Spec me a hybrid bike

White Mouse

White Mouse

White Mouse

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22 Mar 2011
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I have a road bike but its too difficult to ride, I dont like the control of drop handle bars and its difficult to cut through a park or hop onto pavement if I ever need to (not that I do that while on the road but I'd rather not have to follow exactly the same path I would in a car).

I have about £400 to spend, that is preferably max. Only requirement really is that it is light..

Will be using it for commuting, but I wont cycle on main roads anymore, so just residential roads and riding through parks (no off road stuff, just park pathways that are uneven with twigs etc, basically think riding on grass I suppose)

When I bought my road bike I realised afterwards that at this price range they are almost all exactly the same and the time I wasted researching was more valuable.

Does anyone have a hybrid bike that is light?

spose i should just dive in and buy something like this http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/70-fx-2011-hybrid-bike-ec025529#features without worrying about it but I dont want it weighing 14kg or something (they never say the weight)
 
To be honest, best thing to do is go to the shop in question and just pick one up! I have a Giant CR-zero, but thats out of your price range, cost me £799 (But got it cheaper due to the cyclescheme) very light bike, which is handy as I live on the first floor of a flat with very steep stairs!

Best off going to evans or wherever and just trying them.
 
I have an older version of the Specialized Sirrus. Apparently this year's model has a steel fork which would be more comfortable than the aluminium fork on my bike, and still weighs less than 12kg. I very rarely ride it these days as I much prefer the drop handlebars on my main bike, but I have done a few hundred miles on it and found it to be more than acceptable. I'm not sure that I'd go for it over the Trek though, there doesn't seem to be much difference in the spec and I imagine they probably weigh roughly the same. You would probably benefit from trying them out if you can.
 
I've got a Ridgeback Genesis Day 2 (2003 model), weighs 9.5kg on my scales. Cost me £750 in 2003, the later models got slightly lighter, carbon forks etc. Alloy all round and Tiagra 9-speed based. It's been utterly bombproof too.

They sometimes come up cheap on the 'Bay secondhand, but not sure if they still do an equivalent model.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;19418483 said:
For that budget I'd go to Halfords and look at the Carrera range, which is pretty good for the cash.
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Over Specialized, Trek etc?

Edit: I've just noticed that they have their Subway 8 for £400, I'd be tempted to go for that over the Specialized/Trek etc.
 
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Saundie said:
Over Specialized, Trek etc?
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Definitely- Carrera's frames are made by Merida, who I believe make all the low-end frames for Specialized anyway?

At the budget end, you can often get a lot more for your money if you don't mind not having a big-name brand.

I've been tempted by a Carrera TDF for a commuting beater bike. There were masses of them on the L2B on Sunday.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to the idea, it's just that they don't exactly have a reputation for excellent build quality. I have had issues with my own Carrera due to Halfords not putting it together properly (the pedal snapped off), and many others call them Halfrauds for similar reasons.
 
I've been commuting on a Carrera Subway for two years and I've found it excellent. Build quality seems fine, nothing has broken, robust gear changes etc.. I've only had one puncture, and that was riding back across a field at night in the dark. Brakes still work very well, it's been low maintenance, cheap and trouble free. I'd certainly buy a Carrera again. It didn't arrive completely built iirc so maybe the answer is build it yourself!
 
I'm looking at getting a Boardman hybrid as the spec is pretty good for the price. A mechanic who was 'fixing' someone's bike popped over and was telling me how good the groupset was on the bike. I asked him out of interest what he liked about the groupset to which he laughed and said he didn't exactly know what a groupset was. Doesn't inspire confidence and typifies a lot of their staff.

Having seen a lot of their bikes in a workshop that haven't been put together and checked properly I would spend the extra and ask for a bike boxed and get your LBS to put it together if you aren't able to do so yourself.

To their credit, they do have a good range of car spray paint and Haynes manuals though.
 
I have a Hybrid Boardman Comp 2011 and tbh at 700x28c the tyres still feel a bit too flimbsy to go through grass and the really rough routes.
 
I ride the Ridgeback Flight 02 2010 disc model, it also has 700x28 tyres which are to small for anything other than road and very light paths tbh.

It's a very fast bike for the riding style/position though, I'm regularly overtaking people on road bikes on the commute, Zoom Zoom!
 
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