Are cheap bikes harder to ride

[Leemi1982]

Hi I have 2 bikes both Carreras yep Halfords bikes. ones a £250 hybrid and the others a £1000 Carrera Vengeance ebike Which I use all the time. I find my cheaper bike is pretty much redundant however on the rare occasion I go back on it and just to remind me how difficult it is to ride a manual living in a hilly area.

I often see people riding normal bikes around and think do I need a ebike is it because my manual bike is so cheap if I was to spend a little more on decent trek or giant, Specialized bike would I manage.

I guess I like my ebike but still have a part of me that wants to ride a manual bike

I saw a couple pushing there bikes up a hill yesterday I don’t want to be that person I know my ebike can do it but would i manage on a decent manual bike.

I’m not really a road bike type person always preferred hybrids or mountain bikes.

 

[vickster]

Hi I have 2 bikes both Carreras yep Halfords bikes. ones a £250 hybrid and the others a £1000 Carrera Vengeance ebike Which I use all the time. I find my cheaper bike is pretty much redundant however on the rare occasion I go back on it and just to remind me how difficult it is to ride a manual living in a hilly area.

I often see people riding normal bikes around and think do I need a ebike is it because my manual bike is so cheap if I was to spend a little more on decent trek or giant, Specialized bike would I manage.

I guess I like my ebike but still have a part of me that wants to ride a manual bike

I saw a couple pushing there bikes up a hill yesterday I don’t want to be that person I know my ebike can do it but would i manage on a decent manual bike.

I’m not really a road bike type person always preferred hybrids or mountain bikes.

May be nothing to do with the bike, but their fitness or health status more likely? Potentially coupled with poor gearing

 

[Vantage]

Ultimately, it's your willingness to put in the effort to get up the hills that holds you back. I'm the same...sort of.
Whether your bike is a lump of iron or plastic carbon fibre you still have to pedal your own weight up the hill and that's likely to be far heavier than the bike.
Some people love the pain of climbing and the feeling of conquering that hill through their own effort. Some love the simple joy of cycling whether it's aided or not.
Doesn't really matter what you ride, as long as you do ride

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Carrera are perfectly good, serviceable bikes so you wouldn't find it night and day between say, an alu framed Shimano equipped Carrera hybrid versus say, an equivalent bike from Giant or Specialized. Both would be as easy to ride as each other, or as hard to ride as each other if it's hilly or the rider is unfit.

If you go really, mega cheap the difference widens a touch, and it's more noticeable for a child; a small rider would find it easier to ride an alu Giant for example than something like a heavy steel Apollo or an ASDA 70 quid special.

In your circumstances though, no. No real difference.

 

[Leemi1982]

Ok thanks will stick to my ebike for now must be unfit☺️

 

[vickster]

Ok thanks will stick to my ebike for now must be unfit☺

What’s the gearing? How much do you weigh, hills are always much harder for us on the heavy side

 

[HMS_Dave]

The difference is probably smaller than you think. The biggest weight of a bicycle is it's rider. The ability to climb hills is a lot to do with the rider although good gearing helps. I wouldn't get too caught up on weights unless you're planning on racing.

 

[Arrowfoot]

In my early days, I was advised by a good friend to change the stock wheels of my entry level aluminium bike. Changed it to the cheapest Fulcrum wheelset for about £200. Best decision ever, it was much lighter, moved smoothly and motivated me to push ahead. It was as different as chalk and cheese. Became fitter and less heavy as a result of the initial momentum.

 

[12boy]

I ride for exercise and do a few errands. An inexpensive bike that fits, is properly tuned, and is geared to handle the terrain here is ok with me. However, unless on nonpaved roads or paths, heavy knobby tires do make a bike seem ungainly and slow.

 

[Sharky]

A cheap bike, provided the set up is the same and comfortable, will be no harder than a £10k machine. Bikes have gears , so when the legs can't cope with the wind or gradient, then you change to a lower gear. However, if you are riding in a group and they all have lighter, more expensive bikes with less rolling resistance, then to keep up the same speed as the others, will take more energy and thus will be harder.

So for solo riding you won't notice the difference - it will just take a bit longer.
Group riding will be harder.

 

[cyberknight]

A cheap bike, provided the set up is the same and comfortable, will be no harder than a £10k machine. Bikes have gears , so when the legs can't cope with the wind or gradient, then you change to a lower gear. However, if you are riding in a group and they all have lighter, more expensive bikes with less rolling resistance, then to keep up the same speed as the others, will take more energy and thus will be harder.

So for solo riding you won't notice the difference - it will just take a bit longer.
Group riding will be harder.

I notice this at club rides, against my own PBs i am there still getting them but i turn up and they are on bikes 3 times the price i am working harder for the same speed . boardman team carbon vs mates bike trek emonda slr 6

 

[Reynard]

Fitness and gearing, definitely.

I don't class myself as unfit - will quite happily ride a 30 mile round trip to visit friends etc. But I live out in the fens, and 30 miles on mostly flat (or at most gently rolling) roads is comfortable. Whereas the same distance on a hilly route (I love to ride in the Itchen Valley) is far, far harder, even with the right gearing, as I don't have hill legs. Sometimes I have to get off and walk. No shame in that.

The one thing about bikes, is what people class as "cheap" and what they class as "expensive" is very much a sliding scale. Both my road bike and my hybrid were around £400 new. For some people, those would be classed as a very cheap bike, whereas others would think I've spent far too much. I'm also currently building up a rigid mountain bike from a £25 secondhand frame and forks.

As I cycle solo, I don't give a monkey's what other people think of my bikes. As long as my bikes put a smile on my face and I enjoy my rides, that's all that really matters.

 

[wafter]

When it comes to getting up hills the three most important factors are fitness, all-up weight and gearing.

Obviously rider fitness has nowt to do with the bike, a boat-anchor of a bike won't help (cheaper usually means heavier) but an extra 5kg that might mean 50% extra on the mass of a bike only translates into about 6-7% factoring in rider weight and gear. Cheaper bikes also tend to have less versatile gearing (narrower range so you lose out at the bottom end), although hybrids and MTBs generally have lower gearing than road bikes so are probably more suited to going up steep hills, assuming the tyres are suitable for road use.

Ultimately if you're used to having another few hundred watts on tap from a motor, that's going to make far more of a difference than changing any of the above factors on a non-electric bike.

 

[DRM]

When it comes to getting up hills the three most important factors are fitness, all-up weight and gearing.

Obviously rider fitness has nowt to do with the bike, a boat-anchor of a bike won't help (cheaper usually means heavier) but an extra 5kg that might mean 50% extra on the mass of a bike only translates into about 6-7% factoring in rider weight and gear. Cheaper bikes also tend to have less versatile gearing (narrower range so you lose out at the bottom end), although hybrids and MTBs generally have lower gearing than road bikes so are probably more suited to going up steep hills, assuming the tyres are suitable for road use.

Ultimately if you're used to having another few hundred watts on tap from a motor, that's going to make far more of a difference than changing any of the above factors on a non-electric bike.

This in spades, there's a steep climb on one of my loops, I've done it on an aluminium road bike with compact chain set & 11-28 Sora groupset, the 2 blokes in front of me were going up a lot easier than me on their 1x MTB's with a dinner plate sized cassette, however at the top on the level I left them way behind, it's like driving your car up a steep hill and letting it labour in 5th gear.

 

[Blue Hills]

Fitness and gearing, definitely.

I don't class myself as unfit - will quite happily ride a 30 mile round trip to visit friends etc. But I live out in the fens, and 30 miles on mostly flat (or at most gently rolling) roads is comfortable. Whereas the same distance on a hilly route (I love to ride in the Itchen Valley) is far, far harder, even with the right gearing, as I don't have hill legs. Sometimes I have to get off and walk. No shame in that.

The one thing about bikes, is what people class as "cheap" and what they class as "expensive" is very much a sliding scale. Both my road bike and my hybrid were around £400 new. For some people, those would be classed as a very cheap bike, whereas others would think I've spent far too much. I'm also currently building up a rigid mountain bike from a £25 secondhand frame and forks.

As I cycle solo, I don't give a monkey's what other people think of my bikes. As long as my bikes put a smile on my face and I enjoy my rides, that's all that really matters.

agree totally with your post, apart from the bit about the fens, which might give the impression that the flatness makes the rides easy. One of my most hellish rides (admittedly fully loaded) was across those hellish flatlands into the damn wind - I may never return. (or not going the same way)

edit - realise that I have used the same word twice in one sentence - bad style - but i plead forgiveness/understanding - it was hellish.