New lurker fancies a bike...UPDATE

joett1978

Hi everyone,
Just joined here after reading for a few days.

With rising fuels prices and waistline I'm considering getting a bike to commute the 6.5 miles each way to my current place of work.

I'm looking for some advice for a bike about £500 to get me around and be suitable on forest paths too.

I think I like the look of these three but I'm not too sure which gives most bang for the buck so

Giant Roam 2
Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disc
Cube LTD CLS Pro

These are in the shortlist because the 2 nearest independents to work keep them!

Thanks for any expert advice, not had a bike since I was 18!!

Joe

Berk Bonebonce

At that price point there are some good mountain bikes that could be 'roadified'. However, using a bike with suspension forks on the road is no fun. I suggest you have a look for mountain bikes with no suspension. Such bikes will usually take a rack and full length mudguards.

The other choice is a hybrid. These have 700c road bike wheels, unlike mountain bikes which have smaller diameter 26" wheels. Hybrids mostly take full length mudguards and a rear rack, but sometimes the ones with disc brakes do not.

If your bike has to be left in a public area avoid buying one that is nickable. They sometimes nick the parts if taking the entire bike is not possible. Perhaps think more in terms of 'function' than how a bike looks.

roger_merriman

If this for commuting then personally I'd strike off the Giant as it has V brakes, rim brakes are okay but disks are a better, for a all weather bike if you can get disks get them.

suspension is not the drag some make out, for a number of reasons.

1) bar the cheapest supermarket bikes the fork can be locked out, i.e. making it rigid.

2) set the fork to your weight with a bit of suck it and see and it will not bounce around etc.

the other thing is suspension will even out potholes and other road imperfections.

and the other other thing is any bike will do as long as it's not made from cheese I use a single speed road bike over fairly lumpy paths, ie any bike will do what you want.

joett1978

Thanks for the quick replies!

Berk, I think I'll need to keep it simple. If I start filling the garage with spare wheels etc the wife will go mental! :roll:
Must admit Roge,r the Giant has moved to the bottom of those three options, just concerned about mudguards etc with disc brakes, never had them when i was a lad and used to maintain my MTB myself so thats something else to learn about! All 3 of the options can have the front forks locked out too.

cheers

Joe

mlang

You could add to your list:
- Boardman Hybrid Comp 2011 at £499 (or the 2010, but it's not much cheaper)

I'm also curious about the pricing for 2 other new boardmans:
- HTCOMPR - a rigid forked MTB with discs
- CX Comp - a newer entry level cross bike.

Presuming they're cheaper than their stable mates, they could be very tempting. The specs are very reasonable for the price.

Like you, I'm looking for a commuter than I can use in the woods by me too. We don't have C2W anymore (no surprise, I work for DfT!) leaving me to pay for it via a monthly salary sacrifice, so I don't want to go much over £500.

As it was, my list had been pretty much the same as yours, but with a Boardman hybrid in place of the Giant.

joett1978

What a friendly lot.

Thanks for all your help, might have to bite the bullet over the weekend but currently the cube is in the lead!!

Joe

butcher of bakersfield

6.5 miles isn't a massive distance, providing there's no huge hills, so you'd get away with riding pretty much anything.

Slick or semi-slick tyres will make life easier nudging the speed up, and keeping effort at a minimum, but they won't serve you well playing in the mud on the weekend, or even so much as wet grass.

Disc brakes tend to stop you much better in the wet, making them great for trail riding, but some, including myself, will prefer a set of rim brakes on a workhorse for their ease of maintenance. But I wouldn't like to do without them on the trails. There's plenty of pannier racks and whatnot built to suit bikes with disc brakes these days, but remember not all frames will have the mounting points.

Suspension forks I don't have a problem with at all on the road, unless you're really going for it out of the saddle. Seated, I find they barely move. But rigids will help drop the weight of the bike a good bit.

It's really down to what you want to use the bike for. I dare say most of the bikes in your budget will be fairly middle of the road anyway - not too burly, and not overly quick either, but a compromise somewhere in between.

Personally, if you want to have fun on it at the weekends, I'd go more traditionally MTB orientated. Discs, suspension, nobblies with a lowish rolling resitance, etc. It'll still get you to work fine, and any old hack bike can be finely tuned for a commute, if that's the route you decided to take in the future. Going the other way could leave you feeling a bit uncomfortable trekking out into the woods..

joett1978

Well day off today so going to have a test ride with both the cube and specialized, and anything else which may appeal. wish me luck!! lol

Joe

chipandpin

Hi,

Do you have to get a new bike or are you open to a second hand bike? I recently sold my hybrid which was a Specialized Crosstrail Expert for just over £400 and it was virtually immaculate and would suit you requirements perfectly. Plus buying second hand means that when you come to change it, you can more or less get your money back on it as a well looked after bike doesn't see much depreciation.

beegee

Also slightly off topic, until disc brakes came along v brakes were highly regarded. In fact I have a bike with v brakes and the first couple of times I tried to stop I nearly fell off because it stopped so quickly.

rolf_f

roger merriman wrote:

1) bar the cheapest supermarket bikes the fork can be locked out, i.e. making it rigid.

Not strictly so - eg my coil sprung Fox Vanillas have no lockout but they are light and very, very nice! But not cheap.......

Front suspension is never a bother unless you are standing out of the saddle and the bounce is hardly the end of the world even then.

joett1978

chipandpin wrote:

Hi,

Do you have to get a new bike or are you open to a second hand bike? I recently sold my hybrid which was a Specialized Crosstrail Expert for just over £400 and it was virtually immaculate and would suit you requirements perfectly. Plus buying second hand means that when you come to change it, you can more or less get your money back on it as a well looked after bike doesn't see much depreciation.

I'm using my company to purchase a "pool bike" for all employees to use (me) so it has to be a new purchase I think.

Didn't get to go out today due to waiting for a very very late delivery. Hopefully tomorrow though.

Joe

joett1978

Just a wee update,

I bit the bulllet at the weekend and ordered the Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disc from my LBS.

Feels great to be on (although a comfier saddle might be needed till the rear gets used to it :?

I felt comfier on it than the Cube and both seem pretty evenly specced.

Part of the deal was 3 services over the first year and £50 of store credit so a nice wee start for lights/mudguards etc!!

Thanks for all the advice on here and I'll keep yous informed how the commute goes when I start it!!

Joe

The Rookie

Don't get a comfier saddle, harden your posterior up to a decent saddle, get a blancmange and it will never get used to what a saddle should feel like, longer term a nice firm narrow saddle is more comfortable than a leg spreading, thigh chafing, armchair!

Simon

joett1978

The Beginner wrote:

Don't get a comfier saddle, harden your posterior up to a decent saddle, get a blancmange and it will never get used to what a saddle should feel like, longer term a nice firm narrow saddle is more comfortable than a leg spreading, thigh chafing, armchair!

Simon

Are padded shorts allowed?!? :P :oops:

Joe

The Rookie

They are, for my 6.6 miles I don't bother - partly as changing facilities at work are minimal, so I wear the same 'grots' all day.

I use a charge spoon, nice comfy shape but nothing really in the way of padding! When I changed to the Spoon from a lightly gel padded Schwinn I was using, for a couple of days my sit bones were a little tender, but they soon hardened up.

Simon

motopatter

I'm a big fan of padded shorts, even for a 6.5mile round commute.

I take over our staff room with hanging all my clothes above the radiator so they're dry and nice and warm when I get changed to go home. (get changed in the bog).

enjoy your new bike 8)

joett1978

New bike...done.
New padded shorts...done
Trial run of commute...done (8.1 miles one way in turns out)

I really enjoyed it!!

Joe