Spec me a bike?

Raventu

Raventu

Raventu

Associate
Joined
16 Aug 2010
Posts
333
Location
Kent
Not sure what I'm looking at here and haven't really had time to do my research yet... but OcUK hasn't failed me yet :p.

I've not sat on a bike for 2 years or so and last time was for an excursion at Bewl water. I've never really cycled on a frequent basis but would like to start.

So, not ready for any high cash commitments yet, but want to start cycling - will spend most of my time on roads and cycle paths, lanes etc.

I'm not keen on the seating position of a road bike and like the upright nature of flat handlebars/hybrid style bikes. But I'm open to explanation and suggestion, the more information you can feed to me, the better.

Should I be looking at first-hand or second-hand bikes? Budget isn't high. Maybe £200 give or take if it is really worth it. Looking for something to encourage me into cycling without emptying my pockets, but not require me to fork out another few hundred six months down the line when I realise it isn't great for cycling on. So best price/performance ratio.

Give me an idea what I'm looking for, what I should be spending and what I need to know as a newbie/non-cycler trying to turn myself into a frequent - I would be very grateful. :D

Also, size-wise I have no idea. I'm 18 and 5'6" about 140lbs if any of this info helps.

Thanks to all :)
 
If you're cycling purely on tarmac then a road bike makes the most sense, the seating position shouldn't really be uncomfortable when setup right, and it's that way cause it's the most efficient.

Hybrid is a possibility but they seem a bit pointless, you seem to get the bad bits of both road and mountain bikes but without really being as good as either, if anything I'd say Cyclocross bikes would be better options imo.

As for budget, £200 is a little low really for a brand new bike of any kind of quality, so you're looking at second hand bikes. For reference a good 'starter' road bike seems to be the Decathlon Triban 3 (if you can find one) which is £300.

I started cycling a few months ago (end of June) after not doing any real cycling for 4+ years and got fairly rapidly to the stage where a 6 mile commute is a nothing, doing 20-30+ mile rides at the weekends is easily achievable if the weather/free-time lines up, and even last week doing ~67.5 mile sportive (which was painful admittedly coming from a previous longest ride of 34 miles :p), and that's all on a road bike. Just remember if you do go for a road bike get some padded shorts...
 
Hybrids suck, massively. Like SKILL says, you get the worst of both worlds.

If you're going to be on roads, get a road bike, if you're adamant you'll spend some time on crappy cycle paths, gravel tracks etc, then get a cyclocross bike.

For £200, go second hand. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck, then when you get the bug you can go spend 1k plus. :)

Also, the seating position on a road bike is MILES better once you're used to it. They're designed so you can do 100 miles and spend 5-6 hours in the saddle. They are comfortable, efficient and FAST. Also, drop bars are awesome. You have several positions you can rest your hands providing different levels of speed\comfort\visibility. They're incredibly flexible.
 
Another £100 will net you a Triban from Decathalon which is epic value but you WILL get better for £200 2nd hand if you shop around.
 
Thanks guys for the suggestions, I'll keep my eye on the the Triban 3 and probably end up dishing out for it soon. :) All been helpful (and persuasive.)

VeNT said:
Another £100 will net you a Triban from Decathalon which is epic value but you WILL get better for £200 2nd hand if you shop around.
Click to expand...

Any ideas what to look out for second hand then? I'm pretty in the dark about the kind of things I'm looking for, and the brands to go for/avoid.

If I can get better for less just by looking around, I'm up for it - 2nd hand doesn't phase me.
 
The most important thing first is, is to make sure the bike Fits!

as recently looking and i finnaly got a road bike only 2 days ago, and I spent almost 2 months finding the right one "for me" all different manufactures have different geoometry

When i finally got my bike, it was a toss up between a trek Madone and a specialized Roubaix and the Trek was too short in the stem, the Roubaix has a longer stem, so it was a better fit for me.

Cycle shops were telling me I needed a 60cm frame, but when i popped into sigma sport the guy there took 20 mins of his time, to spend with me, he measured me (height, seat height, arm reach etc etc) and put into his computer and he said i needed a 56cm frame, and becuase we had all the measurements, we looked at the geometry of all the bikes, hence the Roubaix was a perfect fit for me, so al i can suggest at this point in time, goto a bike shop that offers "fit" not just sitting on your bike, thats not enough!
 
There's a triban 3 on sale in London on eBay at the moment. If that's within reach and the right sort of size I'd suggest you message the seller and make him an offer to close early.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom