Please help me choose a new bike

[steve evans]

I did consider 2 cheaper bikes Downward and I agree it's a good compromise.

My commute is 13.5 miles each way, over the Humber Bridge and through Hull's shitty, pot holed, traffic filled roads. There is a bike path for some of my route but it's badly designed, poorly built and poorly maintained. Far too much glass, dog shoot, blind entrances and give way to traffic junctions to maintain any kind of momentum.

I try to do this 4 days a week making a little over 100 miles a week and this at the moment accounts for the vast majority of my cycling. My thoughts are that a flat bar is the best tool for this job.

The bridge tolls and fuel I save adds up to about £10 a day so I can easily justify to myself spending £1K on a bike. It's not about the money anyway, I'm cycling to try and get (and then keep) fitter.

I would like to do a bit more leisure cycling (I live on the edge of the Lincs wolds) but not got the time/enthusiasm/fitness or whatever to make this regular enough at the moment to allow this to dictate my choice fo bike.

If I get a quality flat bar now I have a good bike for the majority of my cycling, I can keep my old MTB for off road fun and if the leisure cycling takes off as I get keener/fitter I can then buy myself a good roadie for that too.

I am self employed so the bike to work scheme doesn't apply unfortunately.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Where are you located Steve? You must be near me in Barrow.

 

[steve evans]

I live in Holton Le Clay (between Grimsby and Louth).

I drive to the last turn off before the Humber Bridge and park up in the layby on the road into South Ferriby and bike accross the bridge to the bp site at Hedon.

Started this last summer, packed in for the winter and started again in March, pretty much set on 4 days a week now and got so I don't care if it rains or how windy or cold it is, got some decent gear now so the weather can do what it likes.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

You live near to some superb cycling roads. I cycle a fair bit around Binbrook/Caistor/Swallow area. Absolutely gorgeous. I don't envy your trips in Hull though

 

[steve evans]

You are right, some lovely quiet roads in the area you mentioned, great cycling to be had.

Did you do the recent charity Bikeathon starting from East Ravendale? 40 miles of good fun was had by a few work colleagues from Hull and myself, although the hills broke them all in the end.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Sadly it clashed with the Lincoln Grand Prix, so I watched the experts struggle up Steep Hill no less than eleven times! Great weather for the Bikeathon though.

 

[MacB]

I wouldn't spend £1k on a hybrid. The upright position is a ball ache on decents and in the wind which we get a hell of a lot of.
Better off getting a really decent Hybrid for £400 - £450 and spending £550 - £600 on a Road bike. I assume you are going through your Works Cyclescheme ??

Other option is spending the whole lot on a Road bike especially with the mileage you are going to be doing.

hmmmm, I can get plenty aero on descents on my hybrid Giant, certainly beyond my courage levels. Surely ride position is indicated by saddle to bar drop, reach and ST/HT angles? Barring full on race/TT geometry we're only really talking about the drops position. I would actually suggest that a full on race position wouldn't be great for commuting a long way.

 

[montage]

What you want for commuting is the heaviest lead filled bike you can find.

Then you hop onto your main bike during the weekends and ffflllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[Downward]

hmmmm, I can get plenty aero on descents on my hybrid Giant, certainly beyond my courage levels. Surely ride position is indicated by saddle to bar drop, reach and ST/HT angles? Barring full on race/TT geometry we're only really talking about the drops position. I would actually suggest that a full on race position wouldn't be great for commuting a long way.

That went way over my head.

To be honest I have never rode a Road bike !

 

[Downward]

I did consider 2 cheaper bikes Downward and I agree it's a good compromise.

My commute is 13.5 miles each way, over the Humber Bridge and through Hull's shitty, pot holed, traffic filled roads. There is a bike path for some of my route but it's badly designed, poorly built and poorly maintained. Far too much glass, dog shoot, blind entrances and give way to traffic junctions to maintain any kind of momentum.

I try to do this 4 days a week making a little over 100 miles a week and this at the moment accounts for the vast majority of my cycling. My thoughts are that a flat bar is the best tool for this job.

The bridge tolls and fuel I save adds up to about £10 a day so I can easily justify to myself spending £1K on a bike. It's not about the money anyway, I'm cycling to try and get (and then keep) fitter.

I would like to do a bit more leisure cycling (I live on the edge of the Lincs wolds) but not got the time/enthusiasm/fitness or whatever to make this regular enough at the moment to allow this to dictate my choice fo bike.

If I get a quality flat bar now I have a good bike for the majority of my cycling, I can keep my old MTB for off road fun and if the leisure cycling takes off as I get keener/fitter I can then buy myself a good roadie for that too.

I am self employed so the bike to work scheme doesn't apply unfortunately.

If you have used your MTB for a while then you sound pretty happy to stick to Flat Bars so if this is the case you may as well go see what the difference is between the Hybrid bike ranges.

I assume a £1k Hybrid is considerably less weight than the 26lb average of the £400 market.

 

[MacB]

If you have used your MTB for a while then you sound pretty happy to stick to Flat Bars so if this is the case you may as well go see what the difference is between the Hybrid bike ranges.

I assume a £1k Hybrid is considerably less weight than the 26lb average of the £400 market.

should be, if he's looking at the Giant Alliance range, that's the half alu half carbon option. Forks, top tube, part seat tube and seat stays are carbon.

I liked the look of the FCR but the guards, rack and tyre options were limited. I have a bit over a mile of rough track on my commute hence going for the CRS to get clearance. Since then I've switched to a Surly Crosscheck steel frame for commuting on. The Giant really was a bit too delicate for the job.

It depends on whether you want the bike for social rides as well and whether you want panniers etc. My preference now is a commute specific bike and then a weekend bike.

 

[Twanger]

I spent my whole life using drop bars until 20 years ago (when I went to Turkey and decided that staying alive was more important than cycling - Anatolia is NOT cycle friendly). Love them. I like the range of positions and the comfort. I like the streamlining you have when necessary. I normally rode on the hoods (I guess this means the brake lever housing? Back in the day, I just knew these as "brake levers") from where I had no problem working the brakes ever. I also never ever had a problem getting quickly to the brakes when my hands were elsewhere, even in dense traffic.

However, I bought a hybrid when I got back into commuting a week or so back. My reasons were that at 50 years old I now prefer the upright position (though I did get a lower stem fitted on my Specialized Sirrus elite when I bought it! I may yet go back to the original stem, which puts the bars up above the saddle) in traffic and don't have that urge to belt through London as I used to. More importantly, the hybrid has cantilever brakes. My old road bike has trad calipers, and they don't stop the bike fast enough for me any more. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that I am over three stone heavier these days.....

My old bike is a 23" Reynolds 531c frame with Shimano 105 gears and brakes, chainwheel I can't remember, cinelli bars, Campag hubs hand woven to mavic rims. A good bike when I bought it 25 years ago for 300 quid, though now it feels too nervous and sprightly when I ride it. The Specialized, with an aluminium frame, is better. Partly, no doubt, through technological improvements over the past quarter century. But the point remains that a 500 quid bike at today's prices is relatively much cheaper than a 300 quid one from the mid 80s, and is just better. I can't imagine needing a better bike for commuting.

I am not ruling out putting drop bars on the sirrus. I may do. The point is that I can if I ever want to!

Anyway, my contribution for what it's worth.

 

[oscarplu]

Hi Steve, there is only one bike to go for, please see link
http://www.koga.com/uk/bike.asp?collectionid=10&segmentid=83&id=7585287&FullSpecs=1
I have had mine for a little under a year now and i cant praise it highly enough. I know it is a little bit more than you wanted to pay but you wont be disappointed!!!

 

[steve evans]

Twanger, thanks for your views, I'm only 5 years younger than you so kind of get what you are saying.

Anyway, went for a couple of hours spin on a borrowed bike from LBS earlier and my mind has been made up as a result.

Flat bar it is, just didn't like the drop bar position and never felt fully in control, especially in heavy traffic.

So the question is, which flat bar?

oscarplu, had a look at the koga, no doubt a nice bike but just not my thing, thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Favourite at the moment is the Boardman Hybrid Pro Ltd, but willing to listen to opinions on this bike and would like other suggestions for others, please try to persuade me one way or the other.

The £1K+ is burning a hole in my pocket and I want to get a new bike before I go back to work in June.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

My old bike is a 23" Reynolds 531c frame with Shimano 105 gears and brakes, chainwheel I can't remember, cinelli bars, Campag hubs hand woven to mavic rims. A good bike when I bought it 25 years ago......

Sounds like a great bike now! I'd stick with this one at least as the weekend racer - 531c is a lovely lightweight steel frame and the wheels and components sound good too.