Advice for an unfit & nervous newbie!

[Pale Rider]

Duncan, if you need help in picking your new bike give me a shout. Maybe @ScotiaLass will come too.
For riding the Union Canal you need something comfy, preferably easy to clean ... yes, bikes must be cleaned too especially if you decide to ride further towards Edinburgh, where the surface is horrendous.
You'll soon get bored of the same routes, your bike should be a bit adaptable.
A bike in the home is like having a pet you wouldn't leave a pet out all night, would you? Get the spare room ready for the new arrival

Wise words and good offer from @Pat "5mph" - there are no bad £500 bikes in Evans, but you won't go far wrong with her riding shotgun.

As regards 'adaptable', I would steer you towards a mountain bike with very semi-knobbly tyres.

The 29er bikes roll well anyway, and a lot have a central ridge on the tyres to make them easy to pedal in a straightish line on a hard surface.

The wider tyres are less likely to puncture because the weight of you and the bike is spread over a larger area.

A mountain bike frame is very versatile, being sturdy and able to take a rack, mudguards and most other accessories.

For range of gears, a mountain triple cannot be beaten.

You will probably get a suspension fork, but a bit of give in the front end is no bad thing.

There is a weight penalty, but you are not looking for outright speed or distance, and as I was once told, no one ever got fit riding a light bike.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Have you considered a good old traditional touring bike, great for every distance and most surfaces, comes complete with mudguards and rack. Evans have a couple under £600, eg.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jamis/aurora-2015-touring-bike-ec072110

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Have you considered a good old traditional touring bike, great for every distance and most surfaces, comes complete with mudguards and rack. Evans have a couple under £600, eg.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jamis/aurora-2015-touring-bike-ec072110

That's nice, worth a try and the 36 spoke wheels will be a good thing carrying a bit more weight.

For fitness, cycling will trim your legs and generally burn some calories, but won't really build up anything above the stomach. So you may want to add something that looks at upper body.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

These padded under shorts are pretty good in terms of the padding. A lot of of cheap cycling shorts the padding leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Berk on a Bike]

I have nothing to add to the premium advice already offered other than my own experience. I started two years ago with a hybrid, riding only the local cycle path. I found an out-and-back route which was within my beginner's capabilities and did it a lot - frequency was everything. Gradually the regular thrash got a bit longer and a bit longer, then I struck out onto the roads. Haven't looked back. I'm currently researching (i.e. drooling over) my next bike and continuing to build up my mileage. Two years ago I wouldn't have thought I'd be where I am on my own two-wheeled journey. I guarantee you will amaze yourself or double your money back.*

So have fun. Enjoy your new bike. Come back and show us your newbie progress. Good luck!


*money back guarantee may not be available

 

[ScotiaLass]

What about an Adventure bike or a CX bike. They look like a road bike with the same gear shifters but are a bit tougher with fatter wheels. I have a CX bike, my winter bike, and I adore him. I take it on the road, up trails, through woods, up and down hills and generally have a blast on him.
The 29ers (Mountain bikes) are epic for riding on trails, roads and anywhere else you could want to ride. [B]@ScotiaLass[/B] is the one for chapter and verse on 29ers.

We definitely want to hear about your rides. We have a whole thread dedicated to tales of rides. We obviously want to see pics of your new bike. Very big on pictures on this forum

So much so, that my husband has just bought a Spesh Rockhopper 29er

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Sports Direct also has combination cycling/ordinary shorts, which would save you buying two garments.
Casual clothing you already have will do for the rest of your cycling outfit.

This definitely worked for me, although the 'combination' shorts I bought (normal shorts with padded inners) proved an utter waste of money. Fortunately they were cheap, but the inners moved around like crazy and were just never comfortable. I think I wore them twice, once to find out I hated them and another time to confirm it. Go for something with an integral pad, if you don't want to walk around all lycra clad then stick something baggier over the top. To be honest, you soon stop caring (I did anyway).

 

[Pale Rider]

This definitely worked for me, although the 'combination' shorts I bought (normal shorts with padded inners) proved an utter waste of money. Fortunately they were cheap, but the inners moved around like crazy and were just never comfortable. I think I wore them twice, once to find out I hated them and another time to confirm it. Go for something with an integral pad, if you don't want to walk around all lycra clad then stick something baggier over the top. To be honest, you soon stop caring (I did anyway).

Thanks for the review.

I was tempted by the combination shorts for the summer, but won't bother now.

I'm still caring, but hot weather might see to that.

 

[MichaelW2]

Bikes tend to come with marketing labels such as MTB, Hybrid, CX.
Mostly I ignore these.
For easy off-road/mixed riding you don't need suspension.
Fatter tyres in 38mm are ideal, it makes no difference whether you call it hybrid or 29er.
Disc brakes are a good option.
More spokes = better for large riders. 36spoke is the highest number you can usually find.
Threaded eyelets for mudguards and rear luggage rack extend the potential uses of your bike, eg shopping, touring.
Correct size/fit is essential.
The transmission style may be 2 or 3 rings at the front and 8 or 9 sprockets at the rear. A conventional 3x8 or 3x9 is fine. A medium chainset, eg 28/38/48 may be OK. Lower MTB chainsets are better on steep off-road but you can spin-out on roads.

On the price/performance curve, midrange is a good place to be. £500-800 buys you a lot of bike.
If you want to negotiate, ask for extra accessories (which cost Evans peanuts) rather than cash off (which cost Evans cash)
Lock, lights. helmet, rack, mudguards(full-length bolt-on), spare inner, repair kit, pump.

 

[ayceejay]

My suggestion would be to buy something decent rather than just cheap. One of two things will happen: you won't enjoy cycling and you can sell the bike on with a minimum of loss, (a cheapo won't sell) either that or a year from now when you are down to 12 stone you will be looking for what is known here as a N+1 and you keep your first bike for rainy days.
As for extra kit a lot of shops offer freebies or discounts to new bike buyers so check this out and if you buy shorts go for bibs as regular shorts will roll down below your belly and I know you have a belly.

 

[dst87]

Fantastic advice on all fronts here, thanks. I'm even starting to learn some of the terms being used and almost have some clue what you're all talking about!

I had a look on the Evans website to see if I could see something that I think matches what you're talking about. I found the Specialised Crosstrail Sport Disc 2015 Hybrid Bike - is this the sort of thing I should be looking at then? People have talked about versatility and I think that's important as I don't know what sort of riding I'll enjoy and the sorts of places I'll end up, especially when @ScotiaLass shows me the best cycling spots locally (I'll PM you shortly!)

Only thing with that particular model is they don't seem to have them in store which is a bummer. I guess they'll have something similar though if that ticks a lot of the right boxes. It does have suspension I think, which I know you've advised against, but how much of a drawback is this? Is it all about the weight, or do the cheaper suspensions actually detract from the ride in other ways?

Other than that I'll definitely look at getting some cycling short. I didn't know you could wear them under regular shorts, so that's a nice idea. It'll make me feel more comfortable and allow the rest of Falkirk to hold on to their lunch!

I think I'll probably go to Braehead. I'm actually off to Florida a week on Saturday and I don't know if there's any point in doing anything about this until I get back at this stage. Then again, I could get a week of riding in before I go which surely can't be a bad thing...

 

[vickster]

Bikes called 29ers are quite similar to the Crosstrail

If you do go for suspension, try to get one with a lockout fork. It'll make it less bouncy on the roads.the specialized has it so a good place to start. If you pay £50, evans will order in a bike for you to test ride. That's refundable if you don't buy and will come off the price if you do

 

[dst87]

Bikes called 29ers are quite similar to the Crosstrail

If you do go for suspension, try to get one with a lockout fork. It'll make it less bouncy on the roads

Oh right... so does a lockout just disable or lessen the effectiveness of the suspension, a bit like firming up the suspension on a car?

The one I saw on Evans said it had suspension with hydraulic lockout, so I assume that's what that means?

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@dst87 with that gearing I would be very much surprised if you ever need to come off the middle front ring, in the low gear small front big back, you will be climbing mountains with ease.

 

[vickster]

Oh right... so does a lockout just disable or lessen the effectiveness of the suspension, a bit like firming up the suspension on a car?

The one I saw on Evans said it had suspension with hydraulic lockout, so I assume that's what that means?

Yes, it makes the bike more like one with a rigid fork

Evans have a bunch of similar bikes, you could look at, eg from £400-700 odd. The specialized looks decent in the blue. Hydraulic disc brakes are preferable to mechanical, but depends on budget

http://www.evanscycles.com/categori...l!price_to=740;sort=popularity;price_from=480