Cycling

[armelec]

Hey, i've decided to take up a biking, mostly for fitness, can anyone recommend a bike for me?

I'm semi fit, do 10mile on bikes at the gym aswel as a little running etc

I'm looking for a nice comfortable road bike, dont mind spening aprox 300ish on one, even a little more if need be.

Anyone here into riding and can recommend one?

[stoopidbird]

Hey, i've decided to take up a biking, mostly for fitness, can anyone recommend a bike for me?

I'm semi fit, do 10mile on bikes at the gym aswel as a little running etc

I'm looking for a nice comfortable road bike, dont mind spening aprox 300ish on one, even a little more if need be.

Anyone here into riding and can recommend one?

[Purple Monkey]

When you say road bike, do you mean actual road bike i.e. drop handlebars, skinny tyres, racing frame or do you just mean bike you can ride on the road?

[nightcrawler13]

You need a robust mountain bike with decent suspension to get anywhere on Britains roads these days!

[greeneyes1980]

You need a robust mountain bike with decent suspension to get anywhere on Britains roads these days!

[razz1e]

I've always been told to buy a bike with the equipment you need. I personally don't think you need suspension in the city, I get by just fine on my road bike. If you're spending £300 on a bike with suspension, or £300 for a bike without suspension the one without is going to have better quality components in general because you're not paying the for suspension that you don't need... Does that make any sense!?

Anyway as for recommendations, these are two of my favourite £300ish manufacturers:

I've had a Trek hybrid which was alright, just wasn't fast enough for me. As a manufacturer though I can highly recommend them.

My current bike is a Specialized langster, brilliant road bike which I got for £280, rrp £400 at the time. Another very good brand.

If you have any friends who know anything about bikes, I'd recommend having a look on gumtree - can find some real bargains.

Have a little look on Evans website as well, they have pretty brief descriptions of each bike which might help. http://www.evanscycles.co.uk/ and have a look at the 2006/2007 models, as they'll be ever so slightly different to the 2008 models but a fraction of the price.

Edited July 11, 2008 by razz1e

[dakyras]

Can't go wrong with Raleigh or Apollo as far as reliability and build quality goes, especially as first 'proper' bikes.

Picked up a Raleigh 22" alloy frame w/ 18 speed shimano, front disc brakes and suspension for £120 the other day to ride to uni.

[rhysieg]

i have a haro nyquist one, but its a bmx, so im no help at all i guess.

[Alcatraz]

I watch a lot of cycling (TDF atm, although missing a lot of it due to shit Asian coverage )

If you want any tips, or to even pretend you know loads about Cycling in general, watch it

[oafc0000]

Hey, i've decided to take up a biking, mostly for fitness, can anyone recommend a bike for me?

I'm semi fit, do 10mile on bikes at the gym aswel as a little running etc

I'm looking for a nice comfortable road bike, dont mind spening aprox 300ish on one, even a little more if need be.

Anyone here into riding and can recommend one?

Edited July 14, 2008 by oafc0000

[razz1e]

Halfords have a bike shop now dont they? The Bike shack or something stupid like that. I'd personally steer clear of getting a cheap bike for the sake of saving a few quid. A really good quality bike rides itself, a cheap one feels like you're in a constant battle putting in more work than you need to.

Edited July 14, 2008 by razz1e

[stoopidbird]

I do a 26-mile round-trip commute through the centre of London on a road bike and bar a couple of punctures (before i bought better tyres) I've never had any problems at all. I guess it all depends on exactly how much you're going to be using it and what you want it for though. I had a Specialized Globe hybrid when I first started cycling again last year and it was brilliant for me to re-learn how to ride properly on, had seatpost suspension which I do miss a bit now, but when it got nicked I was already hankering after something faster (and I'd already switched down to the thinnest tyres I could). I could never give up the road bike now, purely because I cover so many miles and anything else would just be too slow. But most people in London seem to ride around on hybrids, I think they're really good for casual road riding.

Halford's horrible shop is Cycle Hut, there's one near where I work, they are absolutely and utterly useless and the staff know nothing about bikes. Oh and they are unfriendly and unhelpful. Avoid at all costs! For a big chain, Evans is your best bet - at least their staff are all cyclists themselves. Just go in and talk to them about what you want and plan to use it for and they should measure you up, let you sit on some and take a couple out on the roads to try.

razz1e - the langster is a single-speed, isn't it? I like the look of them but I just couldn't do it, myself. I need gears!

[loscfestivals]

My dad bought this Half Road - Half Mountain bike the other week. Got to say that it is pretty awesome, the tires are wider than a Road Bikes but considerably narrower than a Mountain bikes. It runs great on the road and goes fine off road for what most people would need it for. I can consistently ride at about 16mph on it with a top speed of over 29 as oppossed to doing about 13 or 14 or so on the mountain bike and i can't get near 29. It's also a lot less tiring, i'd fully recommend it. When i can be arsed getting out of bed i'll have a look what it's called.

[razz1e]

razz1e - the langster is a single-speed, isn't it? I like the look of them but I just couldn't do it, myself. I need gears!

Edited July 15, 2008 by razz1e

[stoopidbird]

Yeh its single speed, and fixed wheel - but it has a freewheel on the other side of the wheel if you want to switch it over. Sounds like a nightmare but its a joy to ride. I actually struggled more on my previous bike with gears and a freewheel, I couldn't go back to that after my langster Never been in a situation where I've thought "Wish I had some gears here..." The worst it ever gets is when I'm riding over Tower Bridge.

Even if you don't own one, at least try riding one if you can, they're so much fun.

Oh... only problem I've had is trying to ride home drunk on a few occasions, which as you might have guessed ended up with me flat on my face.

[nightcrawler13]

be careful, i got knocked off my bike by a taxi today and the guy just drove off

[Harrow Strongbow Ciderman!]

be careful, i got knocked off my bike by a taxi today and the guy just drove off

[What??? No beer???????]

I can't understand why you'd struggle with gears, I'm all about keeping a decent 90-100rpm cadence (christ that makes me sound pretentious) because I do quite a lot of miles and I think I'd be just totally knackered otherwise!

[nightcrawler13]

Give the driver the benefit of doubt, perhaps the guy didn't realise he'd knocked you off ya bike.

Was it a gust of wind that made you wobble & crash? or perhaps he had a powerful exhaust?

I drive every day but have also just taken to cycling again for exercise in the evenings. I can see from both side of the fence.

I do admire all you peeps that do 10 miles or more every day just to commute.

[stonecastle]

The best advice is to get a simple three speed roadster. It will be far more reliable, easier to repair and will be far more theft resistant than a modern expensive bike because few bike theives go for three speeds these days. Bike theives want high value bikes that they can sell on for a decent price. They don't think it is worth the risk stealing an old three speed which they will only get 20 quid for on the second hand bike market.

[razz1e]

The best advice is to get a simple three speed roadster. It will be far more reliable, easier to repair and will be far more theft resistant than a modern expensive bike because few bike theives go for three speeds these days. Bike theives want high value bikes that they can sell on for a decent price. They don't think it is worth the risk stealing an old three speed which they will only get 20 quid for on the second hand bike market.

[Scott Martin 88]

Heres an odd one....

I do quite a bit of exercise so have a relatively good level of fitness but when i cycle i seem to be really tired within 5km! I don't cycle on the roads, this is just a gym observation but i would love to start cycling properly. Is it just bad technique or something? How hard can cycling technique be?! Any tips?

[razz1e]

Heres an odd one....

I do quite a bit of exercise so have a relatively good level of fitness but when i cycle i seem to be really tired within 5km! I don't cycle on the roads, this is just a gym observation but i would love to start cycling properly. Is it just bad technique or something? How hard can cycling technique be?! Any tips?

Edited July 18, 2008 by razz1e

[armelec]

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies, i got myself a Specialized bike, one of the cheaper models, really enjoying it so far, only maybe done 30mile on it, but its really nice to ride

[razz1e]

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies, i got myself a Specialized bike, one of the cheaper models, really enjoying it so far, only maybe done 30mile on it, but its really nice to ride