Normal Hybrid Vs Flat-Bar Road Bike

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Hi

I've been commuting to work for a good 5 years but recently had my bike stolen:cursing:

Anyway, I was lucky enough to have it insured and they've paid out so time to choose a new bike. Until now I had been riding a Carrera Subway 2 from Halfords that had done many years (and about 6000 miles) good service. The same model still exists but the spec has changed a lot. The mechanical disc brakes have been replaced with hydraulics; it's now a 24 speed instead of the 16 on my old one (although I can't be sure on the ratios of the old one); and the tyres are very definitely a lot chunkier. Also it's about £80 more than what I paid 5 years ago - and currently going up in price in the lead up to Xmas.

Reading around the forum the Carrera Subway 2 is fairly good if you can get past the Halfords setup but here's a few questions that would help me choose. Can anyone compare the ride on the older and newer models? Also, is that upgrade to hydraulic disc brakes any good? Are they easier/harder to maintain and are they more effective in braking?

However, as good as the Carrera has been for me I don't want to rule out looking at other models and although I'm not a fan of the ride position of a drop bar road bike, I do fancy something a bit more at the sporty end of the hybrid range. I never do anything off-road and I like the idea of something that can get me around town a bit faster for less effort. One of the options that stands out is the Eastway FB4.0 - currently £50 less than Carrera Subway 2. Has anyone here had any experience with it? The only professional reviews I can find report that it's quite fast and built for reliability but they also cite very poor ride quality. Then again I'd rather hear from someone that's had it for a while instead of just riding it for an afternoon to write a review.

Here's a link to the bike: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/eastway-fb40-sora-2015/

Also does anyone else have experience/advice about sport hybrids/flat bar road bikes that they can share? Given that I have a load of accessories to buy and security to beef up I have to keep my budget limited to around the £350 mark but could stretch a bit more for something if it's fantastic value (that probably doesn't exist this close to Christmas though).

Finally a thank you for reading this far and any help you can offer.
 
 
Carerra Subway has switched from 26" MTB rims size to 27.5/650b. It is, like 26" and 700c, a perfectly good size for a rim but tyre availability in shops is poor. You can buy knobbly tyres off the shelf but commuter tyres are mail order and nice road tyres are still a boutique speciality for this old French touring bike standard.
It is always worth haggling on extra accessories. Check any new bike for rack and mudguard eyelets, esp rear brake location for compatibility with std racks, and for adaquate tyre clearance.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
London Cyclist and the Bike Show both described hydraulic brakes as more powerful and consistent and needing less maintenance but being difficult to DIY. I can lock up with V and hub brakes so I'm not rushing to upgrade.

If I was sure I didn't want drops, I'd be looking for a flat bar road bike that was ever so slightly too long reach for me and planning to put North Road bars on it, to give a variety of hand positions... but I'd also be looking for hub gears and brakes and medium weight steel so our desires may differ ;)

I can't compare the mentioned bikes as I've not tried them. Good luck!
 
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CValkoinen

Member
Carerra Subway has switched from 26" MTB rims size to 27.5/650b. It is, like 26" and 700c, a perfectly good size for a rim but tyre availability in shops is poor. You can buy knobbly tyres off the shelf but commuter tyres are mail order and nice road tyres are still a boutique speciality for this old French touring bike standard.
It is always worth haggling on extra accessories. Check any new bike for rack and mudguard eyelets, esp rear brake location for compatibility with std racks, and for adequate tyre clearance.

Thanks for explaining that. I had been thinking of going for the carrera and swapping the tyres for something a bit slicker but I don't think Halfords do anything slick in 650b and the best price I can find elsewhere is £20 a tyre. Suddenly the Subway 2 is looking a lot less competitive (unless I can negotiate a much better deal on the price).

Thanks MartinQ for the link to the decathalon, it looks interesting and a good price. Anyone else got some recommendations for flat-bar road bikes (or whatever you want to call them) that I can take a look at? I'll admit I've always been a fan of disc brakes but if someone wants to tell me that's silly or unnecessary I'm willing to listen.
 

RichardB

Slightly retro
Location
West Wales
I can't help with any of the bikes mentioned, but I have hydraulic discs (Tektro Auriga) on my commuter bike and they are superb. First bike with discs I have had, and they are very powerful, unaffected by rain, and easy to modulate. They don't seem to need adjustment once they are set up, and pad changes are a breeze. I'm totally convinced by them. The only drawback I can see is that if one of the hydraulic pipes were to be damaged, there is little you can do 'on the road' to fix them. That would be a concern on a tour or off-road. My next bike is going to have cable discs, and I will be interested to see how they compare.
 
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CValkoinen

Member
Just as an update (in case anyone stumbles on this in the future and wants to know what happens) Black Friday rolled around and presented a new choice; the Boardman Hybrid Comp (also from Halfords). It was reduced to the same price as the Subway 2 and with extra 10% off for the weekend I paid £315. The things that swayed me was mainly the tyres, the Boardman's are a useful standard size instead of the Subway's 27.5'' which will make buying replacements easier. The tyres are also much slicker which given that I never go off-road made more sense for me.

In the end the Eastway lost out mainly because I was happier sticking with what I know (a hybrid instead of the flat bar road) and the fact I can pick up my Boardman in a couple of days instead of waiting a week or so for the Eastway to inevitably turn up whilst I'm out at work. Since my last post I discovered that Eastway is a brand that Wiggle recently bought out to become one of their in-house brands. That means the FB4.0 (and the rest of the range) will be going the way of the dodo in a few months and I can see why Wiggle were selling it off at £300 just before Xmas. I don't think that really affected my choice in the end but it'll be interesting to see the replacement range that Wiggle introduce in a month or two.
 
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CValkoinen

Member
So, thought I'd come back and update on things that happened after 4 months. The bike has been fantastic - a dream to ride compared to my last one. Seems I lucked out with whoever built the bike at Halfords as the only build quality issue was that some mudguard bolts weren't tight enough and went astray, but they replaced them for free.

The biggest surprise has been that after filling out the feedback from for my purchase I won a prize for completing the survey. A prize I didn't even know existed. Anyway, now there's a £100 gift card for some future purchases. I think that's all my luck for 2016 used up...
 
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