What hybrid bike to get

blueagle

Hello everyone, I'm new on this site and returning to biking after about 15 years or so :-)
I'm changing jobs in 2 weeks time and the new workplace is just over 2 miles from my house so I'm thinking of commuting using a bike. I don't own one so I need to get one. I've been reading a lot about what bikes to get on bikeradar.com and other websites. I believe a hybrid would be best for me? I want a bike for commuting and occasional weekend ride. My workplace offers cyclescheme but I've been reading a lot about it and I'm not sure if its better than buying a bike cash. I don't have any set budget but ideally I'm looking to spend around £300 and I believe in Jan with sales on I'll be able to get a decent bike for that price.
So I've two questions.
1. Buy cash or go with cyclescheme?
2. What bike to get for a 4 miles round trip everyday and occasional weekend riding.

CarlosDSanchez

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165534

This is pretty good for that budget, a collegue has just bought one through the cycle to work scheme and it seems okay to me.

Avoid any form of suspension, at this price it won't be very good and will make the bike quite heavy.

blueagle

Thanks Carlos. I've also been looking at Evans Cycles, any decent one you could recommend from there for my budget? They've got couple of decently discounted GT ones. Thanks

lockstock666

I would say try some out and if you are like me you will probably find the quickest one's are quite appealing.

If your 2 miles is roads then I would recommend a road biased bike. Like others have said, avoid suspension; it isn't necessary and just costs you more and slows you down.

I ended up on a flat barred road bike. I could not believe how much quicker it was than the MTB's I'd ridden all my life. It feels like the only thing stopping you is the wind.

My current top speed is 28.8mph on a flat road. When the wind is low or favourable it is easy to hit 20+mph and stay there. 8)

Enjoy shopping around and test riding.

daffyavfc

Hi

there are a couple of Scott Sub 40 bikes on Evans cycles that are reduced by £150 to £299, nice bikes.
I also wanted a hybrid bike and managed to get a Marin second-hand one with disc brakes for £130 from Gumtree. If you know what size to get you could make quite a saving from classifieds ads. eBay bikes seem to be expensive these days.
Let us know what you go for.

blueagle

Thanks for your suggestion guys. I'm going to visit Halfords, a local bike shop and then I'll look at Evans and hopefully would make up my mind by end of the week.

Initialised

You only need suspension if you are going to ride black grade MTB trails at speed.

For a 2 mile commute get something you'll be most likely to want to use on your days off.

Sheikhus

Initialised wrote:

For a 2 mile commute get something you'll be most likely to want to use on your days off.

Agreed, you could do a 2 mile trip on pretty much any sort of bike without it affecting your journey time much, so if you think you are likely to spend weekends tackling trails, get a mtb, if you are more likely to want to do London to Brighton at some point, get a road bike. Simples.

essjaydee

Sheikhus wrote:

Initialised wrote:

For a 2 mile commute get something you'll be most likely to want to use on your days off.

Agreed, you could do a 2 mile trip on pretty much any sort of bike without it affecting your journey time much, so if you think you are likely to spend weekends tackling trails, get a mtb, if you are more likely to want to do London to Brighton at some point, get a road bike. Simples.

Agree with this....you could commute 2 miles on pretty much any kind of bike, so really think long and hard before parting with any cash. If your only going to be using it on the road, and are thinking you might want to build up to some longer weekend rides, get a road bike. Likewise if your thinking of doing some trail riding, then go for hybrid, or an MTB.

I got a Voodoo Marasa and it's been great so far and done over 800 miles on it since September 8)

essjaydee

Oh....and don't forget to budget for the additional extras (lights, pump,tube,multi-tool) and clothing, hemet etc

daffyavfc

What did you devude on?