Im about to take the plunge.

[LGHornet]

Right, any help will be greatly appreciated.

I've made do with my 20 year old MTB for the last 3 months on commute to my new workplace. I've never been a bike person before this so I'm a complete novice and have only just got over the sore arse stage. The commute is 8 miles one way. It starts off with the first 2 miles being down a pretty steep hill into a valley and then up the other side before the rest of it is pretty flat. It is all road apart from the initial up hill from the valley which is a cycle route path. I use the term valley in the loosest spence as its not some kind of Welsh mountain valley more like a small hill. I'm almost certain I will only use the bike I choose to go to work and back 5 days a week so it's 99% Tarmac.

Using the MTB has told me that I do actually like the burn I get on a morning commute and it's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. With that in mind, I want to start getting to work quicker and also maybe extending the commute if my times get significantly quicker whilst also burning some calories every day.

I have a friend who is very bike minded and has made a few suggestions to me. He is very much geared towards off-road biking but does a similar commute himself so I figured he was a good place to start. He has made a suggestion of a hybrid simply down to my use over the last 3 months and then told me to go take a look at a few he suggested.


There were several suggestions but these have been narrowed to 2 bikes. I have been mulling them over for the last month. I'd like anyone's opinions, suggestions, reviews on the two bikes that might help me make a decision. I'm leaning towards one of them but could still be swayed.

The options are:

2016 Cannondale Badboy 3
http://www.buckinghambikes.com/2016-cannondale-bad-boy-3.html


2016 Trek Allant 7.4
http://www.buckinghambikes.com/2016-trek-allant-74.html

Thanks in advance.

 

[Drago]

8 mile commute. A 20 year old rigid mtb on super skinny schwalbe road tyres is a hard to beat tarmac terrorist. The answer may be closer and cheaper than you think.

 

[LGHornet]

It's had a few owners over the years and subsequent modifications. One of which includes some front suspension forks. They don't offer a lot due to them being old themselves but I'm conscious I'm losing a lot of energy into them. I don't know it's true history so it's difficult to ignore the lure of a new bike.

 

[vickster]

If you want a new bike, get one

Go have a try of the ones you like, Evans good for test rides or use your local bike shop

 

[MartinQ]

Something like
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-540-flat-bar-road-bike-tiagra-id_8322798.html
would be a good hybrid commuter. Probably lighter than your two (not checked though), decent gears, pannier mounts etc. Decathlon generally do good value stuff, although there are plenty of good deals around at the moment in other stores.

 

[biggs682]

It's had a few owners over the years and subsequent modifications. One of which includes some front suspension forks. They don't offer a lot due to them being old themselves but I'm conscious I'm losing a lot of energy into them. I don't know it's true history so it's difficult to ignore the lure of a new bike.

why not change the forks back to non suspension units and see the winter out on the Marin ?

i would always advise second hand as loads of bargains to be had and especially when you are changing fron one style of bike to another as how do you know you will get on with the new style ?

 

[Onyer]

Before you take the plunge have a ponder about the future. Will you want to go out for longer rides in the evenings/weekends? If so the bikes you are looking at may not be comfortable enough. Also you may start going out with other cycling buddies. Have a good look round and try out a few before you buy.

 

[LGHornet]

why not change the forks back to non suspension units and see the winter out on the Marin ?

i would always advise second hand as loads of bargains to be had and especially when you are changing from one style of bike to another as how do you know you will get on with the new style ?

I think my long term plan would be to restore the Marin slowly as a bit of a project and use it for rides a little more off road when my boy gets old enough to ride a bike. Wendover Woods is only a few miles away and it would be ideal to have for occasions when i take the nipper. I've already been told by my LBS that it needs about £250 spending on it to bring it up to scratch again albeit I've had to buy 2 new tyres and a new chain and cassette since this figure so it would probably be a little lower now.

I'm not getting rid of the Marin by any means, i just think my long term plan will be to have a commuter and then a recreational ride.

 

[LGHornet]

Before you take the plunge have a ponder about the future. Will you want to go out for longer rides in the evenings/weekends? If so the bikes you are looking at may not be comfortable enough. Also you may start going out with other cycling buddies. Have a good look round and try out a few before you buy.

This bike will be purely for commuting. Its a 60 minute round trip so i shouldn't be on it for any longer than that a day.

Have you experienced these? Are they not very comfortable?

 

[Drago]

Comfort is subjective. What suits lanky, overweight, injury riddled riders like me may well not suit you. Recommendations for saddles, grips, bar tape, and even whole bikes on the basis they are comfortable are meaningless. The only way you'll know if you will find them comfy is to go ride one.

 

[LGHornet]

Comfort is subjective. What suits lanky, overweight, injury riddled riders like me may well not suit you. Recommendations for saddles, grips, bar tape, and even whole bikes on the basis they are comfortable are meaningless. The only way you'll know if you will find them comfy is to go ride one.

True. I'll take that on board.

 

[Darren Gregory]

I was in a similar position to you so I can appreciate where you are coming from. I had not really ridden a bike in almost twenty years since a teenager. My only experience was basic hard tail mountain bikes. I got myself a hard tail from my local bike charity and rode it everywhere, learnt how to fix some things but when it came to permeneantly commuting I decided to treat myself to a new bike. What I have learnt:

Dont discount drop bars. I was forever findgin lyself uncomfortable on longer rides and would try to hold my flat bars on the end. Having drops means I can ride like a flat bar, I can use the hoods and when I go downhill I can use the drops. The variation is really handy. I also always assumed drop bars meant race bike and having had a partial discectomy I was worried about hurting my back. What I now know is that drop bars come in race bikes, touring bikes, gravel bikes, adventure bikes, cyclocross bikes, sportive, audax.................etc.

I spent pretty much my whole budget on my bike leaving me with bery little left on clothing. Luckily I had time to build up my "accesories" but this might be somethign to think about. I was never keen on the idea of tight fitting "cylcing" clothing but I have come to appreciate the comfort that "proper" cylcing kit gives. Just getting into clipsless pedals at the minute over a year after buying my bike. You will also need lights, cleaning and maintenance equipement. I'm still using my running GPS watch but you might eventually want a GPS system. I found it great for motivation being able to track my times, heart rate etc.

Try as many bikes as you can, but be realistic as to what you can gather on a 30 minute ride. I used Evans and they allowed me to order in bikes that I wanted in my chosen size to test subject to a £50 per bike refundable deposit. I found my local branch to be reasonably helpful although not overly commited to ensuring the biek was the right fit for me. I felt pretty comfortable on the bike I ended up with and have been for over a year. I do wonder though if that is more luck than anything and I also suspect that if I went for something like a retul bike fit I might be able to improve my position and therefore my comfort and performance.

As you can probably gather I have (to a certain extent) been bitten by the cycling bug, I am still naturally a beer guzzling slob who like nothing better than a lie in at the weekend. But cycling has given me a part of my youth back, I thoroughly enjoy gettingout in the fresh air riding to new places, enjoying nature and feeling good. My son is 4 nearly 5 and I also do it for him, so that when he is older we can enjoy this together.

If you want to read my experience of getting back to riding wich ended in me getting my bike charity bike first you can read here:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/yet-another-what-bike-request.149086/

And here is where I went through the process of getting my current bike:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/b...ing-for-some-opinions-advice-comments.165377/

Sorry for the long post, hope it helps in some small way.

 

[raleighnut]

I'm a big fan of Ridgeback bikes (and steel frames) but this one has just been changed from drop handlebars to straights, looks good for commuting as it comes with a rack designed to fit the frame (no more sweaty back from a rucksack)


http://www.googleadservices.com/pag...uk/ridgeback-expedition-2016-hybrid-bike.html

 

[LGHornet]

I was in a similar position to you so I can appreciate where you are coming from. I had not really ridden a bike in almost twenty years since a teenager. My only experience was basic hard tail mountain bikes. I got myself a hard tail from my local bike charity and rode it everywhere, learnt how to fix some things but when it came to permeneantly commuting I decided to treat myself to a new bike. What I have learnt:

Dont discount drop bars. I was forever findgin lyself uncomfortable on longer rides and would try to hold my flat bars on the end. Having drops means I can ride like a flat bar, I can use the hoods and when I go downhill I can use the drops. The variation is really handy. I also always assumed drop bars meant race bike and having had a partial discectomy I was worried about hurting my back. What I now know is that drop bars come in race bikes, touring bikes, gravel bikes, adventure bikes, cyclocross bikes, sportive, audax.................etc.

I spent pretty much my whole budget on my bike leaving me with bery little left on clothing. Luckily I had time to build up my "accesories" but this might be somethign to think about. I was never keen on the idea of tight fitting "cylcing" clothing but I have come to appreciate the comfort that "proper" cylcing kit gives. Just getting into clipsless pedals at the minute over a year after buying my bike. You will also need lights, cleaning and maintenance equipement. I'm still using my running GPS watch but you might eventually want a GPS system. I found it great for motivation being able to track my times, heart rate etc.

Try as many bikes as you can, but be realistic as to what you can gather on a 30 minute ride. I used Evans and they allowed me to order in bikes that I wanted in my chosen size to test subject to a £50 per bike refundable deposit. I found my local branch to be reasonably helpful although not overly commited to ensuring the biek was the right fit for me. I felt pretty comfortable on the bike I ended up with and have been for over a year. I do wonder though if that is more luck than anything and I also suspect that if I went for something like a retul bike fit I might be able to improve my position and therefore my comfort and performance.

As you can probably gather I have (to a certain extent) been bitten by the cycling bug, I am still naturally a beer guzzling slob who like nothing better than a lie in at the weekend. But cycling has given me a part of my youth back, I thoroughly enjoy gettingout in the fresh air riding to new places, enjoying nature and feeling good. My son is 4 nearly 5 and I also do it for him, so that when he is older we can enjoy this together.

If you want to read my experience of getting back to riding wich ended in me getting my bike charity bike first you can read here:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/yet-another-what-bike-request.149086/

And here is where I went through the process of getting my current bike:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/b...ing-for-some-opinions-advice-comments.165377/

Sorry for the long post, hope it helps in some small way.

Thats really helpful mate. I appreciate the time taken to reply. Lots to consider thats for sure.

i think nim alright for clothing, equipment for the time being. I have what appears to be adequate lighting and reflective clothing and have a helmet (albeit basic) so am focusing on the bike. I use Strava on my phone along with a Polar heart rate monitor to keep tabs on my progress daily. This is the most adictive bit for me.

 

[vickster]

The Ridgeback looks a bit of a heavy lump?