Minimum spend for a decent commuting bike?

I've said £250-£300 but whenever I start looking I get drawn up to the next model but some shiney nugget, then the next one up, then the next one up. In the end I won't settle for something I can afford and go into a huff

biondino wrote:

Does anyone have the April 2009 edition of C+ that they no longer need which they could put in the post to me? I could send you the postage, or owe you a pint or something in exchange...

Might be interested in the or something in exchange :shock:

I spent £190 on my old hybrid. It was more of a shopper in style really.

It fared me well to and from uni and then to and from work for a several years, but these were 2-mile rides, maximum, and biggish hills were no-go, you'd really have to give it welly at the bottom to fling it as far up the hill as possible before your momentum dropped to zilch.

So in a flat place - shortish distances - £200 is fine.

I spent just under £400 for my current bike, then around £200 of bits and bobs to go with it. God bless the cyclescheme!

You should have has an over 600 and over 1000 pound category IMO. But then again I'm a rich, elitist, bike snob according to some threads!

girv73 wrote:

@sarajoy: was that hybrid new? Did it not have gears or something?

Brand new, plenty enough gears, just a bit crap: http://www.falconcycles.co.uk/CORP/cb/classicW.html (albeit mine was bought in... 2005 maybe? So it was mauve)

EDIT no, 2006: http://www.falconcycles.co.uk/CORP/cb06/classicW.html

After dabbling with Halfords own brand I then bought a Saracen RAW 3 which weights about 4 tonnes and came with the worst finishing kit that frankly never worked after a couple of months struggling I removed eveything apart from the frame and forks and replaced it all with Deore LX 9 speed and Mavic crossride wheelset, total transformation it's a dream to ride now smooth and deadly silent still heavy but fast and agile I prob spent £600+ on it not including tyres but that's another expensive story.

My Ridgeback Storm should have been £500 new but a brother of a friend works for the company and got me a good deal that totally stopped my MTB riding for almost a year, it's a great bike with amazing road style speed, hydro brakes, I can easily ride it as fast as most roadies where it falls down is in super long distance rides, it's a little too upright and the flat bars begin to make my wrists and hands ache.

Next came the Trek 1.7 with zero customer service and bike fit or prep from the LBS in Salisbury I was disappointed esp as its a £800 bike never the less I quickly learnt to set up or change the various parts, I now get a great deal of enjoyment from it but don't ride it as my main bike.

That honour was my steel single speed c£100, an old Raleigh 531 steel job with ever changing gear ratios, light and fast, cheap and easy to clean, that was until I built my cyclo cross bike now everything has changed, its a lightweight speedy road bike with hybrid/sportive comfort and beautiful lines, oh I'm so confused

Amongst all that I have my hand built Mercian steel tourer which is British classic and a dream to bimble bumble around on, long days in the saddle are no problem.

Have I missed any? nope don't think so :roll:

The Carrera Gryphon is a great bike at £279, rides fast, well specced etc.

I voted 100-150 because that is more realistic - but you can get away for less than 100 quid all in.

As a project, I decided to give it a bash. I hopped on eBay and picked up an old late 90s steel framed GT MTB with rigid fork and all the braze ons required for a proper town bike. It was amazingly clean and looked like one of those bikes that has spent the 9 of the last 10 years in a garage. Oh, I paid 48 quid.

A friend needed a bike, so she is borrowing it at the moment, but I figure if I throw another 50 quid at it for lights, proper mudguards, decent tyres, rack and a few other bits and bobs I'll have a nice, reliable winter commuter/rugged tourer for less than 100 quid.

londonlivvy wrote:

I commuted for two years (10 miles each way in london, approx 4 days a week) on a £250 Specialised crossroads and found it a perfectly good steed with minimal maintenance (brakes/gear cables). At the end of that period the gears started slipping to an annoying level and my LBS told me that pretty much all the moving parts were worn out (cassette, rims, etc etc) which would cost me £250 to do. Ah.

But I also learned (to my great surprise at the time) that bikes need to be washed. And had I actually washed it at any point in the two year period, it would undoubtedly have lived longer.

That said, I released it into the wild (ie left it unlocked in my street) and it was recycled by a local youth who seems happy to clunk along.

You're one of the good people... I like good people...

Covering the petrol costs for a pushbike should be pretty easy

I'd say the answer is depends. What kind of riding do you do, on what kind of surface, over what kind of distance, and how often?

Bumping up and down kerbs for example will wreck the wheels of a super cheap bike rather fast, riding a cheaper road bike any decent distance every day will also wear things out pretty quick. If you are mainly on canal/riverside cycle paths then a more robust style of bike would be the go, on the roads there would be no point in buying a MTB.

And is your price the "new" price, excluding any further spending? For a cheap bike for example you'll get cheap tyres, more money spent at the time of purchased or subsequently would get a better set of more puncture resistant tyres so you spend more time cycling and less time fixing flats, important when commuting and to a schedule.

And better components should last longer too, so less of a spend on replacing cr@p parts sooner.