Noob seeking advice and my story.

[bumcheeks]

Hi everyone,
I stumbled across this forum last night and decided to join straight away after getting the feeling it was a very friendly place by reading many of the responses made by people.

So here's my story and how i ended up here, I am 24 years old and have always been reasonably fit, I have always been heavily into my cars and frequent the car owners forums, i was fanatical about my cars and have owned various performance models and loved them.......untill recently. Now i live in a nice area and its well hidden, but after repeated attempts of theft of parts from my cars resulting in damage i have finally had enough. Its got to the point where i cant leave it anywhere even on my own drive. I just dont enjoy it as much anymore because of this.

So i thought long and had and its going, im not going to own a car at all, i will be insured on my mums to get about but only for pleasure use, but no comuting as they are on a SAGA insurance plan and it does not allow it due to my age.

I live three miles from work and am now cycling in every day to work, wind rain or shine. This has more plus points than i expected,

1/I will be reducing my carbon footprint and doing my bit for the environemnt.
2/ I will save money on fuel as i wont be using any!
3/i will get my fitness up a little.

Now my current bike is about 8 years old. Its a raleigh max full suspention, was quite expensive when i brough it, but i dare say its had its day and i will be shunned for mentioning such a brand.

So im in the market for a new bike, im thinking hard tail MTB, with my only desire being that it has disk brakes.

Im swayed toward hardtail MTB as i will be using it half for road(commuting and half for off-road(pleasure) Im thinking it may be the best to cover both sides without any problems(correct me if im wrong)

I have a budget of up to £300 and hope this will be enough to get me a half decent bike. Ive been looking on wiggle.co.uk and the choice is so vast im lost, they list so many different specifications and im no wiser.

Does anyone have any winners in this price range that will serve my needs.

Also(yes i know im asking a lot!) what size frame will i need being 5'11".

any help is much appreciated.

bumcheeks your newest noob

 

[alecstilleyedye]

welcome bumcheeks (great username), a chap at work has recently bought one of these.

will be great on the road with skinny tyres, or fit wider 28s or 32s to give it a bit more grip off road. basically proper road bikes and proper mountain bikes are polar opposites. a hybrid is a compromise, so if your riding is 80% on road, make the hybrid more road oriented. likewise, if your riding is 80% off road, make the hybrid more like a mountain bike (knobbly tyres).

hope this helps.

 

[vernon]

Remove disk brakes from your requirement and you get more bike for your money.

Disk brakes do not add to the performance of the bike and are not that much better than rim brakes for the average punter. Manufacturers fitting disk brakes have to make saveings elsewhere, usually in the quality of the drive train components.

 

[punkypossum]

Trek 4300 - gets very good reviews, never had any problems with mine. V-brake version is £300. I did upgrade the fork to one with lockout, but the rebound adjuster on the stock fork is not too bad at all...

Have a look here as well, if you are after a hardtail:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12540401

 

[bumcheeks]

thanks for all the replies everyone, i looked at the first recomendation and it looked a bit traditional for my liking, but thanks for the link, the specialized looked very nice, ive taken on board the advice about disk brakes as i think its a very good point. im going to go and look at that trek 4300 now punkypossum thanks for the recomendation, i taken the pointer toward the hybrids too as it looks thats what will serve me best.

I have seen this what does everyone think? it still has some grip that will stop me landing on my a55 in the ice one morning(i hope)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Felt_QX70_2008/5360032865/

comments welcome

 

[bumcheeks]

Trek 4300 - gets very good reviews, never had any problems with mine. V-brake version is £300. I did upgrade the fork to one with lockout, but the rebound adjuster on the stock fork is not too bad at all...

Have a look here as well, if you are after a hardtail:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12540401

that looks ace mate

 

[Dayvo]

I have seen this what does everyone think? it still has some grip that will stop me landing on my a55 in the ice one morning(i hope)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Felt_QX70_2008/5360032865/

comments welcome

Hello bumcheeks! And welcome along!

That Felt bike looks a very tasty piece of machinery. Should be right up your street! If you can, visit a few lbs (local bike shops) and sit on/ride the bikes on your list; get the one that 'feels' right.

Good luck!

 

[bumcheeks]

Hello bumcheeks! And welcome along!

That Felt bike looks a very tasty piece of machinery. Should be right up your street! If you can, visit a few lbs (local bike shops) and sit on/ride the bikes on your list; get the one that 'feels' right.

Good luck!

thanks Dayvo, yes i like the look of it, only problem is that wiggle is a closed shop i think eg internet only with no try before you buy.

although i do have a lbs, named Bloomfields, a small family run shop thats been around a very long time so they must be doing something right. just not sure of the selection he will have as its quite a small shop. yes i agree "feel" is very important.

 

[Muddyfox]

I ride a Giant Terrago Disc ... and granted the disc brakes make little difference on the road but they make a big difference when hurtling down wet single track so if you can afford them "get them" have a look at the Mongoose Tyax Super superb bike and £100 off rrp @ 5'11" i'd be testing the 18" frame first

simon

 

[alecstilleyedye]

of course you could always get a road bike and use the bike you already have for off road rides.

(ownership of more than one bike can become a slippery slope though…)

 

[kyuss]

Welcome bumcheeks.

That Felt looks lovely. Nicest looking hybrid I've seen in a long time.

 

[bumcheeks]

I ride a Giant Terrago Disc ... and granted the disc brakes make little difference on the road but they make a big difference when hurtling down wet single track so if you can afford them "get them" have a look at the Mongoose Tyax Super superb bike and £100 off rrp @ 5'11" i'd be testing the 18" frame first

simon

wiggle help centre recomended that mongoose, seems like a very good buy. arggh the choice is baffling, im a little worried that some of these hybrids might not handle my local down hill tractor trail i use on the weekends

 

[bumcheeks]

Welcome bumcheeks.

That Felt looks lovely. Nicest looking hybrid I've seen in a long time.

thanks kyuss, yes i agree its one of the best looking, some of the others look way too traditional.

 

[bumcheeks]

of course you could always get a road bike and use the bike you already have for off road rides.

(ownership of more than one bike can become a slippery slope though…)

yes i have seen that some people on here have three bikes, not naming any names of course

to be honest my off road bike has had it

 

[mickle]

'Hybrids' are not called hybrids because they can cope with off-road riding but because they combine some of the features of mountain bikes (flat bars) with road bikes (700c wheels). The fact is, your average hybrid tyre will not cope with dirt at all. Since your commute is so short, 15 mins or so each way, the increased rolling resistance of a proper mountain bike tyre will be insignificant.

Buy a mountain bike and if later on you want to go faster on it on road fit slicks. IMO.