Broadside
Guru
- Location
- Fleet, Hants
I'm a bit of an unashamed roadie, but I have no idea what to look for in a bike for mixed use.
I ride a Specialized Tarmac for my normal riding of around 4,000 miles per year but I need something suitable for riding with my kids. At the moment I've got an old Raleigh Europa which I use with a tag-a-long bike but the Raleigh is way past its best and really not worth tarting up.
I want a bike that I can use for riding with the kids, something that is good on roads but that can also handle canal towpaths and a bit of very light off roading. I am thinking that a mountain bike is probably too far towards off roading, so then I thought of a hybrid with a suspension fork, but do i need this? So then could I get a flat bar road bike with clearance for quite fat tyres (35+) that would do the job?
The title of the thread is about the Specialized offerings for flatbar and hybrid bikes, but I am not tied to a brand, in fact having a non-Specialised bike in our garage of 8 bikes (kids stuff included) might not be a bad thing!
Do you think a flat bar road bike with wide tyres will do it, or is a suspension fork worthwhile? This bike really is just for knocking around on with my kids and occasional pub duties, so I don't expect to cover more than about 100 miles per year on it, but I do want to end up with the right tool for the job.
What sort of bike would you go for?
I ride a Specialized Tarmac for my normal riding of around 4,000 miles per year but I need something suitable for riding with my kids. At the moment I've got an old Raleigh Europa which I use with a tag-a-long bike but the Raleigh is way past its best and really not worth tarting up.
I want a bike that I can use for riding with the kids, something that is good on roads but that can also handle canal towpaths and a bit of very light off roading. I am thinking that a mountain bike is probably too far towards off roading, so then I thought of a hybrid with a suspension fork, but do i need this? So then could I get a flat bar road bike with clearance for quite fat tyres (35+) that would do the job?
The title of the thread is about the Specialized offerings for flatbar and hybrid bikes, but I am not tied to a brand, in fact having a non-Specialised bike in our garage of 8 bikes (kids stuff included) might not be a bad thing!
Do you think a flat bar road bike with wide tyres will do it, or is a suspension fork worthwhile? This bike really is just for knocking around on with my kids and occasional pub duties, so I don't expect to cover more than about 100 miles per year on it, but I do want to end up with the right tool for the job.
What sort of bike would you go for?
Very good deals on older hybrid models here 
