Hello from Manchester! Advice Needed

rtjdesign

Hi All!

Im from Whitefield in Manchester and looking to take cycling a bit more serious, I have a few friends with a mixture of road bikes and mountain bikes.

For myself I want to do more canal side trails, with the occasional road pursuit such as the manchester to blackpool events etc.

I was thinking possibly a hybrid would be the way forward and have had some advice to go with a 29er. My budget is £1000 to throw at getting a bike alone.

The problem is with all these brands which way do I go and how much difference is there?

If anyone could help with a bit of advice it would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

u05harrisb

if your looking at taking it seriously and your looking for a do it all bike id seriously consider a cyclocross bike! its basically a road bike type bike that has knobbly tires thats stronger so can go off road, well worth taking a look at! that way your able to keep up with road bike riders and mtb stuff unless its major off roading but probably wont be i assume. so yeah id look at that and your in the perfect season for buying one as cyclocross season is just starting otherwise there a bit hard to get hold of! theres plenty floating around online secondhand both here and the bay for example that would give you plenty of change for 1k. I would probably spend between £300-£700 depending upon what your after second hand or new for example then spend the rest on some decent cycling gear like clip shoes and pedals bike computer bottle cage good shorts and jersey thermals etc.
Ben

rtjdesign

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the advice, I think I'm going to be using the cycle2work scheme so buying it From a local store may be the best I know leisure lakes bikes near me do this so something they stock would be ideal. With the cycle2work scheme I get %32 off anything up to £1000

I already have thermals an have taken into consideration the rest of the gear as a separate budget.

Cheers

u05harrisb

awhh cool well the C2C scheme is ment to be great, have you factored in a lock? dont want to get to work and realise owh cant lock it haha yeah well for £1320 youd get yourself a cracking cross bike! if you use the search function on the site theres loads all about cross bike and utube it to see the racing they so, crazy! more than enough for everything haha giant and specialized come to mind first for cross bike but take a look at the revies section of the site and check into a few lof your most local stores to see what they have to offer but i think a cross bike would be right up your street. later down the line if you just do road you can even just pop road tyres onto the bike then away you go!
Ben

rtjdesign

Well it has to be under £1000 to get the discount.

What are your thoughts on 29ers? I'm looking at cyclocross they look really nice! What's the advantages and disadvantages of both.

u05harrisb

Awhh okay cool, sorry im not quite sure how it all works but yeh theres no need to spend more than a grand on a CX bike really anyway to be fair. ive used one of the giant tcx3 bikes and they were great and i think there like 6-700ish i think. if you think of 29ers as a mountain bike basically because thats what they are. so as with 26ers the 29er will be slower and more sluggish on the road so what you really have to do is decided if your gonna do one more than the other. if you get a mountain bike either in a 26 or 29 you can still go road riding with it and youll be fine however you cant really off road a road bike bar easy towpath sort of stuff so you just need to choose if your in one camp rather than both. however with a CX bike you will be slap bang in the middle and be able to do either unless you want to do major jumpy type mtb stuff. so if you chose that youd rather have a mtb then the next choice is 26 or 29. allegedly 29ers are more comfortable and thus quicker however it is a highly debatable subject! i ride and race a 26, but thats because i bought it before 29er became at an accessible price point however if i were to buy a new one now i would ride some and consider them. however they are often more expensive for what you get as they are still a bit niche. so the 26er 29er thing is unfortunately only something you can answer by trything them out yourself. if you get one instead of the other your not going to be at a disadvantage by anyway means. i still race a 26er against 29ers. sometimes they beat me sometimes i beat them, its just the way it goes. halfords do a good CX bike and i think they do the C2C scheme too?! worth a look incase however they are good bikes but not always well put together by the staff, depends upon which shop you get it from. but thats for a whole other thread...wait theres already loads hahaha!
Ben

johnp801

Hi, you seem to be in a similar position that we were in (me and the ball and chain), clueless but keen (well, I've gone fanatical). As you are able to benefit from the cycle 2 work scheme, you are laughing. We never considered maxing it out to a grand but around the £700 mark, rockhopper 8.1 from decathlon, Voodoo Hoodoo, Carrera Fury, perhaps? That is for the bike plus bits.
We had to buy used and ended up with Carrerra Kraken (2005) and Carrera Fury (2008) of which I upgraded the Kraken forks to Rockshox Recon Silver TK and renewed the chain and cassette.
My point is, I think both these bikes go brilliant and into the bargain, I have learnt to maintain and upgrade them myself and also learnt more about bikes, which I think you will find is essential in the long run.
I wouldn't put tuppence of value on fancy jackets, jumpers, shoes or shorts and if you have more money to throw at the bike, put it into upgrading chainsets, transmission, brakes, wheels and tyres.
There is a lot to be said for knowing by experience, what difference, different tyres, chainsets, transmission actually make...so you can make your decisions based on knowing what benefit will be actually gained (or not)

Captainlip

Hi Fella,

Pop into cookson cycles whitefield and I can show you some options and get you fitted on the right bike.