2nd hand bike for commuting?

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Dimple said:
You obviously knew that was tongue in cheek unless you've got no sense of humour.
Grudas knew.
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Given the rest of the stuff you posted above it's really hard to pick out tongue-in-cheek from all the rubbish about how riding MTBs on the road is a better idea than riding road bikes on a road.

Unless your entire point about riding an MTB was tongue-in-cheek? If so - bravo, sir! You totally had me fooled.
 
Well, if an road bike will be much better for commutting than hybrid or MTB, than there's no point for me to buy MTB just to have a bit of fun going down stairs, jumping of different things etc. I'll be mainly travelling on fairly good cycling paths, but there are some areas which aren't that straight I'm a bit scared of braking the rode bike and also the riding position seems uncomfortable. I've never had any experience with road bikes, always something offroad e.g. mtb, bmx.

I'm surprised that road bike survived that torture (YouTube video), I thought that road bike had to be taken with extra care? :p


I live in Hertfordshire county, around 25 miles away from London :) Forgot to mention that before, as I prefer to see the bike and possibly test it out before buying.
 
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IC3 said:
Well, if an road bike will be much better for commutting than hybrid or MTB, than there's no point for me to buy MTB just to have a bit of fun going down stairs, jumping of different things etc. I'll be mainly travelling on fairly good cycling paths, but there are some areas which aren't that straight I'm a bit scared of braking the rode bike and also the riding position seems uncomfortable. I've never had any experience with road bikes, always something offroad e.g. mtb, bmx.

I'm surprised that road bike survived that torture, I thought that road bike had to be taken with extra care? :P
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To be honest I had the same worries a few years ago. I bought a hybrid as I was kind of worried about the riding position and the brakes/etc. After that bike was stolen I moved to a road (well, a CX) bike and it takes very little time at all to adjust to the way the brakes work and the riding position. In the meantime you'll have to put less effort in to go at the same speed (or faster) and the hand/arm position is much more natural than with flat bars. I'd never go back to flat bars now (unless I do some actual MTB riding one day).

The Triban 3 linked to near the start of this thread is pretty solid as road bikes go. I think you'll struggle to break it :p
 
FrenchTart said:
Given the rest of the stuff you posted above it's really hard to pick out tongue-in-cheek from all the rubbish about how riding MTBs on the road is a better idea than riding road bikes on a road.

Unless your entire point about riding an MTB was tongue-in-cheek? If so - bravo, sir! You totally had me fooled.
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I said I ( me) feel much safer riding an Hybrid in the winter than I do a road bike. I am only speaking for me so please don't misquote me. The frame is just way better for me.

Vonhelmet said:
4Kg road bike? Pics or it didn't happen.
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His words but I know it is a Colnago so you can look up if they do a 4kg.
 
Dimple said:
I said I ( me) feel much safer riding an Hybrid in the winter than I do a road bike. I am only speaking for me so please don't misquote me. The frame is just way better for me.
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Twice you suggested that road bikes can only be used in fair weather and that you need an MTB for winter riding (see below).

I hope clicking the Quote button on the forum doesn't count as misquoting you.

Dimple said:
I really want to give you a bit of advice that I didn't get in 3 pro cycling shops or on here.
I bought a road bike for an all year round daily commute and ended up having a bad accident on black ice.
I realise that no bike is safe on black ice but I feel 1000% much safer in this weather on my Carrera than I do on my Forme.
After I had my accident and went back to the shops and on here, the advice I got was 'Don't ride in winter' which is not an option, I want to ride every day (at least 5 to get to work & back).
So all I'll say is think about what you really want to do with your bike and if it's an all year round commute or just fair weather.
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Dimple said:
It is a mega fair point and I feel really let down that I spent nearly £1000 on a bike that is useless in the winter and the replies I got were 'Don't ride it in winter.
I spent months researching and nobody asked (and I didn't give it a thought) what a road bike with slicks would be like in winter.
I ended up buying a Carrera Subway for £279 and the ice & snow we had never troubled me, I just felt a lot safer.
I did get back on my road bike for summer though.
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FrenchTart said:
To be honest I had the same worries a few years ago. I bought a hybrid as I was kind of worried about the riding position and the brakes/etc. After that bike was stolen I moved to a road (well, a CX) bike and it takes very little time at all to adjust to the way the brakes work and the riding position. In the meantime you'll have to put less effort in to go at the same speed (or faster) and the hand/arm position is much more natural than with flat bars. I'd never go back to flat bars now (unless I do some actual MTB riding one day).

The Triban 3 linked to near the start of this thread is pretty solid as road bikes go. I think you'll struggle to break it :p
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250 is spot on, I'll have 50 to spend on some gadgets :)


Dimple said:
I said I ( me) feel much safer riding an Hybrid in the winter than I do a road bike. I am only speaking for me so please don't misquote me. The frame is just way better for me.
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I won't be riding the bike during winter, checked the mileage on google maps and by cyclling paths it will be around 3-4 miles from point A to B.
 
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FrenchTart said:
Twice you suggested that road bikes can only be used in fair weather and that you need an MTB for winter riding (see below).

I hope clicking the Quote button on the forum doesn't count as misquoting you.
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Amazing, you've quoted me but still haven't read what I wrote :D

Dimple said:
I really want to give you a bit of advice that I didn't get in 3 pro cycling shops or on here.
I bought a road bike for an all year round daily commute and ended up having a bad accident on black ice.
I realise that no bike is safe on black ice but I feel 1000% much safer in this weather on my Carrera than I do on my Forme.
After I had my accident and went back to the shops and on here, the advice I got was 'Don't ride in winter' which is not an option, I want to ride every day (at least 5 to get to work & back).
So all I'll say is think about what you really want to do with your bike and if it's an all year round commute or just fair weather.

It is a mega fair point and I feel really let down that I spent nearly £1000 on a bike that is useless in the winter and the replies I got were 'Don't ride it in winter.
I spent months researching and nobody asked (and I didn't give it a thought) what a road bike with slicks would be like in winter.
I ended up buying a Carrera Subway for £279 and the ice & snow we had never troubled me, I just felt a lot safer.
I did get back on my road bike for summer though.
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If you're going to quote me then please show a bit of respect and read what I actually wrote.
 
uv said:
Christ, I didn't realise the red triban3 was down to £250 nowadays - that's an absolute steal!
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Yeah, but 51 is the biggest available... What size should I be looking at? I'm a bit over 6ft tall (183-184cm).
 
I bought a Scott Sportster P6 off Ebay last year for £99.00 for the commute. Apart from needing the spokes tightening on the back wheel and new brake pads it has worked perfectly. I must have done over 500 miles on it.
 
neil_g said:
wow theres a lot of people that need to loosen off the old lycra in here.

ride whatever the hell is comfortable for you.

/thread
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Precisely.

However, there is a lot if incorrect information and misconceptions about road bikes (comfort and resilience being two) that need to be dispelled so that someone can make an informed choice and not limit their options for no reason.

Using no statistical analysis at all, the commuting section of Bike Radar is filled with stories of noobs who ask for advice on which bike to buy, get told to buy a road bike, ignore that advice and buy a hybrid and then return six months to a year later full of regret and want to know which road bike to get.

People are scared of road bikes; scared they hurt, scared they will brake and scared that they lead to Lycra fetishism. None of these are true. Road bikes are not for everyone and for all situations but they are worth trying.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;25922222 said:
Precisely.

However, there is a lot if incorrect information and misconceptions about road bikes (comfort and resilience being two) that need to be dispelled so that someone can make an informed choice and not limit their options for no reason.

Using no statistical analysis at all, the commuting section of Bike Radar is filled with stories of noobs who ask for advice on which bike to buy, get told to buy a road bike, ignore that advice and buy a hybrid and then return six months to a year later full of regret and want to know which road bike to get.

People are scared of road bikes; scared they hurt, scared they will brake and scared that they lead to Lycra fetishism. None of these are true. Road bikes are not for everyone and for all situations but they are worth trying.
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I'm not planing on wearing tight lycra pants, hybrid will be better for me IMO.
So what hybrid bike do u recommend and what sizes should I've a look at?
 
[DOD]Asprilla;25922222 said:
Precisely.

However, there is a lot if incorrect information and misconceptions about road bikes (comfort and resilience being two) that need to be dispelled so that someone can make an informed choice and not limit their options for no reason.

Using no statistical analysis at all, the commuting section of Bike Radar is filled with stories of noobs who ask for advice on which bike to buy, get told to buy a road bike, ignore that advice and buy a hybrid and then return six months to a year later full of regret and want to know which road bike to get.

People are scared of road bikes; scared they hurt, scared they will brake and scared that they lead to Lycra fetishism. None of these are true. Road bikes are not for everyone and for all situations but they are worth trying.
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Exactly. Very well put.

And the bit I highlighted is *exactly* what I did when I first got a bike. The reason I and others on here are banging on about getting a road bike is that we're trying to save others from making the same mistakes we did.

Aside from the one outlier that seems to have gone the other way...

Dimple said:
Amazing, you've quoted me but still haven't read what I wrote :D

If you're going to quote me then please show a bit of respect and read what I actually wrote.
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I think the problem here is writing comprehension rather than reading.
 
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