Beginner bike choice wrong?

[DirtGambit]

Hi, This is my first post. I have been cycling for about 4 months, I really enjoy it but I think my first bike choice was wrong. I only do road cycling for leisure and just to get out the house and keep fit. recently I have became more competitive and I want to beat my 20 mile time. The bike I purchased was a moutain bike, it was a cheap £200 paradox from halfords, its very heavy and looking at others times who do the same route as me they are able to knock 20 - 25 minutes from times i posted and are using hybrid and road bikes. Will upgrading to a hybrid make my 20miles more enjoyable or should I just keep practicing on my paradox. 20 miles on it is hard work, and I mean hard going, especially at hills, i just seem to crawl up them and thats where im losing my time. A cyclist passed me on a hill using a boardman hybrid, he was going so much faster than me and Im a fit guy. Should I upgrade to a boardman?

 

[Hacienda71]

A quick google tells me an Apollo Paradox is a full suspension bike. In which case it will be difficult to improve it for road riding. So yes your mates on hybrids and road bikes will go a lot faster. The difficulty is that the suspension will absorb the energy you are trying to put through the pedals. Adding slick tyres would help a little but the best way is to gety a road specific bike either hybrid or road. If you like to ride off road a bit then a hardtail mtb with suspension lockout is a better compromise than a full suspension bike. There is nothing wrong with using the existing bike until you are in a position to get a new bike but it will feel hard work because the bike is not designed for road riding and therefore may reduce your motivation to get out there.

 

[PaulSecteur]

If you are riding for fitness and to get out of the house then any bike, even a heavy full suspension bike will do.

I suspect that if you want to enjoy it more, especially if you are chasing times then a hybrid will be better, or if there isnt a reason not to have drop handlebars, why not a road bike. Decathlons Triban 3 seems to be the best budget choice.

 

[Globalti]

Congratulations, you are becoming a proper cyclist because you are already becoming more discriminating about your equipmernt!

The problem with cheap full-suspension bikes is that they have to be built very strong to take all the stresses that the suspension sets up in the frame and the low budget means you will only get cheap alloy tubes, which have to be thick for strength and are therefore heavy.

Even if you could only afford cheap again, a regular "two triangle" bike frame with rigid forks would be better because the design is much stronger in engineering terms so can be built lighter.

Taking this further, to ride on the road you don't need suspension at all, so even a cheap traditional two triangle hybrid or road bike will be lighter, faster and much more fun than a cheap FS or hardtail bike. On top of that you will be on 23 or 32 mm slick tyres, twice or three times faster than fat knobblies on tarmac.

 

[400bhp]

I love my cycling, but if I was stuck with a full suspension mountain bike on the roads, I would get tired of it too.

 

[CopperCyclist]

If you're looking for more speed, then absolutely yes a hybrid, road bike or cyclocross would be a good upgrade for you. I went from 14mph average on my mountain bike (Hardtail) to 17mph average when I got my cyclocross.

Boardmans are good, but not your only option, and the excellent value for money can be offset sometimes by the Halfords factor - and I speak as someone with one!

 

[DirtGambit]

Thanks for the advice, Ill be ordering a hybrid very soon. I wasnt really in the know when I purchased this bike, last time i bought a bike there were 3 kinds, racer, mountain and bmx, now there are quite a few. I didnt go for the racer as Id like to take the bike out for leisure cycling so wanted upright handle bars. It has been a slog putting miles in with this bike, i still want to get out and will continue to use it until my new bike comes.

Thanks

 

[Alun]

In the meantime, console yourself with the fact that mile for mile you'll be getting much fitter than someone on a hybrid/road bike

 

[DirtGambit]

In the meantime, console yourself with the fact that mile for mile you'll be getting much fitter than someone on a hybrid/road bike

Which was the point of getting a bike anyway until i found lap times

 

[Globalti]

You could make it more bearable by fitting slicks to the MTB and pumping them up very hard indeed. It will go much faster.

 

[Hacienda71]

Jubilee clips around the front suspension as a rudimentary lockout.

 

[BrumJim]

Think again about the dropped handlebars. They give a greater variety of hand positions, and so are preferred for rides of 50 miles or more. Which is probably a lot more within your grasp than you realise.
If you are competitive for speed and times, I'd skip the hybrid and go straight for a full-on road bike. That is what I have and use day-in day-out for commuting and weekend rides.

 

[daSmirnov]

If you are competitive for speed and times, I'd skip the hybrid and go straight for a full-on road bike. That is what I have and use day-in day-out for commuting and weekend rides.

Road bike is good. Hybrid is good for the missus, but I want the speeds!

I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago, started getting out/commuting on my old mountain bike and enjoying it. Wanted to go faster, thought long and hard about it and decided better go road bike, cuz I'd knew if I went for a hybrid I'd be wanting another upgrade 6 months later. Now road-bike is strictly on road, mountain bike anything slightly bumpy. Simples.

 

[Psyclist]

Thanks for the advice, Ill be ordering a hybrid very soon. I wasnt really in the know when I purchased this bike, last time i bought a bike there were 3 kinds, racer, mountain and bmx, now there are quite a few. I didnt go for the racer as Id like to take the bike out for leisure cycling so wanted upright handle bars. It has been a slog putting miles in with this bike, i still want to get out and will continue to use it until my new bike comes.

Thanks

Specialized Sirrus or Giant Rapid are two good choices, basically racers with flat (upright) bars.

 

[DirtGambit]

Thanks for the help and suggestions, I havent been on a racer for years and I never felt comfortable on them when i did own one, obviously things have moved on a bit from then, just wish I could maybe take one out for a good cycle and see what its like before parting with money, if I get the right bike next time that will do me for many years so it has to be right. Ill keep an open mind about the racer, I dont want to spend money on a hybrid only to find my times tumble and then I want to go a step further and make them tumble some more, I tend to do that with other things too, start at bottom and its an expensive ride all the way up. Im going to think long and hard about it, there is some good suggestions on this forum, ill keep checking. Thanks