Advice needed for a newbie to cycling

Pipster2797

Hi I'm new to cycling and would really appreciate some help to get started with a bike to keep fit

Just to give you a bit of background. Always been quite active and played a lot of footy for years. Couple of years ago I had to give up (now aged 37) because of arthritis so for the last couple of years I haven't done much in the way of fitness. My doctor had advised me to give up football and keep away from sports like running and putting pressure on my knee and suggested that I look at cycling and swimming. So I've chosen cycling as don't really fancy swimming.

I'm not interested in off road biking because I live in the Whitley Bay area in the north east and my partner live is Cramlington (we plan to move in together shortly) and there are some amazing roads with scenery to ride around in North Tyneside and Northumberland. I love the idea of being able to hit the road on my own regardless of the weather, so I know it is road cycling that I want to do.

I'm not interested in doing this to be competitive. It is just for fitness and a hobby. I'm not looking for the latest and greatest bike and would like to spend around £300-£400 on a bike. Could anyone suggest some recommendations on what to look for and anything else would be much appreciated too.

dj58

If this is your first road bike your may be better going to a local bike shop/s, (LBS) so that you can sit on some different models and try them for size. You want to look at bikes with compact gearing, 50/34T crankset at the front and a wide range cassette on the rear wheel e.g. 12-30T, 11-32T, at your budget if buying new the bike will more than likely be 16sp or 18sp.

Depending on your flexibility you may want to consider a bike with endurance or sportive type geometry, shorter top tube, longer headtube, for a upright position and longer wheelbase for stability. Don't forget you will need accessories, spare inner tubes, puncture repair kit and pump, clothing, cycling shorts, top gloves, shoes and helmet, water bottle/s and cage/s.

zak3737

Look 2nd hand, on EBay or Gumtree, and with care, you'll get yourself a lot of bike for £400.
But be careful re Geometry etc, perhaps do some research online or local bike stores to decide, before plunging in.
I bought a fantastic Trek for £325, but it was a little too 'racey' for me, so ended up spending more to get a Roubaix.
Factor in all the extras you will want/need too, clothes/shoes and accessories etc, plus a good helmet and glasses, this can all add up, as I am now all too aware !!

Mind you, I'm fitter, so all good :-)

Oh - and as someone who also has a fairly knackered knee too, it's the best thing I've done for it, building up quads is always going to help a problem knee, so good luck.

keef66

I returned to road cycling at the age of 50 after a 25 year absence, during which I knackered both my knees playing football and carrying too much stuff up and down mountains. Still recovering from a second bout of cartilage surgery when I test rode the bike I ended up buying. That was 8 years and thousands of miles ago; I'm still trying to prove the consultant wrong; he said I'd need new knee joints by the time I'm 60 :shock:

I can recommend speaking to a bike shop or two, get an idea of what you can get for the money and maybe sit on a few to get a feel for sizing. Getting the right size bike is really the most important thing.

Boardman bikes from Halfords are generally good value for money, and so are the Triban range from Decathlon

Internet based retailers like Planet X, Ribble, Merlin tend to offer best value for money, but you can't easily get to see the bikes in the flesh. They provide sizing guides, alternatively there are some online bike fit calculators that you can use to find out what size frame would suit you.

You can find bargains second hand, but if you don't know what you're looking for, there's also some utter rubbish out there. The last thing you want is to buy a bike and then find it needs £250 spending on it. Do you know any cyclists who could cast an eye over any potential purchases with you? Any local cycling clubs you could ask? Somebody may even have a bike they'd sell you...

keef66

Decathlon £330: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-se-road-bike-black-id_8306187.html

Merlin £350: http://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-performance-pr7-road-bike-73113.html

Ribble £400: http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sed/road-track-bike/ribble-prime-shimano-claris-special-edition?part=SE14PRIMERIBCLARIS&sub=conf_SERW

PX £550: http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXRT58ALUAPEX/planet-x-rt-58-alloy-sram-apex-road-bike

(but they often do special deals so keep your eyes on their website)

cycleclinic

The best advise is just enjoy riding. You will learn as you go along. Everyone does no matter how much advise you are given at the begining.

The second bit of advise I would give is when buying a bike look past the groupset because all groupsets change gear. Ensure the the bike comes with decent rubber and has wheels you can buy spares for like a freehub body. Nothing worse than after a few thousand miles you have spend ££'s on new wheels because they need a new freehub which you cant get (which is the case with most wheels on cheap bikes)

Third bit of advise is join a club. Then see what second hand bikes members are selling. there will be knowledge folk who will help you out if its a nice club. Also most shops give club discounts so you end up saving money in the long run.

A second hand bike could be a better buy for the £400 mark.

crannman

I returned to cycling at the age of 50 just wanted to get fit first bike Carrera virtuoso Halfords did the job for me

markhewitt1978

I'm not interested in doing this to be competitive. It is just for fitness and a hobby. I'm not looking for the latest and greatest bike and would like to spend around £300-£400 on a bike. Could anyone suggest some recommendations on what to look for and anything else would be much appreciated too.

First advice is regarding budget! Did you base the £300-400 on anything? Because if you can go up to about £500 then your choices open up massively. While I understand you don't want to spend loads on your first bike, you don't want to get anything which is so crappy it'll put you off cycling before you've even really started!

Something like this would be ok http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/11-c-h2-2015-road-bike-ec053978

If you can get yourself to the Metro Centre they've got as big a range of bikes to look at as anywhere else in the region I've seen.