Which bike should I buy?

[Harry4life]

I need to know which one to buy. Bare in mind I cycle at least 12-15miles a day, 5 days a week. On Road and off road (gravel). Mainly on roads but sometimes gravel if I'm going along the canal and could be 10miles of gravel.. I am not sure on exactly which is best and was a little confused with terrain and mountain bikes and the difference between them. Someone actually pointed this out to me at work..also I've been told one is downhill so kind of clueless to be honest. My budget can go upto £350. If there's someone who could recommend an alternate I'd also appreciate that.

Halfords | Carrera Vengeance Mountain Bike 2011/2012 - Large 20" - http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...&productId=810721&langId=-1&categoryId=165499


Trek 2013 3700 Disc Hardtail MTB Bike | All Terrain Cycles - http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/Trek-2013-3700-Disc-Hardtail-MTB-Bike


Diamondback Men's Descent Mountain Bike:Amazon.co.uk:Sports & Outdoors - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00CE7A1OM/ref=mp_s_a_1_25?qid=1397954618&sr=1-25&pi=AC_SX110_SY165


Indigo Men's Encore XC1.0 Performance Mountain Bike:Amazon.co.uk:Sports & Outdoors - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00...235?qid=1397955014&sr=1-235&pi=AC_SX110_SY165

 

[Harry4life]

Also forgot to mention I personally prefer a Hardtail bike. I would really appreciate your help guys :-)

 

[vickster]

Decathlon rockrider range gets good press

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-53-mountain-bike-white-id_8206682.html

 

[Custom24]

What are you cycling at the moment?

 

[Harry4life]

Apollo Xc.26s but I have sold due to being to short for me, started getting bad knee pains. Think it was a medium frame but I will need atleast 20"

 

[Custom24]

Also forgot to mention I personally prefer a Hardtail bike. I would really appreciate your help guys :-)

If you mean that you prefer a Hardtail over a full suspension, that is certainly the right thing to do for your price range and for what you are wanting to use the bike for.

But my question would be - do you even need a mountain bike at all? I ended up buying a hardtail mountain bike (a Specialized Hardrock - the same kind of money you are talking about here) a couple of years ago for a commute which was a bit more off-roady than what you are describing. I still have that bike, but due to the amount of maintenance and replacement required to keep it running all year round through mud, I've decided to only use it on the off road commute during the Summer, when it is nice and dry. The rest of the time, I am now commuting by road (on a separate road bike).

The downsides to a mountain bike are
1. They normally come with wide wheels/tyres - slower and you don't need wide wheels.
2. They are normally heavy-ish (at the money you are looking to spend) - slower. Many vendors don't list weights for their bikes, so you're going to have to compare them yourself to feel the difference.
3. Getting full length mudguards to fit them is possible, but uncommon. Without full mudguards, a lot of crap gets on the drivetrain - a lot of time cleaning, and/or expensive

The upsides (for what you want) are
1. Front suspension. Yes, but at your price, it's not going to be very good (mine isn't). Do you really need it? A rigid fork will probably be fine, and will last longer.
2. Disc brakes. Ditto - it will be cable operated discs at your price. They're OK, but you might need to allow for an upgrade to either decent cable brakes or hydraulics later. In my case, there was a lot of continual fiddling to keep the disc brakes from rubbing, and then the rear failed altogether, so I upgraded to hydraulics.
3. Ummm...

Of course, it depends what else you might end up using the bike for. I do use mine on the trails apart from commuting, and there is no denying that's a pleasant thing to do.

My advice for your commute would be to consider a hybrid bike. For example,
http://www.evanscycles.com/categori...e_from=;price_to=400;on_sale=;sort=popularity;

Once you've got a candidate, post back here and see if anyone knows anything about the particular bike.

 

[vickster]

+1

Something like this is more than capable of going along gravel and far better for the roads

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/scott-sub-40-2013-hybrid-bike-ec042465

Or if suspension really wanted, something like this will be more comfortable on rough stuff but bigger wheels better for roads

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/trek-82-ds-2014-hybrid-bike-ec042140

 

[Harry4life]

I mainly only ride in summer. The main route I take is from bradford to leeds, majority of it is rough terrain and gives a bumpy ride hence the reason I assumed suspension would be better..

 

[Custom24]

I mainly only ride in summer. The main route I take is from bradford to leeds, majority of it is rough terrain and gives a bumpy ride hence the reason I assumed suspension would be better..

It depends what you mean by rough terrain. Any Google street view?
The suspension on my hardtail has never, to my knowledge, done anything useful. It's kind of seized up now, but even when the bike was new, I don't remember it moving very much while riding on the trails. I suppose if I were to hit a rock or something, it might save the front wheel, but I don't think it makes that much difference to control or comfort. For that, I think you need a better suspension than you are likely to get at this price. When you test ride a bike, as well as leaning on the suspension to see how easily it moves, pay attention to how much it moves while you mount a kerb or similar.

That being said, some of the hybrids listed do have suspension.

One final thing. My wife's bike, which is a Marin hybrid bike, does actually have quite a nice suspension on the front which does move usefully. We picked it up second hand from a bike shop for £180, and it is a really nice bike. Second hand might be a way forward for you.