A little advice please

[rowan 46]

I work as an agency care assistant and consequently cycle to and from work around Birmingham as it's cheaper and quicker than public transport (I don't drive). I average about 100 miles a week (So I don't cycle much) my longest journey is about 14 miles along a towpath and the rest are between 2 and 5 miles on roads around town. I ride a viking hybrid which has been pretty reliable a little heavy but not too bad it has front suspension which is useful for the towpath and has schwalbe marathon tyres 700x 38 on. My mach 1 rims are now down to the indicator limits so I need to change them. Having seen the price of new wheels I don't want to be doing this on a regular so I thought I would upgrade to discs fornt and back my frame will take them so that's not a problem. The problem is I have integrated brake and shifter units so I need new shifters. If I am gettting new shifters I might as well get a nine speed cassette for the new wheels, a new chain for the new cassette, a new front derailleur for the new chain. do I need to get new chainrings as well? I can get £400 together or should I just get this
http://www.bikes2udi...tml?id=2HvNgtdW
The greener option is to get the parts and get some nice ones. but it seems a lot of trouble for a bike that cost me that price 8 years ago

 

[BrumJim]

Would recommend getting yourself down to Decathlon and having a look at their bikes. Have heard many a good word about their prices and quality. £400 will get you a very good quality new hybrid bike.

Whereabouts in Birmingham are you?

 

[rowan 46]

Acocks green

 

[jugglingphil]

Hi
You can change from combined brake/shifters to separate brake/shifters. LBS did it for me a few years ago. Does the bike have the necessary mounting points for disc brakes?

If you want a new bike, get one, you don't need excuses . You've saved the price of a bike by not driving/public transport so it's easy to justify.

 

[Fiona N]

If you go for mechanical disks (e.g. Avid BB7) the levers might well be OK - need to check with bike shop or Know How forum but I've just swopped to disks (as above) and only got new levers because the old Shimano ones were absolutely ancient (ca 15 years old) and I wanted sparkly new ones ()

 

[villagio]

Would recommend getting yourself down to Decathlon and having a look at their bikes. Have heard many a good word about their prices and quality. £400 will get you a very good quality new hybrid bike.

Whereabouts in Birmingham are you?

+1 on Decathlon (there's one in Wednesbury). I've got their cheapo £100 Rockrider 5.0 and it's great for the money. Good service too.

 

[chewy]

I use a CARERRA SUBWAY 2 as my commuter. Very good for the money, no suspension though

 

[cyberknight]

I use a CARERRA SUBWAY 2 as my commuter. Very good for the money, no suspension though

+1 subways are great !!

here is my tuppence
Assuming you have not replaced anything but brake pads on your old bike i think it has done very well as pretty much everything will need replacing.

gears,chain,bottom bracket, wheels, cables, head set bearings etc etc it would be better to put the money towards a newer bike .

Do you want to stay on a mtb with discs and a 9 + rear gears or are you open to other suggestions?

I re -entered cycling on a subway 1, the bikes are pretty bombproof, the subway 2 is disc eqiupped but only has an 8 speed cassette on the back, bear in mind that as long as you have a fast enough top and bottom gear then unless your racing having 8 or 9 speeds is not really going to make a lot of difference as assuming you have 3 gears at the front you are going to have a fair few number of gear combinations that give the same amount of forward motion per revolution.
The subway also comes with a hub gear ,hub gears are pretty much maintenance free and that particular model has an 8 speed hb and disc brakes.

Well set up brakes of any sort should offer enough bite to stop you once you are used to them so have you considered a flat or drop bar road bike?

Do you need suspension unless your route is really bad then the cheaper front suspension units tend to add weight for minimal comfort, the tyres should give you enough comfort if your bike is set up right.

here a a few suggestions ..
http://www.halfords....tegoryId_165534

http://www.halfords....tegoryId_165534

http://www.halfords....yId_165534#dtab

Moving away from halfords ( i have 2 halfoids bikes and about to get a baordman) i have read these are very good ...

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebw...2&f_SortOrderID=1&f_bct=c003155c018333c018336