bike advice needed for clueless girlfriend

[florencelong]

I am planning on getting my OH a bike for his 30th, which is coming up quite soon. To some extent I want this to be a surprise.


I know what he wants a bike for; I would say a mixture of road and off road cycling, and he'll be taking our 2 dogs along with him to.


Now my problemo is, my OH is a big lad, 6'4 and weighs around 20 stone.


What should I be looking for? I really like the look of the Ridgeback Voyage... is this a good bike to be going for?

Any advice gratefully received

 

[e-rider]

The best option would be to buy two bikes - a road bike and an off road bike!

Otherwise you could consider a hybrid, which to some extent will do both fairly well.



A link to the Ridgeback would be useful.

 

[HovR]

What sort of "Off Road"? Off road as in, a gravel pathway? Or off road as in hurtling down a bumpy trail at 25Mph?


If it is the latter, I would suggest that the Ridgeback probably isn't the best option, as it has drop bars and skinny road tires. You would want a mountain bike with front suspension, knobbly tires, and a front disc brake for this kind of off-road.

If the former, then the Ridgeback should be fine, although you may want to fit some tires with slightly more grip.

Edit: Fixed formatting.

 

[florencelong]

Thanks

Unfortunately I cannot afford 2 bikes, but if you could recommend a hybrid for me that would be great.

Here is a link to the Ridgeback... My link

 

[florencelong]

What sort of "Off Road"? Off road as in, a gravel pathway? Or off road as in hurtling down a bumpy trail at 25Mph?


If it is the latter, I would suggest that the Ridgeback probably isn't the best option, as it has drop bars and skinny road tires. You would want a mountain bike with front suspension, knobbly tires, and a front disc brake for this kind of off-road.

If the former, then the Ridgeback should be fine, although you may want to fit some tires with slightly more grip.

Edit: Fixed formatting.

Hmm yes I see your point, I would say off road as in mostly paths and dirt tracks, and possibly grass as well.... but he won't be going fast as such, he's more wanting a bike as an alternative to walking as he has bad knees from his rugby days....

 

[vickster]

The Ridgeback does look cool, but is a tourer for longer road trips rather than a do anything, go anywhere type of bike

Skinny tyres on grass, paths, dirt can be a bit hairy especially in the winter You could as mentioned get grippier tyres fitted

I appreciate you want it to be a surprise but it might be best for him to choose what he wants - also, bike sizing can be problematic, and you'll want one that firs him properly

Maybe something like a Specialized Crosstrail would work, get one with lock out forks for the roads (and you can always add less chunky tyres), good solid all purpose bike, come in some big sizes. What's the max budget?

http://www.evanscycl...uery=crosstrail

Otherwise, if you like the idea of drop bars, Cyclocross bikes are very popular, and you can fit mudguards and racks e.g. http://www.evanscycl...s-bike-ec026521

 

[florencelong]

The Ridgeback does look cool, but is a tourer for longer road trips rather than a do anything, go anywhere type of bike

Skinny tyres on grass, paths, dirt can be a bit hairy especially in the winter You could as mentioned get grippier tyres fitted

I appreciate you want it to be a surprise but it might be best for him to choose what he wants - also, bike sizing can be problematic, and you'll want one that firs him properly

Maybe something like a Specialized Crosstrail would work, get one with lock out forks for the roads (and you can always add less chunky tyres), good solid all purpose bike, come in some big sizes. What's the max budget?

http://www.evanscycl...uery=crosstrail

Otherwise, if you like the idea of drop bars, Cyclocross bikes are very popular, and you can fit mudguards and racks e.g. http://www.evanscycl...s-bike-ec026521

Max budget probs about £800 - £1000. I suppose my biggest consideration has been my OH's weight but I suppose there's other things to bare in mind.

Thanks for the links as well. Would you say these bikes would stand up to his weight?

 

[HovR]

Yeah, what vickster said.

You will want thicker tires than on the Ridgeback, especially if the dirt or grass gets damp. When looking at bike tire sizes, you will see them described as below:

Specialized Borough XC Sport, 60 TPI, wire bead, 700x45c

The underlined 700 is the tire diameter, and the bold 45c is the tires width. As your OH is fairly tall, you will probably want a bike with 700c tires - And since the bike will be used off the road, in potentially slippy conditions, you will want thicker tires - Probably 40c or higher.

 

[vickster]

I would say Cyclocross and Crosstrail type bikes are pretty strong, especially in aluminium (there are some limits with carbon and superlight wheels but that's not an issue). If he cycles a lot, he should soon lose a few pounds too. There are some bigger lads around on this forum who have no issues as far as I know. He just won't want to be bunny hopping up and down kerbs or hitting potholes at high speeds (but you want to avoid that regardless ) Just looked - there is a recommend max rider weight of 300lbs on a Crosstrail, so that's fine

Where do you live, perhaps you could go and get some advice from your local bike shop, someone will recommend a place

 

[VamP]

Honest John from Planet X, or similar. Do it all bikes, that will last forever.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Honest John from Planet X, or similar. Do it all bikes, that will last forever.

Uncle John? A CX bike certainly has appeal and is bang on trend. I'd stick with the ridgeback or a similar. I ride my tourer off-road all the time with no ill effect. A decent tourer is the definitive go anywhere do anything all-rounder bike imo.

 

[VamP]

Uncle John? A CX bike certainly has appeal and is bang on trend. I'd stick with the ridgeback or a similar. I ride my tourer off-road all the time with no ill effect. A decent tourer is the definitive go anywhere do anything all-rounder bike imo.

Erm... yeah, that's it. Uncle.


God knows where Honest came from.

The difference is about 10 pounds in weight. Quite a lot.

 

[e-rider]

This is interesting. We all know that no single bike is 'amazing' at both on- and off-road riding.

The OP mentioned not being able to afford 2 bikes but then said that they had a budget of £1000 - which is easily enough to buy 2 bikes.

Spending £1000 on a surprise bike is a pretty silly thing to do, in terms of getting correct fit (very important) and a bike that your OH actually likes.

I'm also guessing that the OH is not a high level cyclist, so spending £1000 is completely not necessary unless you have money to burn!


In this situation, I'd buy a £500 MTB (eg. Specialized Rockhopper) and/or a £500 road bike (eg. Specialized Allez/Secteur).

A CX bike could be a good option too if you really only want to buy one bike.

A question: will he be riding on- and off-road during the same ride; or on different occasions?

 

[Petemadog]

£800 may sound like a lot to spend on a bike but I'd say it's a good decision to get 1 really good bike rather than 2 ok bikes.

I'd definitely recommend a cyclocross bike. I bought one about 2 years ago and haven't looked back since, this bike got me into cycling in a big way. Plus it's bombproof, you can put road tyres on (very cheap to do) and it's just as fast as any normal road bike, it goes anywhere and can do almost anything.

As you're looking for a do anything type bike I'd be careful not to buy a cyclocross that is too racey. Some of them don't even have bottle mounts so just check before you buy.

 

[Petemadog]

Here's some recommendations

Evans have this in 61cm

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/crux-elite-2011-road-bike-ec023881

Planet X do this one, not exactly a cyclocross bike but similar

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXKAFFDISC/planet_x_kaffenback_drop_bar_disc_hybrid_bike

team boardman

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...ross Bike 2011 - Large 55.5cm&source=shopping