Newbie bike-to-work schema

doublereds

Greetz all!

Just got myself registered here so I can start to feed off your biking knowledge

I'm 30 something and not owned a bike at least a decade, my last bike may well have been a Grifter!

Reason I'm here is because my work is doing a bike-to-work schema, so I have the opportunity to buy a half decent bike and get it for a good price.
By half decent I mean a couple/few hundred quid.... I know some people spend over double that, but they are what I would call "pro", or "rich"

I will be reading the beginners thread, get some useful info, and be reading here for routes, as I see on main page this site has some cycle routes.

Tbh I am a true newbie, I know there are mountain and road and hybrid, but not a lot about each, other than thicker tyres on the mountain ones.

As I live in London where mountains are few and far between, my guess is a road or hybrid would be best suited.

That is all for now - just stopping to say hello


See you on road!
[when I get my bike]

cheers!

t0pc4t

hello!

essex-commuter

doublereds wrote:

my guess is a road or hybrid would be best suited.

What you need is a....Grifter!

gbsahne001

or a chopper

Gussio

gbsahne wrote:

or a chopper

Be lucky to get a Chopper for a couple of hundred quid - they have all been snapped by the Hoxton Crew :roll:

Headhuunter

doublereds wrote:

Greetz all!

Just got myself registered here so I can start to feed off your biking knowledge

I'm 30 something and not owned a bike at least a decade, my last bike may well have been a Grifter!

Reason I'm here is because my work is doing a bike-to-work schema, so I have the opportunity to buy a half decent bike and get it for a good price.
By half decent I mean a couple/few hundred quid.... I know some people spend over double that, but they are what I would call "pro", or "rich"

I will be reading the beginners thread, get some useful info, and be reading here for routes, as I see on main page this site has some cycle routes.

Tbh I am a true newbie, I know there are mountain and road and hybrid, but not a lot about each, other than thicker tyres on the mountain ones.

As I live in London where mountains are few and far between, my guess is a road or hybrid would be best suited.

That is all for now - just stopping to say hello


See you on road!
[when I get my bike]

cheers!

When you say a couple of hundred is that cost to you on the C2W or retail price? If retail then there's not a lot of choice at that level, I think you're verging on BSO territory. If £200 cost to you then you could get something for £3-400 retail which is better, I think at around that price you get the best value looking at big retailers ilke Halford and Decathlon. Take a look at Halfords Carrera range perhaps.

doublereds

I had a chopper too, funky bikes, those new ones seen hoxton sides are lame clones, don't think they even have the middle gears.

I just found out what BSO is, and I think I want to steer clear of those, I seen those halford adverts for <£100 bikes, and guessed they just toys.
I'd be happy to spend 300 or a little more, via the scheme, so I guess I get more for my money too.

What about suspensions, are front and/or back suspensions really needed for city rides would you say?

Cheers for info, I've seen the Carreras, some nice looking ones too, at the moment I only go for the look as not up to the tech, I'll obv take more into consideration though when buying.
I also thought about Specialized ones, as a mate of mine has one which is nice, about 400 he paid, in shop, but few years ago now, bit I still see a lot of them ones on road so guessed they reasonable enough

dhope

Consider a single speed in London too.

Something like
http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/products. ... 7283&rs=gb

£350 for a Paddy Wagon would be perfect for around town.

dhope

doublereds wrote:

What about suspensions, are front and/or back suspensions really needed for city rides would you say?

Neither if you're just on the road.

Specialized are absolutely fine, they're definitely bikes rather than BSOs

Headhuunter

doublereds wrote:

I had a chopper too, funky bikes, those new ones seen hoxton sides are lame clones, don't think they even have the middle gears.

I just found out what BSO is, and I think I want to steer clear of those, I seen those halford adverts for <£100 bikes, and guessed they just toys.
I'd be happy to spend 300 or a little more, via the scheme, so I guess I get more for my money too.

What about suspensions, are front and/or back suspensions really needed for city rides would you say?

Cheers for info, I've seen the Carreras, some nice looking ones too, at the moment I only go for the look as not up to the tech, I'll obv take more into consideration though when buying.
I also thought about Specialized ones, as a mate of mine has one which is nice, about 400 he paid, in shop, but few years ago now, bit I still see a lot of them ones on road so guessed they reasonable enough

Suspension is a completely unnecessary gimmick unless you're going off road. Worse, it saps your energy and weighs a lot. If you look around you may be able tio get a good bargain on an end of year 2009 model at the moment - try net retailers like Wiggle, Chain Reaction Cycles, JE James etc etc....

ndru

Get a city bike - and upright position, hub gears that you don't need to clean, full chain-guard so you don't get your trousers dirty, basket for your items.

doublereds

Nice one guys, good info!

I like the look of that paddy wagon bike, and the cost, a nice saving on that website, and they do the cycle work scheme, which i'm looking to get mine through as I don't even need to shell out a lump sum of hundreds.

Green is my colour too... Though I know not to buy a bike based on that alone!