Hybrids- suspension or not?

[truck71]

Hi folks, friend of a friend is about to buy her first bike for many years and is being talked into having suspension on a hybrid. Bike will be for London general use so hybrid the right bike, but suspension?

[TwistingMyMelon]

No

I would only recommend suspension if the person is a bit old /not flexible and riding on mild off road/canal paths

If its for mainly tarmac/mild off road and the person has the ability to MTFU its not needed

Its fine at first, but the effectiveness deteriorates over time/lack of maitainence and just ends up being dead weight

Plus it ends up soaking the power when on tarmac, on some you can lock out, but cheaper end you can't , or the person doesn't know how

Advise your friend to get decent shorts and mitts and ride out the saddle on bumpy bits or potholes

Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Wednesday 29th July 16:14

[SixPotBelly]

Wouldn't have thought so. Fat slicks would be enough IMO.

FWIW, back when I lived in zone 2 I used to get around on my slick-shod XC bike, with both ends permanently locked out, as that's what I already had. If I'd bought something dedicated for the job it would certainly have been rigid. (And cheap).

[richardxjr]

+1, No.

Wide tyres low pressures will be ample for anything.

[truck71]

Cheers guys, my old specialized hybrid is solid (and foooking heavy) but is nice to ride on road if rather slow. Dude at Halfrauds is trying to talk her into a front suspension only - sounds wrong all round to me. Should I also steer her away from disc brakes?

[AC43]

truck71 said:

Cheers guys, my old specialized hybrid is solid (and foooking heavy) but is nice to ride on road if rather slow. Dude at Halfrauds is trying to talk her into a front suspension only - sounds wrong all round to me. Should I also steer her away from disc brakes?

I commute in London on a hard tail. BUT it does have air forks which are a bit lighter then cheapo steel sprung ones.

My wife has a rigid hybrid which carbon forks which take a lot of the chatter away.

I don't know what your budget is but if it's, say, £5-600 I'd say get carbon forks rather than cheap, heavy steel springers.

There are discs and there are disks. I've only have had hydraulic and they are great - powerful in the case of mine (can't recall the brand/model off the top of my head but it was a £950 Trek) and better-than-normal brakes in the case of my wife's £500 Jamis Allegro.

The benefit on both is virtually zero maintenance and consistent performance in all weathers.

IMHO the best innovation in bikes in 20 years.

BUT, again, I did try some bad ones on a cheapo Boardman last year - the levers just came back to the bars and they felt no more powerful than cantilevers or V brakes.

And people say that the cable versions aren't so good. Dunno as I skipped them.

As in forks, worth going for it above a certain spec.


EDIT the wife's bike has "Tektro HDC-300 Hydraulic disc brake system with 160mm rotors". Decent entry level for discs I'd say

Edited by AC43 on Wednesday 29th July 17:19

[ecsrobin]

Definitely no suspension for her use. As for disc brakes I've gone from Hope M4 hydraulic brakes to disappointing avid Juicy 1 hydraulics on my full sus XC bike and now my new CX bike has Avid cable discs which I would say are better than the avid hydraulics.

[truck71]

Thanks all, she's bought a non suspension non disc brake bike which for occasional recreational use will probably fit the bill. Avoided buying the wrong machine today so much appreciated.

[Mr Gear]

truck71 said:

Thanks all, she's bought a non suspension non disc brake bike which for occasional recreational use will probably fit the bill. Avoided buying the wrong machine today so much appreciated.

Good move. If you buy cheap, buy simple.

Halfords actually sell some great bikes in the cheap and simple category, but they also sell plenty of bikes with all the trimmings that can lure people into the 'cheap but crap' territory too.

[cirian75]

Halfrauds sell many BSO's, but also sell bikes too.