Are there any classic £300-400 commuting bikes out there?

Cantdosleepy · September 2008

Hey guys,

I've been riding the 6 miles to and from work on my creaking old Raleigh Genesis (bought about ten years ago?) but it's heavy and problematic and generally worn out. The company I work for is just about to implement the Cycle to Work scheme, so I can new-bike-up!

I had a go on my housemate's fancy roadbike and it was excellent, but one day a week I have to cycle along this fella - http://www.derelictlondon.com/id638.htm - so I probably have to get an embarrassingly-named urban/hybrid, right?

And I think my work is only going to do business with Evans, so it's got to be through them.

Are there any clear winners in the £3-400 urban bike market? I'm looking at Evans' sale stuff (http://www.evanscycles.com/categories/sale/complete-bikes/hybrid-bikes?per_page=100) and there are loads and loads of bikes with similar specs that I don't really understand. I'd guess I'm after one without disc brakes or internal gears, so I can maintain it myself when it goes wrong.

If anyone has any advice, or if there is a classic bike in this area, I'd be super-grateful.

Thanks!

biondino · September 2008

The big selling point with hub gears, though, is that they require zero maintenance and don't go wrong. So I wouldn't necessarily disregard them (though personally I find derailleurs sexy and prefer 20 gears to 8, and they're usually cheaper).

As for the path, what's the surface like? A road bike can put up with a bit of mud or gravel path, by and large, but if it's tough terrain over a long distance then yeah, it might not be practical. I have ridden my road bikes round the gravel path in Richmond Park hundreds of times and had no accidents and one puncture - they're hardier than some people think.

fonty1978 · September 2008

I purchased a bike from Evans on my employers R2W scheme, I had a similiar budget the one i went for was the Scott Sportster p45. http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/sportster-p45-2008-hybrid-bike-ec001318

The specs quite good you get Shimano disc brakes which are useful for stopping in the rain, though i'd recommend you haggle to upgrade the tyres as i had 9 punctures in 4 weeks!! :evil:

I also added full length mudguards and a pannier rack which are a must for commuting.

RockyHopperShow · September 2008

The Specialized Globe @£399 is an excellent buy at the top end of your budget. It will do all you want and more, but remember you will need to buy a rack and mudguards too. A bit cheaper (and fully equipped) is the Claud Butler Legend. I had the use of one of these for a while and it was a lovely bike to ride along canal paths etc.

Cantdosleepy · September 2008

biondino wrote:

The big selling point with hub gears, though, is that they require zero maintenance and don't go wrong. So I wouldn't necessarily disregard them (though personally I find derailleurs sexy and prefer 20 gears to 8, and they're usually cheaper).

As for the path, what's the surface like? A road bike can put up with a bit of mud or gravel path, by and large, but if it's tough terrain over a long distance then yeah, it might not be practical. I have ridden my road bikes round the gravel path in Richmond Park hundreds of times and had no accidents and one puncture - they're hardier than some people think.

Thanks for the tips.

I'm with you on the advantage of hub gears. I think I'd prefer the external ones though, not only for price reasons, but also because I'd like to use this bike to learn a bit of bike maintenance.

The Specialized Globe @£399 is an excellent buy at the top end of your budget. It will do all you want and more, but remember you will need to buy a rack and mudguards too. A bit cheaper (and fully equipped) is the Claud Butler Legend. I had the use of one of these for a while and it was a lovely bike to ride along canal paths etc.

So something like one of these fellas?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/globe-sport-disc-2008-hybrid-bike-ec001468
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/sportster-p45-2008-hybrid-bike-ec001318

I'll need mudguards, but I'm a basket fan since way back.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

RockyHopperShow · September 2008

I've never considered a basket, lol. I assume you'll be able to fit a basket on both these bikes somehow but I'm not so sure if the Scott will take 'guards. It probably will mind. If not there are other options such as SKS quick-fit guards that don't need fixed mounts. That said, I would go with the Globe, or even the cheaper Specialized Sirrus which are designed for your type of commute. The most important thing is the fit though. I don't think you need a suspension fork and that's another mark against the Scott. It'll add weight and be sapping your energy unneccessarily unless you use the lock-out and where's the point in that?. Come to think of it, the Globe is quite unassuming to look at - nice, but not flash. Add to that a basket on the front and mudgards and thieves will probably look for a more flashy bike to steal. I know a chap who rides one and he swears by it (fully-kitted out it's his main form of transport)

biondino · September 2008

The wonderful/terrible thing about the C2W scheme is that for ever extra £50 you can put in you get an extra £100 of bike. Is £200 your limit? Over 12 months that's less than £20 a month - if you could stretch to £30/mth you could enter a whole new realm of bike loveliness...

(obv some people don't have any spare money but just thought I'd make the point anyway :twisted: )

dafruk · September 2008

might want to consider a cyclocross bike as a nice hybrid type equivalent.

Edinburgh bike coop cyclo-cross
I use this as an example as they are my lbs (handy I know), but most sellers do a cross bike of some variety.

Cantdosleepy · September 2008

RockyHopperShow wrote:

I've never considered a basket, lol. I assume you'll be able to fit a basket on both these bikes somehow but I'm not so sure if the Scott will take 'guards. It probably will mind. If not there are other options such as SKS quick-fit guards that don't need fixed mounts. That said, I would go with the Globe, or even the cheaper Specialized Sirrus which are designed for your type of commute. The most important thing is the fit though. I don't think you need a suspension fork and that's another mark against the Scott. It'll add weight and be sapping your energy unneccessarily unless you use the lock-out and where's the point in that?. Come to think of it, the Globe is quite unassuming to look at - nice, but not flash. Add to that a basket on the front and mudgards and thieves will probably look for a more flashy bike to steal.

Good point about the forks.

Yep, baskets are boss - 1) they do make your steed look a little dorky, which makes it less attractive to thieves, and 2) so you are on a quick jaunt and you remember you're out of breakfast? Stick a box of wheatabix and a couple of pints of milk in the front - job done.

The wonderful/terrible thing about the C2W scheme is that for ever extra £50 you can put in you get an extra £100 of bike. Is £200 your limit? Over 12 months that's less than £20 a month - if you could stretch to £30/mth you could enter a whole new realm of bike loveliness...

£400 is my limit, really, but after reading DAFRUK's post I'm tempted by a Cyclocross and Evan's cheapest is this £549 mother: http://www.konabikes.co.uk/2008/jake/jake.php

Hmmmmmmm.......

Any idea which would be better for going on the roads? A hybrid or a cyclo?

Looks like I might not be buying a bass this year...

dafruk · September 2008

Well, the cross is out your limit so discard it. No point in setting a budget unless you stick to it. (Says he who just spent £400 on a comuter and now wants to drop another few £k on a fancy shiney new bike just cos!)

The difference between the hybrid and cross is probably not significant unless you have a particular yearning for drops on your bars. Just make sure you don't get stuck with some silly little gearing which has your legs spinning out constantly.

I rode an 8 gear urban bike for years (~8 before it died!), it did an excellent job for getting round town ~5mile commute every day, track work, a few 60ish mile charity events and a 300+ mile tour of Belgium with panniers.

From memory the default front ring that came with it was a 38, I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near as low as that and replaced it with a 42 pretty much straight off, even that was a tad low. Just checked online and the current model is a 44 so clearly I wasn't the only one that found it too low! The ones you linked above all had a 48 as the top ring upfront which should give you enough gear inches to have a pretty zippy ride.

Also it's far cheaper to put a set of slicks on if you find it doesn't need too much grippy stuff however going the other way tends to be trickier unless your bike has the clearance for bigger tyres, so well worth considering that too.

fonty1978 · September 2008

RockyHopperShow wrote:

I've never considered a basket, lol. I assume you'll be able to fit a basket on both these bikes somehow but I'm not so sure if the Scott will take 'guards. It probably will mind. If not there are other options such as SKS quick-fit guards that don't need fixed mounts. That said, I would go with the Globe, or even the cheaper Specialized Sirrus which are designed for your type of commute. The most important thing is the fit though. I don't think you need a suspension fork and that's another mark against the Scott. It'll add weight and be sapping your energy unneccessarily unless you use the lock-out and where's the point in that?. Come to think of it, the Globe is quite unassuming to look at - nice, but not flash. Add to that a basket on the front and mudgards and thieves will probably look for a more flashy bike to steal. I know a chap who rides one and he swears by it (fully-kitted out it's his main form of transport)

I have the Scott bike and i had issues with fitting full length mudguards as the disc brake boss is in the way of where the stays fit. In the end i managed to fit them anyway using a custom p clip mod.

Are there any classic £300-400 commuting bikes out there?

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