Choosing bikes help please

peenutbutter

Hi,

My hubby and i are complete newbies to cycling. We both want to lose some weight and get fit.Both nearing our 50's, and i have severe allergic asthma (its bothers me a little during exercise but only because i am fat & have sat on my backside for years!)
We are going out to Halfords tonight to look at bikes and don't have a clue what we are looking for

We live right next to the coast to coast route, so would mainly be on there or roads and maybe once on a while off-road when we are a bit fitter.

We dont want to spend a lot on money on them right now just incase we don't like it or i struggle. Somewhere in the region of £300-350 for the two bikes. If we enjoy it we will buy better bikes next year.

I also know i am over the weight limit for most bikes ..I am 5 foot 5 inches and 242 lbs, my hubby is 6 foot 2 inches and 234 lbs.

I realise i am asking a lot for not a lot of money, but could anyone offer any advice on what to buy please?

Jayme

If you're budget is £300-£350 each, I would suggest something like the carrera subway 2 which is currently on offer for £280. Decent spec for the price. If it is a total of £350 max together, I would suggest going used. Not sure where in the UK you are located, but I know in Bristol, there is the Bristol Bike Workshop which rebuilds used bikes and sells them on with proceeds going to charity.

Mad_Malx

The Yorkshire Dales end of the coast to coast will be very challenging in places (Skipton - Pateley Bridge), or are you talking Ilfracombe to Plymouth (which is fairly flat)?

As complete newbies I think you should be looking at hybrids. Since you are a little out of shape you are probably going to need some low gears, which probably means a triple (three rings at the front) in that price range.

Avoid the Apollo range - it really is complete garbage. Avoid suspension forks - very poor quality and heavy in that price.
range. Carreras can be ok, and Boardmans good if you can get into your price range.
The best value bikes in that price range are often from Decathalon if you are not too far away from one.

Might well be worth chatting to any neighbours you see on bikes, but you need someone with a realistic perspective. Local branches of cycling organisations will have someone who will be happy to advise, but at this forum will show there are some wildly varying opinions.

Edit - and agree with above posters.
If you are saying £350 total, you definitely should go second hand. The recycling workshops (usually run as not-for-profit) should be reliable.

peenutbutter

Thank you

Yes, we were looking at £350 for both, just in case we don't like it or my asthma doesnt cope with then (then we have not lost too much money).

We live in Consett, County Durham, so we are C2C sorry not Coast to Coast.

Will look at some local shops or second hand bicycles after the advice i think.

keef66

Tricky one if that's your total budget for new bikes. Decathlon are good value. I'd say go for hybrids so you get wider tyres and a more upright position. No pointless suspension forks. I got back into cycling after a 20 year absence on a £50 MTB shaped object I bought in a box off a bloke on a disused garage forecourt.

You could get more for your money buying used, but you'd really need the help of somebody who knows bikes to ensure you get the right sizes and don't end up paying too much.

Cycling's a great way to improve your cardiovascular fitness, but expect it to be very hard work to start with. Stick at it, build up very gradually, and you will see improvements. Also be aware that you really have to do a lot of cycling to lose weight. In spite of rediscovering cycling in middle age I still steadily gained weight round my middle. Only managed to lose it again when I tried the 5:2 diet. So impressed with the results I eat like that all the time now. 4 years on and my weight stays right where I want it. I'm persuaded there are loads of other health benefits too.

peenutbutter

Luckily it seems we have a Decathlon shop only about 30 minutes away

Will head there tonight instead of Halfords.

I'm hoping a combination of Slimming World and cycling will get the weight off and improve my lung capacity eventually, with the added bonus of us actually spending some time together. Slightly daunted as the last bike i owned was a chopper in the 70's !, i just hope i can remember what to do

Jayme

There is also a second hand bike shop in Durham called Recyke y'Bike. http://recyke-y-bike.org/shops/

Might be worth giving them a shout as well.

Mad_Malx

No experience of them, but the Decathalon Riverside 120 fits your price and looks ok. Significantly better than the 100.

But do check out the recycle schemes too.

peenutbutter

Thank you for all the help and advice guys

crescent

Agree with much of the advice above. Definitely accept that fitness and weight loss will not happen overnight and the first few runs on your bike will be very hard work. Set yourself realistic goals and timely targets and make sure you enjoy it enough that you look forward to doing it again. If you sicken yourself by trying to do too much, too soon you will hate it from the start. If you persevere, though, it is so worth it. I understand the reasoning for not wanting to spend too much, in case it doesn’t work out for you, but buying poor quality bikes will make it even harder. Halfords do some decent bikes but aim for Carrera and Boardman rather than Apollo etc, they are very poor despite looking like a bargain. Weight loss has to come from diet as well, although it sounds like you are working on that as well. If you do opt for a cheap and cheerful bike to start out with (nothing wrong with that) then how about treating yourself to an upgrade when you hit a weight loss goal. By that time you will better understand what you like and don’t like about a bike and will be in a position to make a more informed decision for your next bike. Good luck, it’s a great hobby. If it gets under your skin it will change your life.

keef66

Mad_Malx wrote:

No experience of them, but the Decathalon Riverside 120 fits your price and looks ok. Significantly better than the 100.

That's what I concluded too when I had a quick look at their website. The 120 seems to fit the bill and appears pretty good VFM

fenix

Good luck with it.

Cycling is a very efficient way to move though - so you don't burn a huge amount of calories per mile.

You can easily out eat whatever you burn off on a bike - so diet is going to be the key. You need to eat less calories than you burn off.

I'd think a system change is needed. Use the bikes. Walk more. Stay active.

Good luck with it - it's worth sticking with.

keef66

I was 40 something before I got my £50 bike shaped object, and didn't buy a proper road bike till my 50th birthday, so it's never too late to take up cycling. And it's such a low impact way of improving cardiovascular fitness. I can't run because my knees are knackered, and I find swimming too boring, but I can be on a bike all day. So start small, build up gradually, keep it enjoyable and stick with it and you'll definitely reap the benefits, both physical and mental.

I'll be 61 in a couple of months, and the bikes plus the 5:2 mean I'm fitter and slimmer than I've been since my early 20s.

peenutbutter

Thanks all

I bought the Riverside 120 and my hubby bought the Rockrider 340 (i think), as he did not like the Riverside bike. The guy we spoke to said the Rockrider while a mountain bike should still be good for cycleways and small trails.

We are going to take them out on Sunday hopefully, if we can get a bike carrier fitted to the car. We live near to the Derwent Reservoir, which has a very easy flat track around it, only a mile and a half or so.

We are definitely going to buy good bikes if we get into it

Mad_Malx

Hope you enjoy yourself. Let us know how you get on.

shirley_basso

Fantastic stuff. Best of luck and enjoy it!

fenix

If you have to put the bikes on the car then there's an obstacle for you already.

Your exercise routine needs to be as easy as possible. I'm sure there must be some quiet roads you could play around on the bikes first. Look for bike paths too - you've probably not noticed them before.

bretttt

keef66 wrote:

5:2 mean I'm fitter and slimmer than I've been since my early 20s.

sorry to derail, any tips on where to get started on the 5:2 , books or websites you recommend ?

obvioulsy Googles great but always nice to hear from someone like yourself

thanks

trekvet

Until keeff66 comes back, we are on a 5:2. I'd say it the easiest diet for us as we eat very restricted anyway. I looked at website's and they all go for cooking, preparation, and variety, which doesn't suit us oaps; so I worked out the 500 cal fasting days, and we have a choice a few items. It works for us as we only buy in, maybe 2 or 3 times a week, what we are eating. Bread, cake, buscutis, bbq, pizza, evening meals, etc. are all out. But 1/2 a F&C on Saturday's is in :-).

Ps. The wife lost a stone in 3 mths.

keef66

Fast days Monday and Thursday, mug of tea to wake me up then just water till 18:30 when we have something like beans or poached eggs on toast, pizza and salad, fish and veg. I can make it through the fast days knowing I can eat normally the next. I did read the book but the recipes were all a bit weird because they were trying to eke out the 5-600 cals over 3 tiny meals. Much easier to save them all for a proper meal IME