Hi guys, After 32 years of laughing at any bike without an engine I've finally come to the point where I need to get a bit fitter and thought a bit of cycling might do the trick. I have absolutely no clue what to look at though so was looking for advice.... I'm 6ft 4 so guessing a large sized bike? I'll be riding mainly roads but I don't like the look of old school 'racing bikes' and finally if this is anything like my other fads it won't last long so I don't want to shell too much out (few hundred maybe). Any advice or recommendations? Cheers Nick
Go to a shop and try them for size. If you are going on road and don't want a racer then have a look at hybrids, remember that wide tyres and suspension sap energy. I have a C2C bike which looks like a racer but has a more relaxed geometry.
find a nice " used" marin , scott, giant ect fro around the 250 mark. Frame wise, 19inch max but get your self down a bike shop and feel what best. just get some road tires for it. You could always go the hybrid way.... however not a fan.
Got a Carrera hard tail frame, and built it up with disc brakes, carbon seat stem and carbon bars and stays. Good bike, and use it for road with road tyres or off road with schwalbe mud tyres. Used to cycle to work and back (23 miles a day) but haven't used it in 8 mths. I'll use it in the summer as the kids have new bikes and the Missus likes to get out on hers.
Keen twice a week mountain biker here... and love it ! First choice is to decide whether it's on rd or off rd, if you want it to commute & keep fit you can always do that with an off rd, preferably a 'hardtail' (front suspension only) but for obvious reasons you can't use a road bike off road! If you want to keep fit then mountain biking is excellent, look on line for a community, i'm really lucky where I am as we utilise the army ground & there are miles & miles of purpose built trails, you may or may not be so lucky... The social side of mountain biking is also far better. A group of you, you and your machine against the elements in the countryside... what could be better... Certainly better imho than battling through polluted traffic, pot hole rds... even the good rds are crap because all the shite ends up in the edges! Seriously, I know you referred to road bike, but do some interweb searching for nearby groups off rd, you may be pleasantly surprised....
The problem with buying something cheap is that normally means crap groupsets( brakes,shifters,front rear mech), this can & does lead to putting people off cycling after there amazing full suspension £99 from tesco , is fucked after 500 yds. Choose wisely, & read up on reviews on tinternet. £2/3000 will buy you something nice
Cheers for the advice guys, 2/3 k is a little out my budget tho lol, I was thinking 2or 3 but hundreds not thousands lol I know this may alarm seasoned cyclists but I went into halfords tonight and liked the look of the carrera subway - badged as hybrid but looked more like a non suspension MTb with slightly smoother wheels. I honestly don't think I'm up to off roading, I'm thinking more like a few miles on the road or there's a local path that goes a good 15 miles out of aberystwyth
Regards size.... 19 inch max was mentioned before but all info I've found points towards a 22 inch. I tried a 21 in shop and it felt huge but right (My last MTb was my Raleigh mustang and 25 years ago lol)
Hi Nick, I have the Carrera Hybrid (Subway 2) and a Carrera road bike both bought from Halfords for less than £400 each. I got back into cycling a couple of years back to get fit and now I'm doing 100 mile a week training and a couple of big rides a year. (Manchester 100 last Sept). The problem is that when you ride a road bike a Hybrid or mountain bike seem slow and hard work. Personally I'd spend your cash on a road bike! Good luck fella.
Good luck in your quest to get fit mate I did the same I bought a focus cayo with 105 groupset full carbon road bike and cycle to work each day 18 mile in total, tis a cracking way to keep fit. Watch out for the bloody idiot car drivers though!!
Cheers tony. That looks a serious bit of kit you've invested in. I'd love a carbon one but can't afford or justify it lol As for the idiot car drivers, well we are all used to them after riding the blades lol. Seriously though, thanks for the advice, it is something I'll be watching out for, especially as our local toads are mainly narrow country lanes!
I use the Carrera kracken hardtail.got it after it finished in bike radars top 10 best mountain bikes of 2011 and thats not bad seeing the cost was unlimited so there was bikes up to 3k in the running.
I go out on my Boardman hardtail mtb 3 or 4 times a week riding a selection of on and off road which is great fun. The Boardmans at Halfords start at about £500 and they always seem to get good reviews on bike radar etc for whatever style you want.
I haven't had a problem with any of them Nick, like the blade I look after them so hopefully they should stay reliable for a long time to come.
