Hi, Another newbie looking for bike advice

nirurin

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum, just been reading a lot (and I do mean a lot lol) on this and other forums and trying to find a shortlist of recommended bikes... I've narrowed things down, but its hard to figure out which bike would be better for my particular needs, so I thought I would put my thinking down here and hope someone can advise me!

I currently cycle on a very old cheap mountain bike which im borrowing. My goal is mainly fitness. I will be mostly driving on roads and pavements (around the place where i live, not through pedestrians lol), occasional cycle paths etc. The chances of me doing anything majorly "offroad" is slim, beyond riding across some grass areas maybe. Dirt tracks perhaps...

I will want to be able to fit decent mudguards anyway to protect from water, as I plan to try and keep riding during the winter months.
Most importantly, I want the bike to be a comfortable ride. The roads around here are pretty bad, bumpy and occasional potholes etc, so super-skinny road tyres and a solid frame will be a shaking nightmare lol.

So I have been looking at hybrids for the most part, attempting to find ones that are closer to the Roadbike end of the spectrum. Also looked at a couple road bikes, but I suspect they would be a bit uncomfortable to ride, relatively speaking.

My list of possibilities:

Carrera Subway £299 (seems to get recommended a lot)
Triban 300 £279
Triban 500se £339
Ridgeback Velocity £279
Norco VFR 3 or VFR 4 £289 and £329

also looked at the BTwin NeWork 5 and the Ridgeback Sport, as they both come with a variety of accessories... but im uncertain about their quality compared to these others.

The tribans are the best road bikes on the list, but not sure about their comfort for a relatively new rider, especially on rough roads.

Hopefully I'll get some advice, or some other suggestions! I think this is everything, I've written this at work so I may have missed something :P

Thanks!

Edit: immediately realized I didn't put a budget -.-
My aim is to spend £300, and then I will buy guards and lights on top of that. I can go over if the bike is worth it, but less would be better if theres decent bike

nirurin

Edited original post with links and corrections

SoSimple

For that budget, has to be the Triban all the way, assuming you can find one in stock.

You'll be advised to up the budget or go secondhand but save yourself time and effort and get a great first road bike that has been well reviewed.

nirurin

Which Triban do you mean?

Problem is, while I know they are great road bikes, the skinny tyres are going to be bumpy as hell on rough country roads I imagine?

SoSimple

Either - depending whether you go want to go over or under your £300 budget- you won't go wrong with a Triban for the money.

If you are worrying about skinny tyres and bumpy roads, you need to consider either a hybrid or MTB.

All roads in UK are pretty rubbish but whether you go 23,25 or even 28mm, you're gonna get 'feedback', so I'll say it before someone else does...MTFU and get a road bike and avoid as many pot holes as you can!

nirurin

The rest of the bikes on the list were hybrids, though the triban is tempting. but if i end up needing to replace the tyres and saddle to make it comfortable to ride then its a bit of a waste.

Avoiding rough road edges / gratings / potholes isnt really an option on country roads, when a car comes you have to tuck towards the road edge, and the edges of the roads around here are just grass or broken stone. I expect a road bike will survive it though.. i dunno never actually tried one on it.

edit:
Seems the kind of bike im looking for is a cyclocross or a touring bike, but neither of these seem to be available for this kind of money. I'd have to double my budget.

SoSimple

You probably need to decide between road bike and hybrid from an aesthetics point of view.

If you want a road bike, you'll cope with the roads- as we all seem to. Saddle will be more to do with the connection with your @rse than roads but 25mm tyres and a new saddle is a cheap upgrade if you do want a road bike.

I ride almost exclusively on the type of roads you mention and a half decent frame with carbon forks covers most angles.

nirurin

Are cromoly forks any good? I know the tribans used to have carbon forks on the old models (at least I think they did) but the current ones are cromoloy. Not sure how good they are with absorbing vibrations.

May look into what size tyres I can fit onto a triban before i make a final decision, thanks for the thought though.

edit:
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/product ... 2fbicycles

carbon forks, mudguards, seems like a decent bike to my amateur eyes anyway

nirurin

Ok I tried out a few bikes today, just for comfort in position etc.

Drop bar bikes are ok, but the low riding position didnt really suit me for various reasons. Rather have a more upright riding position.

Are there any options for me? I know flat bar bikes would all befine, any drop bar bike options with less of a bent over race geometry?