Stick with Hybrid or get a road bike?

chadders81

Get a second hand road bike for £300 from eBay. Something with Shimano Tiagra or better should come in for about that. Budget £100 to get it serviced (or do it yourself if you know how, unlike me). Then, if you don't like it, whack it back on eBay, collect your money and splash out on a hybrid.

But you will like it. You'll soon be sneering sideways at anybody with a flat bar as you pass them.

jejv

Greg T wrote:

You can't go wrong, no-one EVER swaps from a Road bike to a hybrid but plenty trade up.

Not in the winter ?

As a special service, I can fit ice tyres to any road bike. But you need to bring a couple of litres of coarse valve grinding paste.

jejv

SimonAH wrote:

A very inexpensive quick change would be order a bullhorns bar (charge slice are very good) and fit them to your hybrid. I have them on my fixie and can get damn near a aero as on drops,

Right. Absolutely.
But you have a fixie. With road brake lever.
MTB controls won't fit. Bar is too fat. MTB controls need a 22.2mm bar.

If a 22.2mm bullhorn bar did exist, yes, it would mostly make drop bars redundant -
since ~90% of folk with drop bars spend ~99% of their time on the hoods.

davis

chbenson wrote:

I dont think im gonna go for a carbon bike and possible may spend a lot less on a bike as if this happens with a £1.5k bike i would not be impressed. I do really enjoy the journey everyday, albeit it is very scary. I may just spend around £3-400 on a cheap road bike i think, any suggestions? Many Thanks!

http://www.southdownsbikes.com/m1b0s149p11056/TREK-1-2-T-2011? It's basically new

[edit] Obviously depends on your size though. That's a 54cm

veronese68

I must admit I find bar ends on flat bars work well. Gives you the opportunity to change hand position if you get the urge to change position. They just seem to be out of fashion.

MrChuck

flimflam_machine wrote:

It doesn't logically follow from that, however, that for any and all journeys on road a road bike is better than a hybrid.

For example, over my 6-mile urban commute I'm perfectly happy on my road bike (admittedly a fairly old one) or my hybrid (26" wheels with bar-ends). The hybrid is quicker away from the lights, has sharper brakes, turns tighter, deals better with rough sections and, since it has more nimble handling, is generally more confidence inspiring and "chuckable". The road bike is longer-legged and more fun over the long open sections and has nice comfy hand positions. So I reckon it depends entirely on what your commute involves. Assuming that the OP's 34-mile round trip isn't all stop-start, then a road bike sounds like a good investment.

And, of course, n+1

I'd agree with that. I've got a pretty decent road bike, but my Trek FX hybrid was miles better for getting round town on (before it got nicked). The marginal difference in speed was more than made up for by better tyres, brakes, full mudguards, and more upright position. Of course that's over my commuting routes- if the OP's involve open roads and not much stop-start faffing about with traffic, junctions and lights then a road bike probably is the best bet. But as flimflam says just because it's on the road it doesn't mean a road bike is automatically the best tool for the job.

jimmypippa

Cross bike or tourer?