Hi there,
I'm wanting to get into cycling and I've been bamboozled as to what bike to get. My last bike was a Raleigh Max mountain bike which was bought about 15 years ago and was taken to the skip when I moved house a month ago as it was very rusty and hadn't been used for many years! I'm a little nervous about cycling on the roads as haven't done much at all but I am quite fit as I do other sports so I expect after a bit of practice I should be fine but I have never used drop handle bars.
I initially thought I wanted a tourer as I have an ambition of doing John O'Groats to Lands End (probably next summer) so want a bike that I can use everyday but would be up to a longer trip. Depending how I much I enjoy it, I may perhaps do a bit more touring but until I start cycling I wont know. I thought I would probably use the bike mostly on roads for commuting and weekend cycling which could involve some light offroading.
I went into a couple of bike shops last week and were given some suggestions:
Dawes KaraKum
Ridgeback Voyager
Genesis Vapour
The Vapour is a bit beyond my price bracket as would have to add rack and mud guards on top of the £849 price.
After reading other posts on here, I think a cyclocross would be the best option for it's versatility but would it be up to doing JOGLE? I don't want to buy a bike now and then have to get another one next year. I have been thinking about the Specialized Tricross which would be within my budget at £699. But have read that the brakes are a bit scary. Another option would be Giant TCX which my budget could just about stretch to.
Any thoughts, suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Vic
I'm wanting to get into cycling and I've been bamboozled as to what bike to get. My last bike was a Raleigh Max mountain bike which was bought about 15 years ago and was taken to the skip when I moved house a month ago as it was very rusty and hadn't been used for many years! I'm a little nervous about cycling on the roads as haven't done much at all but I am quite fit as I do other sports so I expect after a bit of practice I should be fine but I have never used drop handle bars.
I initially thought I wanted a tourer as I have an ambition of doing John O'Groats to Lands End (probably next summer) so want a bike that I can use everyday but would be up to a longer trip. Depending how I much I enjoy it, I may perhaps do a bit more touring but until I start cycling I wont know. I thought I would probably use the bike mostly on roads for commuting and weekend cycling which could involve some light offroading.
I went into a couple of bike shops last week and were given some suggestions:
Dawes KaraKum
Ridgeback Voyager
Genesis Vapour
The Vapour is a bit beyond my price bracket as would have to add rack and mud guards on top of the £849 price.
After reading other posts on here, I think a cyclocross would be the best option for it's versatility but would it be up to doing JOGLE? I don't want to buy a bike now and then have to get another one next year. I have been thinking about the Specialized Tricross which would be within my budget at £699. But have read that the brakes are a bit scary. Another option would be Giant TCX which my budget could just about stretch to.
Any thoughts, suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Vic