2nd hand bike for commuting?

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grudas said:
why? what are you going to be riding on?
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Concrete

FrenchTart said:
Making the mistake that you need flat handlebars I can understand (I made the same mistake when I first resumed riding). It *is* a mistake though.

Unless you're doing some serious off-roading you will have an easier ride getting a proper road bike.
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Why is it a mistake? What's better about 'rounded' handelbars?
 
IC3 said:
Why is it a mistake? What's better about 'rounded' handelbars?
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They are more comfortable and allow your hands and arms to take up a more natural position.

Road bars are the same width as your shoulders and your hand position means your palms face each other. Flat bars are much wider and you have to rotate your wrists.

Also, being narrower, filtering is easier.
 
[QUOTE='[DOD]Also, being narrower, filtering is easier.[/QUOTE]

There's no need to ride the bike on the road, as there are many bicycle paths and I can get to places faster by using them.
 
IC3 said:
There's no need to ride the bike on the road, as there are many bicycle paths and I can get to places faster by using them.
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Yeah... Road bike doesn't mean that it's only suitable for riding on roads.

Cycling paths and anywhere with concrete you should get a road bike. If you're riding through forests and doing wheelies on the edges of waterfalls you should get an MTB. Otherwise, road bike.
 
I got a GT traffic hybrid for year round commuting, it has served me well the past 2.5 years irrc it was about £300 when I bought it to replace my mountain bike for commuting. It is faster than a mountain bike on the road but a hell of a lot slower than any respectable road bike. I'm going to stick with it as for my 5 mile commute a road bike would be more comfortable and faster but I cant justify the cost to change it right now. The only benefit it has over a road bike is its a lot burlier so I don't worry about bunny hopping off kerbs but everything else is worse (slower, heavier, seating position...)
I would 2nd getting btwin triban from decathlon, go to your local one and get fitted by the staff, contrary to opinion they actually know what they are doing as most of the ones in my store are cyclists themselves.
 
Gambisk said:
The only benefit it has over a road bike is its a lot burlier so I don't worry about bunny hopping off kerbs
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I bunny-hop all the time (well, did when my hand wasn't broken) on my CX road bike. Easiest way to get over pot holes and branches in the cycle lane without swerving into traffic.
 
uv said:
I bunny-hop all the time (well, did when my hand wasn't broken) on my CX road bike. Easiest way to get over pot holes and branches in the cycle lane without swerving into traffic.
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Interesting, in my head road bikes are delicate little flowers that need nursed along perfectly smooth tarmac. Perhaps I will replace the GT one day with a proper roadie.
 
FrenchTart said:
If you come off on ice it's likely you would have come off even on your incredibly-pointless-for-road-use MTB tyres.
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Over a 5 mile commute my time difference between a road bike & useless MTB is less than 2 minutes which is really not an issue.
When you think about it, it's cheating on a road bike, get some weight under you and do some proper training.
 
Dimple said:
Over a 5 mile commute my time difference between a road bike & useless MTB is less than 2 minutes which is really not an issue.
When you think about it, it's cheating on a road bike, get some weight under you and do some proper training.
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Dimple said:
That's exactly the face a bloke at work did last week when another colleague got him back.
The colleague had bought an electric bike so the other bloke said 'What's up with your legs?'.
Last week he came with a £2,500 4kg road bike and my colleague said 'What's up with your legs?'.
It was a golden moment.
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Just...wow.

Time taken for journey != comfort for the journey and quality of the components that you get for your money.

And a huge lol @ the "get some weight under you" comment.

Finally, I wouldn't describe making myself look foolish as a "golden moment" but to each their own.
 
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