Hybrid bike for light fitness use... help!!

[anonymous-user]

OK I haven't cycled for over 20 years, but I have been exercising and eating more carefully for the last 15 months and have dropped from 104kg to 81kg and feel way better, but I want to go a little further. The other day I had a go on a friend's bike and found it to be fantastic exercise so have been reading up on using cycling for fitness training and it seems a better way for me to go than running or swimming (I can't stand the whole public baths thing).

However I know virtually nothing about bikes. I think I want a hybrid in case I do something a little bit more than just road cycling, but after that I am stumped.

Is it possible to get something that I can use 2 or 3 times a week for £300 or am I way under budget there? I know I can get a bike for less but I assume it will be poor at best.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance and sorry for being so dumb about this? LOL!

[Dick Turpin]

At that price, either second hand or Decathlon will be your best bet.

Something like this: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-flat-bar-roa...

[anonymous-user]

Dick Turpin said:

At that price, either second hand or Decathlon will be your best bet.

Something like this: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-flat-bar-roa...

Cheers, should have said I am more than happy to go secondhand, but need to know what is worth going for. Trouble with me is it will be like cars, I will spend months researching... which isn't going to help the fitness so I need a decision more or less made for me The Decathlon bike looks good.

One question though...is there any advantage to disc brakes ... I will be cycling in the wet so did read that disc brakes are a lot better.

[Dick Turpin]

cb1965 said:

Dick Turpin said:

At that price, either second hand or Decathlon will be your best bet.

Something like this: http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-flat-bar-roa...

Cheers, should have said I am more than happy to go secondhand, but need to know what is worth going for. Trouble with me is it will be like cars, I will spend months researching... which isn't going to help the fitness so I need a decision more or less made for me The Decathlon bike looks good.

One question though...is there any advantage to disc brakes ... I will be cycling in the wet so did read that disc brakes are a lot better.

Definitely an advantage to discs, but you'll definitely need to go second hand to get anything decent with discs at that price.

[anonymous-user]

Yes think secondhand is the way I will go.

[anonymous-user]

Pinnacle Neon range from Evans is very good and too often over looked, it will do everything you ask. Discs are useful but not essential, well mantained rim brakes with quality pads will stop almost as well as low end cable disc brakes with cheap OEM pads. The big advantage isnt in braking performance but reducing rim wear.

Congratulations on the weight loss too.

[anonymous-user]

pablo said:

Pinnacle Neon range from Evans is very good and too often over looked, it will do everything you ask. Discs are useful but not essential, well mantained rim brakes with quality pads will stop almost as well as low end cable disc brakes with cheap OEM pads. The big advantage isnt in braking performance but reducing rim wear.

Cheers, this is the sort of information I need.

pablo said:

Congratulations on the weight loss too.

Thanks, but I should never have got there in the first place!

[deckster]

Buying secondhand is a minefield unless you know what you're looking for, and you would realistically need to budget for replacing a few components unless you got something that was absolutely mint.

For my money, the Triban linked above looks like a good buy. I've just bought my lad a bike from Decathlon's RockRider range and I'm very impressed with both the build quality and the spec of the components.

Personally I'm not bothered about disk brakes for road bikes. Certainly I am of the opinion that well set up rim brakes are both more effective and easier to maintain than cheap cable disks.

[anonymous-user]

deckster said:

Buying secondhand is a minefield unless you know what you're looking for, and you would realistically need to budget for replacing a few components unless you got something that was absolutely mint.

For my money, the Triban linked above looks like a good buy. I've just bought my lad a bike from Decathlon's RockRider range and I'm very impressed with both the build quality and the spec of the components.

Personally I'm not bothered about disk brakes for road bikes. Certainly I am of the opinion that well set up rim brakes are both more effective and easier to maintain than cheap cable disks.

Thanks, again the sort of thing I need to hear. I am completely clueless so this is all useful information. You may be right about secondhand then I guess... I could easily fall foul of not knowing what the heck I am looking for.

[AmiableChimp]

When I got back into cycling, I bought myself a Ridgeback Velocity hybrid bike and I have done over 600 miles on it without any issue.

It has been fitted with full length mudguards (recommended if you are doing a lot of wet weather riding), and a pannier rack so I can use it to commute when my location allows.

It doesn't have disc brakes and I have not found this to be a hindrance.

As I got more into it, I also bout a Triban 5 road bike a year past January to give me something to use for longer cycles at nights/weekends and it was lightning quick compared to the hybrid!

I was really impressed with the quality of the Triban and got lots of compliments, people could not believe how cheap it was to buy.

I only sold it earlier this year when I upgraded to a full carbon Scott road bike as I am doing a 74 mile Sportive a week on Sunday and have been upping the miles in training for it.

That Triban linked above should be perfectly fine for getting you out and about, don't fret too much about equipment at the moment...that will come later as you become more addicted

[Kell]

I think discs are only a 'necessity' if you're a dedicated commuter and want the ability to stop in the wet so you don't run into the back of a Taxi.

They don't suffer so much from fade in the wet as the braking surface is that much further away from the road.

[AC43]

Kell said:

I think discs are only a 'necessity' if you're a dedicated commuter and want the ability to stop in the wet so you don't run into the back of a Taxi.

They don't suffer so much from fade in the wet as the braking surface is that much further away from the road.

Also (when commuting) the disks performance doesn't fall away with a build up brake dust/oil/whatever and as the pads wear down you don't have to keep adjusting them.

When you're putting on the miles in stop-start traffic discs remove loads of faffing.

For the odd once-a-week short jaunt it doesn't matter so much.

I've got rim brakes on my pub bike and although the peformance is relatively poor I don't think I've had to adjust them in a year. But that's because the furthest it tends to go from the house is three miles. Normally a lot less.

[slk 32]

I was in a similar situation to you last November. I wanted to get back into cycling for fitness reasons as running was getting tougher on the old joints.

In the end I bought a Boardman hybrid for £250 that had only been used twice..The bike was like new. The owner had bought it to get fit but never had time and was nagged by the wife to sell it as it was cluttering up the garage

I'd definitely go second hand. My view was that if I don't like cycling I'd pretty much get my money back if I decided to sell. The Boardman has been great..light enough but not having the bent over full on racer posture.. I'd certainly recommend it

with reference to another poster mentioning factoring in replacement part costs there are loads of bikes out there that are almost brand new..Bought by people who have used them a few times and decided it's not for them..seek out one of those and you are onto a winner!

[anonymous-user]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their advice on this thread. I bought a secondhand Pinnacle Lithium 2 which much like the poster above's purchase has been little used. So now my cycling renaissance begins.... where's these head cams and a YouTube channel? Just kidding.

Seriously though I need a good lock, what sort of locks are the best these days?

[AmiableChimp]

cb1965 said:

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their advice on this thread. I bought a secondhand Pinnacle Lithium 2 which much like the poster above's purchase has been little used. So now my cycling renaissance begins.... where's these head cams and a YouTube channel? Just kidding.

Seriously though I need a good lock, what sort of locks are the best these days?

Something like this OP (unless you need to carry it with you) http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kryptonite-evol...

[anonymous-user]

AmiableChimp said:

Something like this OP (unless you need to carry it with you) http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kryptonite-evol...

Thanks, much appreciated :thumb:

[AC43]

It depends what you mean by "best".

At home I lock mine up using a mahoosively strong chain and lock combo originally bought to lock a scooter up.

On the move I use something like this if just stopping for a few minutes;

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Abus-Bordo-5900-Folding-Lo...

If I want a bit more security I add this

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/hiplok-lite-wearable-bicyc...

Neither are particularly secure but light and easy to carry.

[WinstonWolf]

These are pretty good

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/kryptonite-standard-u-lock...

[Croutons]

WinstonWolf said:

These are pretty good

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/kryptonite-standard-u-lock...

3 years later!!

[WinstonWolf]

Croutons said:

WinstonWolf said:

These are pretty good

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/kryptonite-standard-u-lock...

3 years later!!

Look who the OP is