Picking a new bike

[Burdekin]

Have a look at the deals on wiggle, chainreactions, Halfords etc. I would get a aluminium frame and get the bike with the best group set and wheels. A little bit of difference in weight is nothing, you want one with the best group set so they last and you don’t have issues. Sometimes they will have bikes a couple of years old on special, and you might get one with better specs.

 

[mr haynes]

Check if your local 'frauds still have stock of the Carrera Subway, has been a decent platform for many years and good bang for buck.

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/hybr...1-mens-hybrid-bike---s-m-l-frames-641465.html

Having dropped more ££ than i'm willing to admit to on bikes, you don't need to go daft on spend.

Swap out the nobblies for road jobbies and still have plenty leftover for any accessories that float your lobster

 

[Brad93]

Have a look at the deals on wiggle, chainreactions, Halfords etc. I would get a aluminium frame and get the bike with the best group set and wheels. A little bit of difference in weight is nothing, you want one with the best group set so they last and you don’t have issues. Sometimes they will have bikes a couple of years old on special, and you might get one with better specs.

Good advice.

 

[Brad93]

Had a go on a Specialized cross trail the other day. Nice bike for £509 but it’s a hybrid not an out and out mountain bike

 

[Joe_echo]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm not looking for out and out mountain bike as the trails round here aren't tough and we have no hills.

What's a good gear set to look for? I know nothing

 

[Brad93]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm not looking for out and out mountain bike as the trails round here aren't tough and we have no hills.

What's a good gear set to look for? I know nothing

I don’t know much about mountain bike type gear sets but road sets, they come in different levels.
Shimano Ultegra is great and not too dear.
SRAM Red very good
Campagnolo make a top end road set, meant to be very good.

 

[stuvy]

@stuvy I love my hope Pro 2's! Don't even need a bell to warn people I'm behind them

I have genuinely had people ask if there’s a playing card in the spokes

it’s great for built up areas or dog walkers

I’m currently looking for a second set for her bike as even a £1000 specialised that she rides is so far apart from my lovely old orange P7

 

[Ashley Burton]

I've been riding bikes for many years & I must admit the £100 Carrera Gryphon I picked up secondhand from eBay has been great!

It's a Hybrid, But I would only really use it for road riding & some gravel tracks

 

[Munkul]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm not looking for out and out mountain bike as the trails round here aren't tough and we have no hills.

What's a good gear set to look for? I know nothing

I have no idea about road groupsets, just MTB.

If you're MTB'ing, a clutched rear derailleur is the business and an essential IMO. This means 10 or 11 speeds in general.

Shimano/SRAM in order:
Deore/X7 - first of the "ok" ones
SLX/NX - better, first level I personally would consider for my own
Deore XT/GX - very good, what i run on both my bikes
XTR/X01/XX - over the top expensive

I wouldn't worry about the full component sets, the bits that matter are the shifters, derailleurs and cassettes. The rest of it on a lot of cheaper bikes are substituted with cheaper but similar quality components. E.G. race face or truvativ cranks, hubs etc

https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/mountain-bike-groupsets-everything-you-need-to-know/

 

[mr haynes]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm not looking for out and out mountain bike as the trails round here aren't tough and we have no hills.

What's a good gear set to look for? I know nothing

For your use, trust me don't get wrapped up in it. The basic shimano works fine

 

[marlinspike]

Here's some bike deals websites to peruse.

https://www.bikebargains.co.uk/

https://cycling-bargains.co.uk/

https://bikesy.co.uk/


I am only a local biker, doing a few miles for exercise, but have a Giant carbon road bike that I got cheap on Sphock which is a great bike, really light and quick, but mostly I use my £30 ebay Dawes mtb just because it copes better with potholes and I feel more confident on it when it's wet.

My oh got a Cannondale Quick 6 hybrid at Rutland Cycling. They've gone up in price now but still a good bike for commuting or canal paths etc.

 

[magnet]

I got an old raleigh magnum mountain bike off a local gumtree ad for a tenner ive just made front and rear racks for it and fitted a set of those dutch style comfort handle bars its not all singing and dancing but suits me fine. It took me back to when i was a kid and we would build a bike for the summer holidays of bits we got off the tip

 

[keithski122]

Chap at work has a boardman road bike, it seems that its worn out after about three years of use.My giant that I bought 15 years ago and my wifes specialised thats a bit older would have had more use and are still on mostly original parts.

 

[Robbie260]

Specalized are pretty solid bikes, my rock hopper did 4 years of comuting too school and back in fort william all year every day, then spent most of its free time and weekends being thrashed around nevis range, laggan wolf traks and glen nevis in the wet and mud, its taken some hell of abuse in the 7 years i have owned it, it was never coddled it, loved or maintained it, its a bit of a wreck now but still all on the original bits so i cant complain, the only thing thats really bad is the front forks which would fill with water in the rain, rest of the bike is still passable even the hydraulic disk brakes and chain, sprockets ste a bit worn now.

 

[toddy]

Me and the wife recently got a pair of these https://www.evanscycles.com/gt-street-performer-29-2019-bmx-bike-EV338430 for cycling to work (about 8 miles each way) and they are great. And solid.
We payed less than £300 each for them.
They are very nice to ride and are very smooth

 

[marlinspike]

I think you might actually struggle to get a bike atm as so many people are buying them and shops can't keep up. This was on Hot Deals this morning:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/st-520-mountain-bike-black-275-id_8521013.html

Not sure if Decathlon are on the Bike2Work scheme though, and on that scheme the more you spend the more you save really.

 

[Mr Roo]

I’ll put a vote in here for Whyte - good british bikes that take some serious abuse. I’ve hammered my 2014 605 down some serious trails... and at nearly 120kg that’s no mean feat!

they do a pretty comprehensive range of bikes, mtb, hybrid, road etc. and I tried a few before settling on MTB but for a great bike at a reasonable pricemark, I can’t see past it. Will probably pick up another at some point when I upgrade.

 

[Joe_echo]

I’ll put a vote in here for Whyte - good british bikes that take some serious abuse. I’ve hammered my 2014 605 down some serious trails... and at nearly 120kg that’s no mean feat!

they do a pretty comprehensive range of bikes, mtb, hybrid, road etc. and I tried a few before settling on MTB but for a great bike at a reasonable pricemark, I can’t see past it. Will probably pick up another at some point when I upgrade.

I've actually decided on a whyte caledonian, sadly as pointed out im struggling to find one due to people buying them up so quick.