HOY Hybrid

kennywilde

Hi

just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this http://www.evanscycles.com/products/hoy ... 18#answers I'm still undecided on my purchase so just chucking this in the mix. doing the ride 2 work scheme

I'm not sure about having 8 gears? Quite hilly where i live. Whats everyones experiance of 8 gears?

Good components for the money?

Cheers

kennywilde

bump! anyone have any comments on the bike? cheers

supersonic

Is a good weight. But it is missing a lot of gears! 8 gears are fine unless you must have the extremes - i like a full spread.

It does look rather basic, and is not as light as the Decathlon Fit 5 which is also 200 quid cheaper and better equipped.

http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk/p56632 ... -Bike.aspx

Carbon fork, 27 speed.

kennywilde

Nice one, thanks. Will stick to my other choices

prawny

I'd say it would depend on your commute, for a suburban/slightly extra-urban commute I reckon it would be spot on as long as you don't have any ridiculous hills.

I quite like the look of that myself actually. Less gears = less faffing, and easier to change punctures by the road than a hub gear.

Edit - also depends what you mean by quite hilly, I'd say it was quite hilly where I live but you'd be fine, I'd say where supersonic lives is a bit more than quite hilly.

rolf_f

Actually, the bike is compromised at the top end rather than the slow end - it will be fine for hills.

38 tooth chainring and 11-32 cassette. That makes the low gear equivalent to about 34-29 which is pretty kind!

Top end though is equivalent to around the 50-14 mark and therefore a bit slow. Unless you are very unfit, the sort of place that can use 34-29 is also the sort of place that will have you cursing the lack of top end speed on the descents!

Personally, I think for the less hilly parts of the country, a single chainring is a sadly underutilised approach. Why is there rarely anything between single speed and 18 speed? It makes no sense at all.

The Rookie

Just for refernace I run 1x9 on my commuter (gearing selected to match known min and max gearing I need on my commute) and I run 46T front 11-26T rear and can cope easily with the 10% gradients on my commute, so I'd say that Hoy hybrid was very short geared.

kennywilde

Thanks guys. I guess Nottingham is not the Peaks but some decent hills, never use my lower gear thing though if that helps? (I got 27 gears) Sorry I'm not as technical as you guys

Theres a very steep hill next to the shop so will test it up that, also plenty of flat too though so concerned about top end. worst case scenario I get entered to win one.

The Rookie

Check out the fit5 at Decathlon http://www.decathlon.co.uk/fit-5-road-b ... 39798.html

Cheaper, lighter, better gearing....

kennywilde

The Beginner wrote:

Check out the fit5 at Decathlon http://www.decathlon.co.uk/fit-5-road-b ... 39798.html

Cheaper, lighter, better gearing....

Looks like a nice bike. However I'm buying loads of extras and its all including with the discount on the ride2work scheme. So I work out paying £400 over the 12 months for a £500 bike (Think ive narrowed it down to http://www.evanscycles.com/products/kon ... e-ec034478 and http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec044189 ) plus a helmet, lock, bar ends, speedo and 2 tyres. The decathlon is £350 instore so £50 for all those accessories sounds like a win you think?

prawny

kennywilde wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Check out the fit5 at Decathlon http://www.decathlon.co.uk/fit-5-road-b ... 39798.html

Cheaper, lighter, better gearing....

Looks like a nice bike. However I'm buying loads of extras and its all including with the discount on the ride2work scheme. So I work out paying £400 over the 12 months for a £500 bike (Think ive narrowed it down to http://www.evanscycles.com/products/kon ... e-ec034478 and http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec044189 ) plus a helmet, lock, bar ends, speedo and 2 tyres. The decathlon is £350 instore so £50 for all those accessories sounds like a win you think?

Decthathlon do cyclescheme if that's an option. I got one of mine from there.

bucklb

I currently use an 8 gear bike (previously used a 24 speed). I reckon I still have all the useful gear ratios I had on the 24 speed. Under normal circumstances I only really use 4 of the gears anyway.

The real plus for me is the simplification of the gears - if I want to go faster I just flick up a gear without having to check whether I need to go up a gear on the front and down a gear (or two) on the back and co-ordinate the two changes.

I really don't miss having a theoretical 24 gear combinations to select from.

The Rookie

kennywilde wrote:

Looks like a nice bike. However I'm buying loads of extras and its all including with the discount on the ride2work scheme. So I work out paying £400 over the 12 months for a £500 bike

Does that inlcude the final payment?

kennywilde

There is no final payment. I just pay for 12months then my company hands the bike over at the end. I nearly went for the decathlon fit 5 but none near me!

kennywilde

prawny wrote:

kennywilde wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Check out the fit5 at Decathlon http://www.decathlon.co.uk/fit-5-road-b ... 39798.html

Cheaper, lighter, better gearing....

Looks like a nice bike. However I'm buying loads of extras and its all including with the discount on the ride2work scheme. So I work out paying £400 over the 12 months for a £500 bike (Think ive narrowed it down to http://www.evanscycles.com/products/kon ... e-ec034478 and http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec044189 ) plus a helmet, lock, bar ends, speedo and 2 tyres. The decathlon is £350 instore so £50 for all those accessories sounds like a win you think?

Decthathlon do cyclescheme if that's an option. I got one of mine from there.

Mine only deal with Evans afraid. I was thinking of just buying the bike from Decathlon and the accessories from Evans but they havnt any in store near me and I'd like to try first and also as per my other post I'm not that technical and you have to build it etc

Cheers

kennywilde

bucklb wrote:

I currently use an 8 gear bike (previously used a 24 speed). I reckon I still have all the useful gear ratios I had on the 24 speed. Under normal circumstances I only really use 4 of the gears anyway.

The real plus for me is the simplification of the gears - if I want to go faster I just flick up a gear without having to check whether I need to go up a gear on the front and down a gear (or two) on the back and co-ordinate the two changes.

I really don't miss having a theoretical 24 gear combinations to select from.

Good to know. What's your commute like though?

The Rookie

The Beginner wrote:

Just for referance I run 1x9 on my commuter (gearing selected to match known min and max gearing I need on my commute) and I run 46T front 11-26T rear and can cope easily with the 10% gradients on my commute, so I'd say that Hoy hybrid was very short geared.

Maybe this helps as my 1x9 with an 11-26 cassette is a narrower range of gears than the Hoy with 11-32, my bike is 9.75Kg but with a laptop and lunch etc I am carrying over 6Kg on the rack (Inclucing the rack weight).

kennywilde

The Beginner wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Just for referance I run 1x9 on my commuter (gearing selected to match known min and max gearing I need on my commute) and I run 46T front 11-26T rear and can cope easily with the 10% gradients on my commute, so I'd say that Hoy hybrid was very short geared.

Maybe this helps as my 1x9 with an 11-26 cassette is a narrower range of gears than the Hoy with 11-32, my bike is 9.75Kg but with a laptop and lunch etc I am carrying over 6Kg on the rack (Inclucing the rack weight).

Sounds like you do alright then. However i'm still lost with the short and narrower gears malarky! Sorry! Will ask someone face to face, just not getting it. Does shorter mean harder to pedal therefore faster? Best I can come up with

chrisaitchison

I won't pretend to be anything else other than a fairly novice rider. I cycle around the rather flat area of Croyon and light park trails etc I went for the Shizouko 2 and it's fantastic for my needs. I'd rather be concentrating on my cycling and what's around me than faffing with gears and this helps me do just that.

I'd take Evans over Decathlon any day of the week for superior knowledge and range. I used to live very near a Decathlon and as an avid ski enthusiast I used to regularly hear them give incorect and sometimes dangerous advice.

supersonic

That doesn't mean the cycle staff don't know what they are talking about, and certainly doesn't mean Evans will be any better.

As for gears it depends on the terrain.

bucklb

kennywilde wrote:

bucklb wrote:

I currently use an 8 gear bike (previously used a 24 speed). I reckon I still have all the useful gear ratios I had on the 24 speed. Under normal circumstances I only really use 4 of the gears anyway.

The real plus for me is the simplification of the gears - if I want to go faster I just flick up a gear without having to check whether I need to go up a gear on the front and down a gear (or two) on the back and co-ordinate the two changes.

I really don't miss having a theoretical 24 gear combinations to select from.

Good to know. What's your commute like though?

Just seen your qustion. Sorry.

I commute from the coast & across Newcastle so there's not a great deal of hill to contend with (not entirely sure if I think that's a good or bad thing) but there are some short sharp slopes (up from the tyne) and long slow drags. There's nothing that I've not had gears to spare to deal with.

I sat down and worked out the gear ratios I was getting on my previous bike (24 in theory, but I never ever used the samllest of the front rings) and the ones I get on the 8. I got all the gear ratios I actually use - lost very little off the top & some off the bottom but with a "mega range"(?) cassette I've extended to get the lower gearing too, not that I use it.

Big_Paul

I do a lot of commuting on my big Corratec with the 8 speed Nexus hub, some of it involves a climb up to my lock up, bits of which are a 8% gradient, this is on a bike that weighs the guts of 40lbs, you don't always have the "right" gear, but you'll go up most things with a 8 or 9 speed. Don't forget that 5 or 10 speed was plenty not that many years ago.

supersonic

Some streets near me are above 30% lol

Daz555

kennywilde wrote:

There is no final payment. I just pay for 12months then my company hands the bike over at the end. I nearly went for the decathlon fit 5 but none near me!

I'd not mention that to HMRC. Renting a bike for 12 months from your company is fine but for them to then gift it to you is a benefit and therefore subject to tax.