Complete newbie needing advice

darrent71

Hi folks, I recently turned 49 and after years of playing football I've pretty bad knees so can't run and only tend to do low impact cardio at the gym. With lockdown in place I needed some form of exercise so decided to hop on my old hybrid Northside 100 bike I bought several years ago from Decathlon!
Where I live is quite hilly so over the last so many weeks I've started off doing around 6 mile cycles building up to more recently over 20 miles.
I must say I'm really enjoying it and challenging myself with more difficult routes. I'm at the point now where I'm seriously considering a proper road bike, getting fed up watching guys cycle past me with less effort while my pedals won't go any faster lol.
So my question is what would be a decent entry point and do you have any tips? I can get a bike via the cycle to work scheme but with them in short supply realistically I'm looking at a Lapierre Sensium https://www.jmhcycles.co.uk/lapierre-sensium-al-100-2020-d3105200-2982?search=sensium
Thanks!

florerider

His website also shows Trek Domane Al3, recommended as a good winter bike. I have one and its my winter bike, happy with it. Bit more money but Sora over Claris probably worth it. Takes full guards too, so good for wet weather.

dj58

There is nothing wrong with your choice for a starter bike, it has a low gear ratio of 1 to 1 with 50/34T - 11/34T. As above if you want to ride all year round, look for a bike that will take full length mudguards and 28c tyres. If you can stretch your budget consider a bike with 9/10 speed transmission.

darrent71

Thanks for your advice guys, I'll not pretend to understand gears, so 9/10 speed gives me more power? Also I'm only 5ft 3 so am limited with frame size!

pilot_pete

Your size could be a good thing as those sizes are bought least! Unfortunately they aren’t stocked in great numbers either though. Normally bargains are the really big and really small sizes in a range when the new models are released (2021 bikes will be on the market very shortly believe it or not!)

However, with the boom in bike sales you are going to struggle to find any bargains right now as everything is selling out!

If your budget can stretch to around £1000 it gives you much more choice and of course you will be saving your nominal tax rate on cycle to work.

More gears won’t give you more power - your power is your leg muscles, gears don’t change that, fitness and training (just more cycling!) improve your power and endurance. What more gears do is give you a greater selection of gear ratios, less spaced apart, so it is easier to find an optimum ratio (so your legs aren’t spinning too fast or you are grinding it out turning them over really slowly) You can still do that obviously with incorrect gear selection, but the jump between gears is less when you have a greater number to choose from, so finding one that is just right for the speed/ slope should be easier.

What is important for you as a beginner living in a hilly area is having LOW ENOUGH gears to get up hills. Your lowest gear is the small ring on the front and the biggest cog on the back. Look for a 34/50 front chainring combo and at least a 30 if not 32 or 34 biggest cog on the back. 34 front with a 34 back is obviously a gear ratio of 1:1 and you should be able to get up steep stuff with that whilst still being able to ‘spin’ the cranks around as opposed to standing on the pedal with all your weight trying to get them to turn over!

If you ask, you may find a bike shop is willing to swap the cassette (block of gears on the back) on a new purchase. The biggest cog will be limited by the capacity of the rear derailleur - depends on the length of the derailleur cage (the frame that holds the two little jockey wheels). A standard ‘short cage’ would not be able to accommodate a really large cog on the back. A medium or long cage can. All depends what derailleur is fitted to the bike you choose. Ask in the shop and they will tell you.

Quite a few bikes on that website for under £1000 have Shimano Tiagra groupsets fitted, which are a bit higher up in the Shimano groupset hierarchy - those are 10speed (with two chainrings up front and 10 cogs on the back, giving you 20 total gears).

Other things to think about are the geometry of the bike - do you want full on race bike or a more upright, comfortable road bike? To the uneducated eye they all look the same, but a more upright (sometimes called ‘sportive’ geometry) tends to have a taller head tube (from the top of the forks to below the handlebar stem). This places your handlebars higher up in relation to your saddle, thus you aren’t as bent over when riding. There are loads more variables such as stem length, stem rise, handlebar reach and drop etc etc, but basically the sportive frame geometry will start you off in a more upright position which can obviously be adjusted.

As pointed out by others, if you intend to use the bike all year round you want guard mounts and clearance to fit a full mudguard and wider tyres (28mm was mentioned earlier which is a good size for a winter bike). The latest trend is for wider tyres to be fitted as standard, so most new models have enough room for these, but not all frames will have mudguard mounts. If you don’t want them then it’s not a problem!

You may find that after a few years you might want to upgrade this first road bike to something a bit better - that’s when thinking ahead now can really be beneficial - you may be able to make this first purchase your ‘winter bike’ for use when the weather is rubbish, to keep your newest pride and joy for dry days. On a winter bike you really will want mudguards, so if you buy a bike that can’t take them now, this could reap rewards later on.

On that note, you should consider if you want hydraulic disc brakes or normal rim brakes. Disc brakes (Only hydraulic, not cable operated) are far superior in wet/ winter conditions. They do cost a bit more though and there is nothing wrong with rim brakes generally, but when you get down to the really low priced bikes, often the rim brakes aren’t very powerful.

There aren’t really many bad bikes in the £1000 bracket - it’s very competitive due to cycle to work, so the best thing is to look for the level of components fitted.

So to sum up, A decide on your max budget, pick what geometry will suit you, whether you want disc or rim brakes, add in things like clearances and mudguard mounts if you want them and narrow down the choices of bike with those, then look at groupsets fitted to see which are better/ worse.

Good luck!

PP

darrent71

Pilot Pete thank you so much for taking the time to do into such detail, I really do appreciate it!

I never really thought about my riding position, what I do know is with my current hybrid bike with straight handlebars is that I generally get pins and needles in my hands after about 20mins and after about 90mins cycling I tend to get lower back back on my right side. Not sure if that's my setup or weakness in my arthritic knees,

amrushton

if it's right or left side suggests an imbalance somewhere. Could be lack of flexibility, muscular issues,leg discrepancy or any physical attribute. Too much pressure on hands?

darrent71

Thanks for the advice guys. I've been shopping around and saw a Facebook ad for a Cannondale CAAD9 for £500. I went to look at it yesterday and it's in immaculate condition, the gentleman that owns it only used it a couple of times there's not a scratch on it.

Is £500 reasonable and are they a good first bike? Really living in an area with a lot of big hills, I'd like something that I can still pedal going downhill, my current hybrid pedals can't keep up!

laurentian

darrent71 said:

Thanks for the advice guys. I've been shopping around and saw a Facebook ad for a Cannondale CAAD9 for £500. I went to look at it yesterday and it's in immaculate condition, the gentleman that owns it only used it a couple of times there's not a scratch on it.

Is £500 reasonable and are they a good first bike? Really living in an area with a lot of big hills, I'd like something that I can still pedal going downhill, my current hybrid pedals can't keep up!

Here is the Bikeradar review for the CAAD9: https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/cannondale-caad9-review/

They are pretty much universally accepted as a decent bike (although there's now bound to be a deluge of disagreement!) and Cannondale are a reputable manufacturer so, if it's in the type of nick you say it is, it looks like a good buy.

The most important thing is that it fits you so be sure to take it out for a ride (a £40 bike that fits you will be a better experience than a £500 that doesn't)

If you know anyone that's into cycling, it would be a great idea to take them along if you go to look at it to check for any obvious problems.

On a side note, my wife had the same pins and needles problems as you with a flat bar hybrid. She changed to a drop handlebar road bike and found that the ability to change grip (hoods, flats, drops) solved this problem.

Good luck and remember to make sure whatever you buy fits you.