New Bike advice

pauLAW

pauLAW

pauLAW

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Joined
17 Jan 2011
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946
Location
Manchester
Hi guys, I have been out of the cycling game for almost 10 years. I have decided I would like to get myself a hybrid bike to use at weekends and evenings, I don't really want to be on the roads very much and my main goal is to get fit and go for rides.

I was looking at the Carrera Subway hybrid for around £230 but was but off when I seen the sizes available are only 18 and 22 - I am almost 6ft and read that size 20 would be best for me...

I am just after some advice and recommendations please... I don't really want to be spending much over £250 due to the amount I plan on using the bike. Would a hybrid be the best option for me? Any tips and advise will really help.

Thanks
 
http://www.bikeroar.com/articles/why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-hybrid

edit: To be a bit more helpful...

Where do you plan to go riding? If it is on roads with a little trail riding a road bike is good for you. If it is on trails/in forests then an MTB is the best choice. A hybrid is the worst of all worlds and, as you may see if you look through all the previous threads on here, nearly everyone that has bought a hybrid has regretted it eventually and bought a proper road bike.

If you can find a red Triban 3 from Decathlon you may be able to get a good deal. There are some other reasonable bikes around - check out the latest posts in the road cycling thread.
 
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Well to be honest I plan on riding on a few light trials along the river not far from my house along with a few bike paths so I think I will be doing a bit of everything, I don't feel overly comfortable with riding on roads... I will do it but hopefully not very much.

I am suprised to hear this because most people I speak to at work and such have told me that a Hybrid is the way to go
 
pauLAW said:
Well to be honest I plan on riding on a few light trials along the river not far from my house along with a few bike paths so I think I will be doing a bit of everything, I don't feel overly comfortable with riding on roads... I will do it but hopefully not very much.

I am suprised to hear this because most people I speak to at work and such have told me that a Hybrid is the way to go
Click to expand...

It's not like you'll buy a hybrid and instantly hate it (probably) but you will very quickly outgrow it and then you'll end up buying a new bike - saving the hybrid for winter or when you decide to ride some particularly non-roady trails. In reality it will just sit around and gather rust whilst you ride around on your much more shiny new bike that is better at everything :p

I speak from personal experience of owning a hybrid btw :)

I started off in a similar situation to yourself. If I could go back I would instead buy a road or CX bike (but not with super thin racing tyres obviously) and I would have had a much nicer time of it on both trails and roads. I also wasn't comfortable riding on roads to start with and I still don't like riding on A roads but you get used to things quickly and I happily zip down the roads on the way to work/wherever all the time now.
 
I recently bought a carrera vengeance, hard tail mtb..

I'd suggest something similar and if you find yourself on roads too much you can just run higher pressure or swap the tyres out pretty cheaply to some more Road oriented tyres.

I think a hard tail Mountain bike is a better jack of all trades.

Also I'm 6'3 and ended up with a 22" frame.. But bike frames are like clothes sizes, a 20" from one manufacturer might be more like 18" from another.. Trick is do a little reading about what posture, leg to pedal, arms to handle bars, and get the opinions of the sales person.. I thought I needed a 20" frame, which they had in stock and the guy was like, nah, well need to order in a bigger one for you.
 
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but does it feel to big for you?

I have a 21" boardman hybrid being 6"3.5 and 35inch inside leg but it feels to big for me after riding on a 58cm frame with drop bars.

crazy how much more confidence I have on a frame almost to small for me.

not fell off my cx bike either but slipped off my hybrid 3 times because the centre of gravity being so insanely high you can barely lean into a corner without the back losing grip
 
FrenchTart said:
It's not like you'll buy a hybrid and instantly hate it (probably) but you will very quickly outgrow it and then you'll end up buying a new bike - saving the hybrid for winter or when you decide to ride some particularly non-roady trails. In reality it will just sit around and gather rust whilst you ride around on your much more shiny new bike that is better at everything :p
Click to expand...

:eek::(

I started on a hybrid for my inner-city work commute, I should've gone straight for a road bike but I hadn't the confidence (after only previously riding MTB's at a young age).

I've kept my hybrid 'for the winter', but in reality I'll probably just buy some more winter orientated road tyres for my road bike :)
 
I've kept my hybrid for the winter but in reality I'll just buy some mudguards for my CX bike...

I need to sell it but CBA to so might just donate it to a place that collects bikes for africa
 
neil_g said:
define light trails to be honest.
Click to expand...

What you want to know? It's not in the mountains it's down the side of the river Mersey if you want to google it. Its not to worse terrain but it's no road.

I still think a hybrid will do the job for me but size etc is still something I'm not sure about. I went to halfords after work yesterday but they didn't have staff to help at the time. I'll go back at weekend, thanks for the comments so far.
 
I bought the Carrera Subway as my first, but I should've bought a road bike (see above).

Always read lots of reviews on Halfords/Carrera kit - you can save a lot of money in a purchase (loads cheaper bikes) but then pay for it in the long run on repairs/tyres/forks etc.

I was prepared with this when I picked up my road bike - Carrera Virtuoso
 
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