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Rossetti

Member
Hi,
I am just starting out on cycling in my mid fifties. The initial reason is to start getting fit but also to explore along the canals and River Trent near where I live. If I really get into it then I'll probably look to buy a road bike in the future for further afield travels.

I've had lots of differing advice from friends and acquaintances, the usual stuff about suspension, brakes, Hybrid v Mountain etc.

As a result I went down to my lbs the other day and had a long conversation with the owner. I told him the sort of terrain I would be going on, and he obviously he knows the local area very well, in additiona I want to able to carry a small camera bag on the back etc. The dealer is mainly a Ridgeback agent and so we went through their range, his opinion wass that I should go for a hybrid. As a result we settled on a Ridgeback Element as offering everything I needed for starting out.

After telling a friends about this he has said that I should think of spending an extra £100 and going for the Ridgeback Dual Trek as it has disk brakes and a better gear set.

So I spoke again to the lbs and told him what my friend had said. He disagreed, saying that for what I was doing v brakes were more than adequate and I didn't need the extra weight and potential hassles of a disk set-up. With regard to the gears he did admit that they were the next set up but again he felt that the difference between them didn't warrant spending an extra £100. I was quite impressed that the dealer was arguing against the higher priced bike.

Since then my friend has suggested that I should go for something different again.

My inclination is to go with the dealer who has a great reputation locally but what are the thoughts on here? Does anyone own a Ridgeback Element and what do they think of it?
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
I think it sounds like you've got a great dealer who listens to you and friends who don't! :thumbsup:

You are not going to be doing anything 'hardcore' on the hybrid so you don't really need to spend lots of money on it and saving money on that will give your road bike fund a head start.
 

AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
Sounds like your LBS dude is a good bloke, no offence to your pal, but I would take a professional's advice in the matter.

Spec of the Element seems decent. Never ridden one, but looks a good bike, especially if you're getting the 2012 version which has a carbon fork!
 

deptfordmarmoset

Full time tea drinker
Location
Armonmy Way
Reading this thread made me think of the cyclocross coverage that Channel 4 did a couple of days ago (it's on again on Wednesday, 2:05am, if you're an insomniac, or wait until it becomes available on demand).
The programme began with Roger Hammond introducing us to the cyclocross bike. The bike, fitted with disk brakes, was a Genesis Vapour (lovely looking bike, by the way) , and Hammond went on to talk briefly about the brakes. Given that the programme was sponsored by Genesis there was little surprise about the choice of bike. But the curious thing was that in the actual cyclocross racing that disk brakes were as hard to spot as British competitors. I didn't see anybody using anything else but cantilevers.

No doubt, disk brakes will become more widely used, both on road and for cyclocross, but at the moment a fair bit of it is an industry push rather than the riders' choice. Your mate may simply be being an ''early adopter'' vicariously.

I recommend you watch some cyclocross before the season's out (links in my sig line) and once you've seen what conditions they're riding in, ask yourself whether you would need them for your purposes when they don't (for what are extremely demanding purposes).
 

coffeejo

Ælfrēd
Location
West Somerset
Take different types for a test ride and see what suits you but on the whole, I'd go with what your LBS is suggesting. My run-of-the-mill, no-fancy-upgrades hybrid has happily taken me along canal paths, woodland tracks, grass fields, forest trails, a sea of mud and flooded roads without any problems in all weathers, from snow to sun to sideways rain. "Better" isn't always better.
 

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
...for what I was doing v brakes were more than adequate and I didn't need the extra weight and potential hassles of a disk set-up.

V's will be perfectly adequate and, IMO, are generally easier to set up and adjust.

With regard to the gears he did admit that they were the next set up but again he felt that the difference between them didn't warrant spending an extra £100.

I doubt many experienced cyclists would be able to tell the difference between two group-sets next to each other in the range in the hypothetical blindfolded test.

I was quite impressed that the dealer was arguing against the higher priced bike.

Good LBS staff are unlike any other form of salesman I have ever come across. It is not uncommon to be talked into spending less than you originally intended or to come away from the shop with nothing or to come away with something totally different to what you had in mind when you entered. (Or, on occasion, to come away having spent a lot more than you'd intended:ohmy:)

It does sound as if you've found a good dealer, but the cynic in me just questions whether he has some ulterior motive for selling you that particular model. Probably not, but...? If you've not already done so I'd recommend visiting another shop to see what they suggest. Freewheel are pretty good IME.

 

Poacher

Gravitationally challenged member
Location
Nottingham
Hi Rossetti,
sounds like you have an excellent LBS - I'd certainly follow his advice. While I'm at it, I'll also second simon.r's recommendation of Freewheel. Whereabouts in the Trent valley are you? If you're in the Nottingham area, the Vale of Belvoir will be a great area to explore - you can combine long stretches of the Grantham Canal towpath with a return along quiet roads (or vice versa) for fairly flat but nonetheless interesting rides, and build up to some fairly challenging hills out of the valley, with correspondingly fast and exciting descents to get back again!
 

Pjays666

Über Member
Location
Burnley lancs
Hi Rossetti I have a hybrid diamondback contraflow which I bought from my lbs in aug last year. Since then I have done about 500 miles on it, all on the leeds liverpool canal towpath. I have loved riding this bike and I also was steered to a cheaper bike than i was looking at with no regrets. In my opinion my lbs saved me spending more than I needed to (which I have since spent on kit lol). Good luck and be careful this is so addictive.
 

Pjays666

Über Member
Location
Burnley lancs
Sorry forgot to mention the leeds liverpool covers surfaces from smooth Tarmac to ploughed fields and the bike has been no problem at all even after mud plugging for miles.
 

Scilly Suffolk

Über Member
Another vote for your LBS.

It's easy to get sucked into a "component arms-race", but for your first bike you would be well advised to keep it simple.

After you've got some miles in, you will be in a better position to know what (if anything) it is worth spending extra money on.
 
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