Got £500 to spend on a bike (suggestions please)

Brenn · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:40

Any of you guys help me out?

Going through the cycle2work scheme and have £500 to spend on the retail price of a bike.
Through work I am limited to buying one from halfords,

The daily commute to and from work is a 6 mile round trip.

Was thinking down the lines of a 'Hybrid'

Thanks for any suggestions in advance

Bren.

Streeteh · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:45

What type of terrain will you be taking on? I make it no secret that I'm not a fan of Hybrids.

I should warn you though, i've had a nightmare of a time with Halfords on the same scheme. I went for a £1k Boardman which developed a fault in the first month. I took it back to them for a warranty repair, firstly they didn't seem to understand how a heatset worked, after i taught them some basic bike mechanic skills they then agreed it was faulty. It's been 6 weeks now and they haven't even recieved the part they need to fix it, utter clowns.

But yes, when it worked my boardman was epic and they usually recieve good reviews, i've just been very unlucky in terms of the bike itself. So i'd recommend whichever road/MTB Boardman you can get for that price range depending on the terrain you'll be taking on. Moreso than that however, i'd recommend just saving up £500 and buying from a decent local bike shop. Learn from my mistakes!

Liquid_Entity · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:46

My journey is about 6.5 miles and I got a GT Traffic 1.0 2011 from Wiggle in their sale from before Xmas. Very please with it, very light, agile in traffic.

That was £350 so probably find a much better bike for £500 now.

Brenn · 3 Apr 2012 at 13:38

Streeteh said:
What type of terrain will you be taking on? I make it no secret that I'm not a fan of Hybrids.

will be using it on the road to and from work.

not sure I'd get the full potential out of a road bike.

Streeteh · 3 Apr 2012 at 14:02

Well, this works out as pretty much exactly what you're after (although obviously get the size that best matches you):

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_777849_langId_-1_categoryId_165534

But if you plan to stick entirely to roads, i would encourage you to look at their road bike range too. Your short commute might not get the most out of a road bike, but if you're like me you'll soon be hooked on cycling and start doing it for leisure too. At that point you'll be glad you opted for a road bike.