Newbie Advise on Bike Please I'm getting in a fuddle

MedwayComputers

Hi,

I have been cycling over the last year on an old hand me down Claud Butler with large wide tyres and 18 gears. I do cycle mostly on the road but also like to explore so thought a Hybrid bike maybe the way to go.
My employer has just joined the Cycle to Work scheme so I would like to take the opportunity to purchase a new bike.
He has signed up with the Halfords scheme which after reading is not the best place to buy a bike but I had no choice on this.
I am looking at spending around £550 on the bike and my local Halfords they have recommended a Boardman brand Bike. Now whether thats a good choice I dont know but looking at the specs they seem to offer a lot.
They have adviced me to look at either of the following. The first one is a new bike so not many reviews out there but the main difference I see is that it has front suspension that can be locked off. Here are the names and links.

MX HybridRace Bike: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65534#tab2

or the Hybrid comp bike:
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165534

Now I have been doing the usual and trying to research and gain information on bikes but still confused, there are so many contradictions on things, so rather than trying to work it out myself I thought I would ask for some advice.

Can you guys help?

Many thanks,

winter_zombie

hi

i carnt give you advise on a Hybrid bike but i can tell you that my boardman team pro hard tail mountain bike is amazing.

if you were after a mountain bike, in your budget i would say go for a voodoo hoodoo or boardman. but im not a Hybrid bike rider so i cant realy advise you.

The Rookie

The Boardman hybrids are road bikes with flat bars and disc brakes and nothing like an MTB at all, they are good fast bikes but you can only really use them on the road or very smooth paths. I ride a similar Hybrid (see avatar) and it's great for cimmuting as I carry quite a lot of kit (laptop, packed lunch comes to near enough 5Kg), if you travel lighter consider a proper road bike.

The MX is a sort of touring MTB (still a hybrid which is vbeasue hybrid covers flat barred road bikes to slick shod MTB's!)....

What is right for YOU depends very much on how YOU intend to use it! If it's just commting try the commuter section, although they are road bike biased a little bit!

Nothing wrong with buying from Halfords, like any large chain there are good and bad stores, only selected stores can stock Boardmans and tend to at least be 'less worse' than some others!