Which ~£500 commuter bike?

[helston90]

Looking for inspiration here on how to best spend something in the region of £500 on a commuter- my company have opened up our C2W window in Jan and I'm looking for something to do 24 mile round trip in hilly open countryside all year round.

looking for something to take proper mudguards, not too fussed about racking eyelets but the option may be nice.

Looked at typical Sirrus/ Trek FX range and mainly leaning towards Giant Rapid 4 as flat bar road bike but wondered if there was something more interesting out there not quite so mainstream- for no paticular reason? or failing that opinions on mainstream bikes which I may not have considered?

 

[Get In The Van]

Its through Halfords, But Boardman have just released 3 new sub £500 bikes, they look ok and a decent spec for the money.

 

[Nebulous]

Well from sort of the same starting point as you - I had a decent sum in Edinburgh Bike gift vouchers. I bought this. Tyres are a bit dodgy. Paint chips a bit more readily than I would like for a commuter, but apart from that I can't fault it. I bought it for a very short commute but have landed up using it much more and have put around 1000 miles on it since mid-July.

Edit:- They often do 15% off everything sales. Likely to have a sale in January going by previous form.

 

[Falwheeler]

Not exactly radical, but my son recently bought a Giant Escape from a bike shop local to you, Cycle Logic. Fitted with guards and rack makes an ideal commuter.

 

[adamangler]

http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p27909/GT-GTR-Type-CX.aspx?utm_source=googleps

 

[HLaB]

I like my cheap viking single speed too much but my commute is flat if it wasn't I'd consider a cyclocross bike, they seem good all round commuters. I like the giant Rapid/ Sirrus et al but I like drops more

 

[DrLex]

How fixed is that budget?
Great deal on the Alfine 8 hub-geared. Avid BB7 disk-braked, flat-barred Pompetamine at On-One for £599.
clicky

(Disclaimer: I have the 2011 model Pompetamine Alfine 11 and love it. Only niggle is the slight toe over-lap.)

 

[derrick]

If you ain't got to many big hills to go up, look at a fixie have been using one for the last 3 weeks and really having fun with it, low maintanance easy to fix and keep clean, if your that way inclined..

 

[helston90]

Cheers for the ideas- liking the looks of the Boardman Hybrid Race. The budget is pretty fixed, that amount with my wages works out £30 a month repayment, any more than that and SWMBO will have a melt down.
I have a lot of hills- my route to work is 900ft in 12 miles so I had pretty much written off the fixies (gorgeously simple as some of them are!), I'll need to look into online buying as I'd need to have a test ride before doing so!

 

[Cyclist33]

Good luck with that - Halfords are often very stingy when it comes to test-rides!

 

[Booyaa]

Like the one above, I would go for this http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/pro...-12?bct=browse/bicycles/commuter-hybrid-bikes
I don't think they have shops down your way though.

 

[Domestique]

I just got one of these a couple of months ago. Changed the tyres for M+ and B&M Lumotec Lyt senso plus headlamp. Well under your price range.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=89804