Which bike?

phillyh
phillyh Posts: 11
edited February 2009 in Road beginners
Help, I can't make my mind up what bike to get! I'm after a hybrid with 700c wheels and have looked at Specialized crosstrails, Scott Sportsters, Claud Butler Urbans, Trek FX and Giant CRS ranges.
I'm expecting replies of "It's just personal preference, try them all and pick one." but has anyone got any particularly good or bad things to say about any of them? Or dare I say it...any other suggestions?
Budget around the £500 mark.
Thanks

Comments

  • STEFANOS4784
    STEFANOS4784 Posts: 4,109
    What's wrong with drops, get a 'proper' bike 8)
    winter beast: http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff016.jpg
    Summer beast; http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff015.jpg
  • bice
    bice Posts: 772
    I concluded that hybrids are pretty much interchangeable when I last considered getting a new one. A basic one - ie no suspension or carbon - is probably best if you are going to load it with panniers of shopping or commute stuff. £150-250 max. If you want to spend £500, you are better off with a proper road bike. Better still, buy an old good quality steel bike and put flat bars on i. Result: a fast hybrid for a fraction of the cost. I was actually given a woman's one (reynolds 531) that had been dumped in the office car park for three years.
  • Roger_This
    Roger_This Posts: 136
    The Ridgeback Flight T1 is well worth considering - it's a fast, triple, flat-bar roadie and will take a rack (and panniers) and mudguards. Very comfy too on long rides.

    Going for about £400 I believe.
  • pictit
    pictit Posts: 603
    It depends what what 'type' of hybrid you want.Some can be,basically,flat-bar road bikes ie Giant FCR/ Ridgeback Genesis type bikes with 23mm tyres and no room for mudguards.Or Specialized Sirrus which is a light nimble bike but wider tyres and can take rack and mudguards.Or more 'sturdy' bikes,heavier/wider tyres/more upright position and even suspension forks.
    I got a new Marin Muirwoods for £317 last year.I put narrower tyres on and ,pumped up hard, it is really quite 'nippy'.I have done 40 mile runs with my camera gear and food on a rack and it is great,for me,for this type of outing.
    You,however,need to decide what your main use for the bike will be and choose accordingly :) .
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    STEFANOS4784 wrote:
    What's wrong with drops, get a 'proper' bike 8)

    +1 for asking this question.

    Basically I got a flat bar road bike a few years back (Spesh Sirrus Comp) however in the end I went down the drop bar road bike route. I done a poll on another forum asking people who bought flat bar road bikes/hybrids what they now and the vast majority either road exclusively on a road bike or a mix of road & hybrid. Very few now ride a hybrid only.

    I'm not saying don't get one however I think it is important to understand why you don't want one as it may be that your assumptions are based on nothing more than weak or plain wrong info. Of course it may well be that you just don't get along with road bikes because of back or flexibility problems and prefer a more back friendly riding position.

    As for the hybrids the Spesh Sirrus is pretty good for fast commutes however it's not really for racks & panniers bike so as others have said you will need to look at what is that you are tending to carry on your commute and whether you are happy to carry a rucksack or not.
  • Roger_This
    Roger_This Posts: 136
    ' done a poll on another forum asking people who bought flat bar road bikes/hybrids what they now and the vast majority either road exclusively on a road bike or a mix of road & hybrid. Very few now ride a hybrid only.'

    Did you ask on a road forum? :wink:

    I have to admit I've just bought a roadie to add to the Ridgeback, but if I could only have one bike, it would have to be the hybrid - it's just so much more adaptable.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    The best type of hybrid is a cross bike with braze ons for bottle cages, mudguards and a rack. Any other type of hybrid seems to compromise on speed or offroadedness (sic)....

    Flat bars just seem silly when you can have drops, Dave Z even has drops on his MTB (or was that nicked too ... :?)
    I like bikes...

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  • bice
    bice Posts: 772
    Very true. I use my 'hybrid' type all the time and load it with all sorts of stuff: 12 bottles of wine once in both Ortlieb panniers. And I prefer upright, flat bar bikes for central London commuting. I don't commute on my road bike, which is for fun, but then I'm only doing 6 miles each way.
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    Roger_This wrote:
    ' done a poll on another forum asking people who bought flat bar road bikes/hybrids what they now and the vast majority either road exclusively on a road bike or a mix of road & hybrid. Very few now ride a hybrid only.'

    Did you ask on a road forum? :wink:

    I have to admit I've just bought a roadie to add to the Ridgeback, but if I could only have one bike, it would have to be the hybrid - it's just so much more adaptable.

    I did indeed however I didn't ask the question specifically in regards to commuting it was about people who chose hybrids as their first bike and whether they have stuck with hybrids or moved on to drop bars. To my mind the majority of people who buy hybrids tend to be commuters or leisure cyclists and as such at least good proportion of those answering were likely to have been commuters therefore I think I does still present at least something useful to consider.

    My own view on hybrids has changed as I now believe that people are better of really thinking about what thye of riding they are likely to do and not what they would like to do in a pie-eyed sort of I'll try everything attitude. I think most people have a fair idea of what piques their interest the most and then buy the bike appropriate for that and if you need 2 bikes then get 2 bikes. If you can't afford 2 then get the 1 that is most important and save for the other. To my mind that is money better spent that some bike that you will probably look to swap out in 6 months or a year because it just doesn't do for you what you want it to do. I realise this is very much my opinion based on my experience and others like yourself will have a completely different view.

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