Yet another what bike request

[Darren Gregory]

Good afternoon all.

I have bene lurking on this forum for a few days and reading a lot of the "what bike" threads to try and get an idea of what to buy.

Bit of background first. I am 34 years old and have not ridden a bike really since I was probably 17 years old. My partner and I bought our first house about three years ago and we have slowly been sorting it out. We are this week in the process of having the garden gutted and as part of that we are having a nice new shed that needs filling.

We have also gone from owning two cars to having just one, mine got sold so I thought a nice bike to fill the shed and to get me around town when I am without a car would be usefull.

I don't have a great deal of money but I get the impression that my budget of £300 will not get me very far in todays market. I could go used but I'm not knoweldgable and therefore comfortable in buying from fleabay. In addition I am funding this by way of an interest free loan from my employer however it muist be paid by way of an officail invoice so I can't just but a bike with cash or a debit card like most people might.

Lurking on the forum I see that a lot of people think highly of the Triban 3. I appreciate that it cannot compete with the more expensive bikes but the felling I got from reading the threads is that it is good value for money and better than anything in that price range.

My only concerns with the Triban 3 is that it is a road bike and I have never riden that style of bike. I have also in the past had back surgery so I am a little concerned that the riding stance is quite bent over.

I gather that Decathlon bikes are generally considered quite good value for money, so I am wondering if one of their Mountain bikes of hybrid bikes would be more appropriate. As a kid I rode a mountain bike.

My use of the bike is likely to be riding around the town when I dont have the car. Where I live in Hampshire it is relatively flat in town with a bit of mild hills. I would want a bike that can accomodate a rear rack so that I can put saddle bags (not sure if that is the correct terminology?) for when I go shopping.

Potentially I may well use it for excerise. I started running long distance in 2012 and whilst I enjoy that I am suffering from shin splints so some variation would help. I also have near me a large military shooting range which has a large wide circular track some 10-20km in length that would be great for riding without worrying about traffic. It is a gravel type surface which again leads me away from the triban.

I would appreciate any suggestions on what I should be looking at. I don't want to buy something that falls apart within a week like some BSO from Tesco but I also appreciate that my budget is limited.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[Doyleyburger]

Welcome. Don't let a road bike style put you off. You will probably find you would very rarely be riding on the drops.....normally You would ride on the hoods or even on the tops of the bars. There are so many good and reasonably priced bikes out there. Perhaps look at a hybrid as that sounds like it might be up your street, but I shall let the more experienced cyclists on here lead you in the right direction i think. ......
All the best in your search and prepare for the CC addiction to set in

 

[Cuchilo]

I also have near me a large military shooting range which has a large wide circular track some 10-20km in length that would be great for riding without worrying about traffic

I think id rather take my chances with the traffic

 

[Darren Gregory]

I think id rather take my chances with the traffic

Yeah can be a bit odd running along with the rifles firing but as long as you stay out of the restricted areas designated with red flags it's fine.

 

[Darren Gregory]

Welcome. Don't let a road bike style put you off. You will probably find you would very rarely be riding on the drops.....normally You would ride on the hoods or even on the tops of the bars. There are so many good and reasonably priced bikes out there. Perhaps look at a hybrid as that sounds like it might be up your street, but I shall let the more experienced cyclists on here lead you in the right direction i think. ......
All the best in your search and prepare for the CC addiction to set in

Thanks. I am very tempted by the Triban 3 as it seems very highly praised. And a road bike would be a new experience.

 

[Scoosh]

Something along the lines of a flat-barred 'town bike' could be good (eg Boardman range) -as long as the tyres are wide enough for your off-road military track ride - 28mm would probably be your mini-nunum

Go to some LBS (local Bike Shops) and ask their advice: the one that best agrees with what the CC members say is obviously the best ! Have a sit on the recommended bikes, then arrange test rides, to get the feel of each bike and how you feel on it. If you haven't been riding for a [cough] while , it may take you a few rides to get used to the feel of bikes these days.

Equally, depending on where you live, there could be a CC member just round the corner who could help you ...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

You can ride the Triban 3 around in store in Decathlon and return it if it is not suitable. However, I think it is probably not. We have 2 of them in this household as well as touring bike and mountain bikes and I am thinking that you would be better off looking at a 2nd hand mountain bike or one of the Decathlon hybrids that they have until you have worked out if your back can handle it/strengthen your back to be able to handle it.
Also having lived on a similar MoD training ground (part of the Longmoor camp) for 12 years, I know that the T3 would not be suitable in the slightest and you will have much more fun with a hard tail mountain bike or cross/hybrid than you would with the road bike.

 

[Darren Gregory]

Something along the lines of a flat-barred 'town bike' could be good (eg Boardman range) -as long as the tyres are wide enough for your off-road military track ride - 28mm would probably be your mini-nunum

Go to some LBS (local Bike Shops) and ask their advice: the one that best agrees with what the CC members say is obviously the best ! Have a sit on the recommended bikes, then arrange test rides, to get the feel of each bike and how you feel on it. If you haven't been riding for a [cough] while , it may take you a few rides to get used to the feel of bikes these days.

Equally, depending on where you live, there could be a CC member just round the corner who could help you ...

Thanks a trip to my local shop sounds like a good idea, I just find the whole sale pitch uncomfortable. Good advice though. A trip to the Decathlon store would be a good idea too, would give the missus an encentive to go to Ikea!

 

[Darren Gregory]

You can ride the Triban 3 around in store in Decathlon and return it if it is not suitable. However, I think it is probably not. We have 2 of them in this household as well as touring bike and mountain bikes and I am thinking that you would be better off looking at a 2nd hand mountain bike or one of the Decathlon hybrids that they have until you have worked out if your back can handle it/strengthen your back to be able to handle it.
Also having lived on a similar MoD training ground (part of the Longmoor camp) for 12 years, I know that the T3 would not be suitable in the slightest and you will have much more fun with a hard tail mountain bike or cross/hybrid than you would with the road bike.

Interesting as the MOD ground I am talking about is part of or next to Longmoor. It is Woolmer Pond so presumably you know it well? I have run around the bottom half and the top half but never gotten round the top right corner near the A3 as I limit myself to 5km runs and start where I can park which tends to be near the pond.

I do wonder how much off road I would do after cycling the pond a few times though.

 

[MarkF]

I had 2 false starts on a MTB and a road bike before getting going on a hybrid (I have all 3 now), why restrict your riding options till you know what sort of riding you like and how much you like it? A hybrid every time for beginners IMO.

The B'Twin "Riverside" at £269 looks a decent do-it-all bike, if you can lock out the suspension then I'd be happy to get going on one of those.

 

[Darren Gregory]

I had 2 false starts on a MTB and a road bike before getting going on a hybrid (I have all 3 now), why restrict your riding options till you know what sort of riding you like and how much you like it? A hybrid every time for beginners IMO.

The B'Twin "Riverside" at £269 looks a decent do-it-all bike, if you can lock out the suspension then I'd be happy to get going on one of those.

Thanks. Looks good and fits within my budget with spare for accesories. What did you mean by "lock out the suspension"?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Interesting as the MOD ground I am talking about is part of or next to Longmoor. It is Woolmer Pond so presumably you know it well? I have run around the bottom half and the top half but never gotten round the top right corner near the A3 as I limit myself to 5km runs and start where I can park which tends to be near the pond.

I do wonder how much off road I would do after cycling the pond a few times though.

There is another part of the Longmoor camp over the otherside of Haslemere at Elstead, which is where we lived for 12 years. But I do know that area as well because we often used to cycle that way and both of us used to work as civvies for the MoD.
Commuting to work across country was always interesting when they were out training. I used to see how close I could get (on the bike) before they saw me in the twilight hours. Worryingly I often got exceptionally close (including one occasion when I was almost passed one sentry before he saw he ), but thankfully our end was not a live range, only blanks were allowed (but at that range would have still done some 'damage'!

The biggest issue we had was the range of (sorry bad pun) of surfaces because I would start off on hard grass, then hard core, then go to tarmac for a short period, then exceptionally soft sand, followed by deep mud & peat and then back to seriously soft waterlogged sand (which almost always had me pushing the mtb in bad weather) and then back to rocky loose sand (not to mention the odd fallen tree) before heading off up an access road for the A3 which was littered with brambles and broken glass... such a range of surfaces will challenge all tyres! That's why I was thinking mountain bike for you.

 

[Scoosh]

Thanks. .....
What did you mean by "lock out the suspension"?

The front forks - the things that hold the front tyre in place - have suspension on them, to absorb some of the shock from the bumps and ruts on the trail/road. When you are not on a bumpy track, you don't want the shock absorbers to be bouncing, as every time you put your weight on the pedal, the first thing to happen is that the front of the bike dips, as the front fork is slightly compressed. This uses up a lot of your hard-to-come-by energy !

Many front forks have a little dial thing that you can turn, which 'locks out' the suspension, so it doesn't 'work' when you are on a harder, smoother surface, like a tarmac road.

Means you can go faster on the road for the same energy !

 

[sazzaa]

I was also a bit worried about how a road bike would be with back problems, but found that it actually helped, stretched my back a bit (in the right way), it's worth a try anyway!

 

[Darren Gregory]

I was also a bit worried about how a road bike would be with back problems, but found that it actually helped, stretched my back a bit (in the right way), it's worth a try anyway!

interesting to know, thanks