Bicycle

[calibanzwei]

Afternoon all,
Since starting back college in September I've been cycling the 17 miles on college days on my brothers road bike - a single gear speedy thing that has to ridden fast! - but with a nice bonus heading my way at the end of this month I'm looking at buying something more specific to my needs and that'll be safer on Winter roads.
I've been looking at hybrids, specifically this one from the Edinburgh Cycle Co. with which I'll be adding guards and a rack. My route is mostly road, but I'd like to be able to deal with the rough stuff when needed (darn them zombies!).

Specific questions:
- I'm fairly new to this cycling lark, but I've heard from friends that the ECC is a good company with a store local to me. Anyone have any dealings with them?
- Maintenance. Any advice on available books to help with maintenance or advice in general?
- Forums. There's a forum for everything these days (plumber has recently told me about a boiler forum lol) - any good ones though?

Thanks
Col

 

[Tadpole]

If you have to rely on it, then i would say spend more Money, it will save you in the long run, I paid £250 for a new bike, and within months (six weeks) it had been back to the shop twice. The rear wheel was replaced, the chain and the rear set within a few hundred miles, the front wheel inner was so rough it shredded a tyre in days. I ended up spending another hundred and ninety pounds getting it sorted, only for the front suspension to fail, I scrapped it as the company I bought it from told me it was not designed for heavy use. (I do 35 miles a week) it really was just a BSO (biked shaped object rather than a decent bike)
Dawes do a tourer for just under £550 or about £300 on Ebay for last years model Claude Butler do the same for around the same money

 

[calibanzwei]

Thats the aim of going to the ECC - from friends telling me they're there for the long haul with advice etc, not mega-monstrosities like Halfords. Good reviews with the Revolution series too.

 

[locum76]

I can vouch for ECC, they are a quality company.

I'd go with what tadpole says though and spend as much as you can possibly afford.

 

[calibanzwei]

Gah - £250 is about my top whack for the bike itself, factor in >10% for security. Probably be about £325 by the time peripherals are paid for. Brothers mate advised £250 minimum for a hybrid; it is down from £300

 

[jack by the hedge]

ECC are excellent. Their own brand bikes are worth the money, run very well. Ask in the shop about books, they always have a good selection and run courses as well. Try http://bicycletutor.com/ as a good starting point and get your self a basic tool kit, spare tubes and great lights. dem dam cars don't want to see us.

jbth

 

[bilmo-p5]

Whatever bike you get, treat your seat to a Brooks saddle.

 

[calibanzwei]

Cheers all - hardest part of all this is working out these new-fangled 'presta' valves. Was scared of unscrewing something unnecessary!

 

[locum76]

yeah presta valves are rubbish.

 

[Tadpole]

Whatever bike you get, treat your seat to a Brooks saddle.

And Armadillo tyres :tu:

 

[locum76]

mmm, Kevlar. I always feel Kevlar is overkill until Hawthorn trimming season comes around.

 

[spiritwalker]

first bike was a claud bautler oddessey which was very bad on punctures so i upgraded to a £500 hybrid (chris boardman one from halfords) whilst the bike was excellent i had many punctures so i bought some kevlar tyres which where £30 each second trip out another puncture (do bear in mind i cycle through 2 industrial estates) in the end i got a £150 (on half price offer) mountain bike and touch wood its been great with coping with the roads but it is slower to ride but a damn site more comfy. Now i wish i had gotten a mountain bike to begin with.

 

[pastymuncher]

Personally, I would look out for a good second hand bike for the money, there are lots of little used bikes out there which you can pick up for very little money (I have a £5k+ mtb that I would be lucky to get £250 for, if I sold it).
I picked up from ebay a little used 1985 Raleigh touring bike complete with fenders and rack last year for £100, put a fresh pair of tyres, a new chain and serviced the bearings and it's become my favourite bike, with hundreds of miles done on it already.
Obviously you wont get the warranty or back up, but if you take along someone who knows about bikes they should be able to spot any potential problems.
+1 for Brooks saddles, suffered years of discomfort before I got one last year, I've been knocking out 60mile rides in comfort since, you may need to try before you buy as there are many different models and they an take a bit of "wearing in" .

Just a note on "road bikes" most modern "road bikes" are built for racing or built in the style of racing bikes, which makes them quite uncomfortable and quite impractical for daily riding. A road bike with decent tyres i.e 25mm or above (schwalbe marathons are great) and handlebars level with the seat makes for a much more comfortable riding position.
Check out http://www.rivbike.com/article/bike_fit/fit_sizing_position for some very sound advice about bike fit, before you buy anything, and check out the rest of the advice section about bike gear for some real world down to earth advice.

 

[Tadpole]

mmm, Kevlar. I always feel Kevlar is overkill until Hawthorn trimming season comes around.

May be it’s the roads I use, or the route I take, but 6 punctures a week was my average until I Dr Slimed my tyres, and even after that I was forever pumping them up. So £27 per tyre later and I’ve had nary a problem since. (2 miles on the road and 4 miles on a cycle path then 3 more miles on main roads and through industrial estates)

 

[chjo]

Would recommend a Marin muirwood cost £400ish new but worth it mines a lot easier to pedal than halfords 1 i had before it the extra cash is worth paying.

 

[Zingmo]

I used to be a push-bike mechanic in a previous life. There is a whole lot of garbage on the market at the moment so with a limited budget, it is wise to do as you are and seek advice.

Most modern bikes are made for people to put on the back of the car so they can drive them to a park where they go "Wahoo!" for 45 minutes before heading home. In days of old people used to ride bikes to get somewhere and bicycles were made accordingly. The bicycle is a piece of technology which has been honed for efficiency for many many years. It is something which is diminished when you add something unnecessary.

Learn a little about frame geometry - the shape of the frame decides what the bike will be good for. A road racer is for exactly that (as you have found). For longer distances in greater comfort a road touring bike is better (it looks at first glance like a racer, but the frame geometry is different).

A mountain bike frame is different from a road bike in that the bottom bracket (where the pedals are) is higher off the ground making it possible to keep pedalling even when the bike is leaning quite far over to go round a corner. However the frame is very strong (but also heavier) to cope with the pounding of rough tracks.

A hybrid bike has the frame geometry of a mountain bike but with some of the weight (and strength) of the frame whittled away. They make very good urban commuting bikes as they can cope with potholes and give you a "head-up" riding position. However, I am betting that after 17 miles you will be more comfortable on a tourer.

So when choosing a bike keep thinking "do I really need that?" (eg suspension - its quite heavy for what it does and could you fix it if it broke 8 miles from home).

If you look online for technical info on bikes you will eventually come across Sheldon Brown who sadly passed away a year or so back. Back in my day the book of choice was Richard's Bicycle Book which has had numerous revisions since.

Old bikes are better. I once raced a colleague on his £2k ally framed mountain bike over a mile on my 1970's car boot rescue Raleigh 3-speed. I won because the race included the time taken to unlock/lock the bikes! Mine was just leant against the wall.

Hope this helps.


Z

 

[Paul_B]

Then you have cyclocross bikes. Edinburgh place do their own but it is 2300/sora mech although you won't get much better for anything close to that price in cyclocross. IMHO the CX bike makes a good commuter. Think of it as an all-roads sort of bike. Fast when you need it but with a slightly more upright position for off road riding. On top of that it is light, you can get them with rack and mudguard mounting bosses and like a MTB they have an allevated bottom bracket. They also have increases clearance for mud, leaves and other gunk between the tyres and the frame. I took my road bike out on a leaf strewn cyclepath and was forever stopping to pull out leaves from around the wheel.

I always thought for the cheaper end it was always advisable to spend at least £25 but that was about 10 years ago so I'm guessing it is more now. Seriously if you can't get more money together then I think it is best to find out what you want from the shops then find a good one second hand if you can.

Check our roadcyclinguk (RCUK) for their forum, news and reviews. They recently did something on the four main commuting options and the guy who wrote it later said he favoured cyclocrossers in the forum. Of course on a lot of bike forums they are kind of obsessed and will kind of look down on you on account of your budget being as it is and not at least £800-£1000. The RCUK is the more friendly one IMHO. ALso try out bikemagic website and forum. They tend to look after the more MTB end of the cycling world and I got told to bugger off to RCUK by one of them for asking what bike would be best for mostly on road but still able to be used off road occasionally on the easier stuff and for commuting and light touring. I still go on it if only to annoy that guy.

Anyway IF it was up to me I would try to raise some more money. Perhaps take advantage of one of their 0% finance schemes from a bike shop. Most do it now through third party companies. However if you are a student perhaps that is not really an option. You can't even do cycle to work schems as a student.

Perhaps a little longer spent researching and trying out a range of bikes. Even look at those up to say £500 or £600 just to see what is out there that could suit if you had that money. Then look to see if you can get a second hand one of those more expensive bikes in your size in the knowledge that at least you have tried them in a shop and know it is suitable. Not sure if I've added much. I do think that the Specialised tricross might be a good bike for you and I reckon you would find one second hand as they have been around for a while and are quite a good bike allbeit a cyclocross/hybrid. Not a true cyclo cross as it is really about fulfilling the do everything role from light touring to fast commuting.

Also look for second hand audax bikes. An audax bike is basically like a fast tourer. It is a slighly mor relaxed road bike but hasn't been over bloated like most tourers so you can still ride fast and keep up with any club riders. It has mudguards on and you can fit racks even so it a good commuter too. It is however meant for long distance riding so will be more comfortable than the true skinny tyred roadie bike.

 

[Paul_B]

PS I'm still looking for my ideal bike (Similar use to yours I reckon). My latest thgouth is the Scott CX comp cyclocross bike for £999. or £875 for 2010 model. Look in bike shop's clearance section as this timeof year they are still clearing old models. 2010 bikes are out and the 2011 bikes are in at higher prices and sometimes lower specs. Deals are out there. Shame you can't scrape up £450 as I saw a good bike reduced from 649 or 749 to £450 recently. WOuld have suited you I think.

 

[hairyhippy]

With regards to maintenance www.yacf.co.uk is good, as is sheldon brown. ECC are good.

 

[Beorn]

Spend more money and get more bike! If you look at this http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOPOMPCOMP/on-one-pompetamine-alfine-comp it has some advantages: The discbrakes are better in wet conditions, always brake like dry, makes your ride a lot safer. The gearhub (Shimano Alfine) is made for city and commuting use, enough gears for what you intend to do and some of my lads even use it for their MTBs and we prefer to avoid tarmack or hard and even surfaces It stands up to some abuse and you don't have the problem of chain, etc. using itself up with every shifting
With such a bike you'll sometimes need new brakepads and some drops of oil on the chain.

Excuse my English, I'm out of training at the moment.