Hybrid for country lanes

thesmileyone

Hi all, first post!

I am after a hybrid/commuter bike, preferably a hardtail thats light and easy to flick around the road. I live in cornwall and this year the majority of my riding will be for fitness, on country lanes. No off-road involved. Next year its likely i will be moving to london, somewhere like south kensington, and would like to commute via bike for this. I could buy a cheapy for now but I did this a few years back, ending up with a Barracuda MTB hardtail and it was absolute rubbish, not to mention too small!!!!

I am 6ft 8 and i weigh around 22 stone, according to evans cycles size chart im off the scale... surely they make a bike that will fit me ?

I have £1400 to spend or thereabouts, but have been looking at the £700 Trek Soho 4.0 based on a review on this site...

Thankyou and I hope i made my requirements clear

AndyOgy

There used to be loads of stuff written about 'Clydesdale Bikes'. This was the term for bikes designed for larger riders. The constant winner in group tests was the Kona Hoss.

I've just had a hunt around and these seem to be pretty scarce these days. However, I found one here:

http://www.ashcycles.com/site/index.php ... ts_id=1645

Being that it's a 2009 model, you could very likely get a better price if you phone up and haggle. It's more MTB than hybrid but some slick tyres will soon sort that out. It comes with £88 of store credit, which will get you slick tyres and mudguards.

I had a look at the Trek. It's a nice looking bike and the available 25" frame would be bang on the money for your size. However, I've heard mixed opinions about the hub brakes. Some say that they take a while to bring you to a stop, others say that you get used to this. Either way, you'll probably want something a bit more powerful to bring your 22 stone to a halt. I find that the stopping power of even a good set of v-brakes to be considerably compromised when I have 20kg in my panniers.

I'd avoid getting a cheap bike. These things get worse every year and I'm shocked at what the manufacturers can get away with selling. Although, if you really do want to go the cheap route, there is a Rockrider available (from Decathlon) for £100 and it gets the best reviews out of all the bikes around this price mark.

sc999cs

Is your budget enough to get a custom frame built?

thesmileyone

I looked at custom but I was looking at £3k by the time i specced everything up (with no clue of what im doing i might add, so i just added all the semi most expensive things into my cart).

Does anyone have any opinion of Felt ? I found this which appeals as it has front suspension, the roads round here arent of great quality...

http://www.nonstopbikes.co.uk/products. ... b0s18p1991



Thats the QX90, they do a QX120 for £50 ish more than i can go maximum but again no reviews.. Felt also make them in 58inch frame which i believe is suitable for my height ?

sc999cs

thesmileyone wrote:

I looked at custom but I was looking at £3k by the time i specced everything up

Ouch :!:

I've just had a look myself and didn't realise they cost so much...

Also found this mentioned on http://customframebuilding.ellisbriggscycles.co.uk/audax_randonneur_bikes.php#randonneur_tiagra if it will help you work out sizing:

All the bikes we build are based around a 700c wheel, so there is a limit to how small a frame we can build. For our Randonneur frame we can build anywhere between 20½" and 25", which will suit people between 5'6" and 6'4".

What ever size you do get it may be worthwhile going to a bike shop which does a fitting service and getting the seat post and stem changed as an off the peg bike will probably be too small with respect to these components.

SimonAH

There's a guy who used to take the same train as me who must be at least your size, he was riiding something hybridish from Giant. Sort of a flat barred tourer and 'kin enormous.

Not sure (boy aren't I helpful) of which model it was but worth having a snooch around their website.

Ah, hang on, Escape? Yup. It was one of these I think;

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2010

thesmileyone

Does anyone use a Trek Soho/District ? Im liking the idea of a silent singlespeed, only with a chain instead of a belt as ive heard the belts snap sometimes...

This is the setup i have in mind, no idea on sizes or models just looked for the best, not entirely sure i need front suspension however it does have remote lock out.

The Rookie

Belts are fine...

From a hardtail MTB to a SS falt bar'd roadie, perhaps you need to be sure what you want?

Personally I'd suggest an 'urban'style bike, MTB frame, rigid forks, flat bar and larger tyres (26") to get some give on those strips of land your county council call 'roads'. I commute across rural Warwickshire on pretty rough roads and that is what I built for myself to do the job!

Simon

coopster_the_1st

Take a look a Cyclocross bikes.

Something like the Genesis Croix de Fer.

To me this is the perfect tough commuting bike. And this time next year we should be spoilt for choice on disk braked cross bikes which is likely to be my next communting bike purchase.

coopster_the_1st

Take a look a Cyclocross bikes.

Something like the Genesis Croix de Fer.

To me this is the perfect tough commuting bike. And this time next year we should be spoilt for choice on disk braked cross bikes which is likely to be my next communting bike purchase.

Phate

Coopster the 1st wrote:

Take a look a Cyclocross bikes.

Something like the Genesis Croix de Fer.

To me this is the perfect tough commuting bike. And this time next year we should be spoilt for choice on disk braked cross bikes which is likely to be my next communting bike purchase.

Would agree with this! Commute across Edinburgh which has some terrible areas of potholes and a lot of cobbled streets so have just bought a Cube X-Race Comp for £999, gets built up by my LBS on Monday and can't wait to get my hands on it!

thesmileyone

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Cro ... _38165.htm

I was pretty set on that but i am wondering about a commuter like the Genesis Croix.

Does it matter that i wont be wearing lycra lol ?