. He is finally giving it a rest. He can manage his weight ridiculously well, he has a very high metabolism and can easily switch from 19 stone monster, to 14 stone, ripped, but high CV work within a few months.

Your "friend" eh?

Well I recommend the diamante posing-pouch

cjcp

Definitely a road bike.

tailwindhome

Ribble Audax/Winter Trainer.

Simples

hfidgen

Sounds like a cross might be his thing?

I'm no Mr UK but I do like to push myself to beat my time, day on day and my BMC has opened up a whole new dimension to my commute in terms of speed and fun.

http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=bmc+cx02

- Light enough and fast enough to not "cap out" on speed. You can compete with the lycra road boys
- Able to take the potholes and a bit of off road in the parks or hills
- Has mounts for mudguards or panniers making it much more of a 4-season bike
- Top notch spec - 105's all the way.

The Rookie

Boy Lard wrote:

Ibut I would have thought a rucksack would be easier on a hybrid than a road bike.

Not much easier, like I said most of the use of a road bike is on the tops or hoods anyway, but if he needs to carry that much stuff a rack/panniers is crucial, I only commute 6.6miles and when I was using a rucksack the back of my top (in summer) was soaking as the sweat cannot escape with a bag on, mind you I get sweaty swimming.

Simon

rolf_f

biondino wrote:

Also, if you're doing 20 miles each way every day, lightness becomes a big factor - you want to a) take as little time and b) suffer as little as you can. It'll be a real chore, then kind of chore where even a small negative can seem really of-putting.

+1(except for the chore bit - it can be a chore but mostly isn't) - I've moved from knobblied MTB to slicked MTB to heavy old touring bike and now have a Ribble Gran Fondo on order for the commute. I do daily distances equivalent to short sportives and I think that on that basis, something that is fun and quick is worth every penny.

Also on that basis, rucksacks are fine. An hour and a half isn't so long that the weight on the back becomes much of an issue and keeping the weight off the bike means it still performs and handles as it should.

SimonInd

If it's fairly flat I'd advocate a single speed. I do 14 miles each way on a Langster with race blade mudguards, a narrow rack and a pannier. It's very light and nippy and the absence of gears is a blessing going through central London as you don't even think about changing.

Unless you load it up the pannier doesn't spoil the handling and IMO it's much more comfortable than having something on your back. Although obviously it doesn't look as nice...

Lycra Man

If your friend has not cyled in modern day traffic, I would advise a flat bar road bike for two reasons:
1. Better visibility
2. Much better brakes - whether V brakes or discs

Plus he'll need mudguards and lights if he's riding from October through to March.

If he takes to cycling, and as you suggest, competes against himself to go faster and faster, he can upgrade to a road bike, but he'll still need a bike with the capacity to take a rack for his clothes/stuff, so I don't think he's looking for an out-and-out road bike for this kind of use.

Current cyclocross bikes also have disc brakes - a boon for when it is raining, and a tough guy like him won't be put off by rain drops but he might if he tries to stop using rim brakes and sub-optimal brake pads.

I'd look at a Geneis Croix de Fer, myself, or the BMC Cross Machine mentioned upthread.
Lycra Man

Boy Lard

We work and live in Yorkshire, it's definitely not flat.

I'm not sure I'll be able to convince him to use a bike rack or panniers though. He's already quite protective of the 'looks' of his bike that he hasn't bought yet.

I'm all for comfort and bollocks to the looks. That's maybe be why I have a Daddy wagon (Zara Picasso) and he has a shiney new Focus RS. :roll:

Lycra Man

So aesthetics are going to rule, rather than logic and experience.

You have my vote anyway.

For what it's worth, I used a Ridgeback flat bar road bike for 5 years, doing everything - Audaxes, 300 mile Paris to London, and daily commute. In February I switched to a Genesis alu/carbon road bike, but by then I had 5 years experience of avoiding potholes and other road users. I still think the caliper brakes on my road bike are cr@p compared to the flat bar V-brakes, and I am going to change to a bullhorn handlebar setup to allow better brake grip/pressure when on the hoods.

Lycra Man

biondino

I think this is one of the easiest "what bike" threads! The dude wants a road bike, as sexy and racey as possible, and won't settle for anything else, convenience or practicality be damned!

Boy Lard

All this is making me want to get a road bike myself. Think I'll go jump in some puddles till I come to my senses.

rolf_f

Lycra Man wrote:

If your friend has not cyled in modern day traffic, I would advise a flat bar road bike for two reasons:
1. Better visibility
2. Much better brakes - whether V brakes or discs

Plus he'll need mudguards and lights if he's riding from October through to March.

If he takes to cycling, and as you suggest, competes against himself to go faster and faster, he can upgrade to a road bike, but he'll still need a bike with the capacity to take a rack for his clothes/stuff, so I don't think he's looking for an out-and-out road bike for this kind of use.

Discs are only much better in dry weather - I assumed discs would be much better than calipers so did a comparative experiment. There wasn't much in it.

Visibility is no better on a flat bar than Sportive road frame. Additionally you have less width (makes getting through traffic easier), more positions and the drops for getting out of the wind. Rack not needed so no capacity to carry a rack needed. Flat bars don't affect a bikes ability to take mudguards or lights!!

I think the sensible choice probably is the cyclocross bike but not contaminated by heavy discs! I'd still go for the road bike myself though.

simonaspinall

Boy Lard wrote:

We work and live in Yorkshire, it's definitely not flat.

I'm not sure I'll be able to convince him to use a bike rack or panniers though. He's already quite protective of the 'looks' of his bike that he hasn't bought yet.

I'm all for comfort and bollocks to the looks. That's maybe be why I have a Daddy wagon (Zara Picasso) and he has a shiney new Focus RS. :roll:

FWIW I do leeds to Heckmondwike daily and go with the backpack...There are some aero style ones at about 35l capacity. It's about 13-14 miles up hilly terrain. The number one thing I would consider would be decent tyres...you can't scrimp on them - V/Paves all the way and soooooooooooo much grip

rolf_f

simonaspinall wrote:

FWIW I do leeds to Heckmondwike daily and go with the backpack...There are some aero style ones at about 35l capacity. It's about 13-14 miles up hilly terrain. The number one thing I would consider would be decent tyres...you can't scrimp on them - V/Paves all the way and soooooooooooo much grip

Depending on where in Leeds, you should wave at me when I am doing my 'via Drighlington' commute route

simonaspinall

Rolf F wrote:

simonaspinall wrote:

FWIW I do leeds to Heckmondwike daily and go with the backpack...There are some aero style ones at about 35l capacity. It's about 13-14 miles up hilly terrain. The number one thing I would consider would be decent tyres...you can't scrimp on them - V/Paves all the way and soooooooooooo much grip

Depending on where in Leeds, you should wave at me when I am doing my 'via Drighlington' commute route

Drighlington? A58...? I'm an A62 man, where all the Kool Kidz commute - It's a cracking run on the way back (not with this wind though...yikes!)