Another help question

[Hocus]

Hi guys and gals, I have been through the newbie thread and have chossen to go for a Hybrid bike however I need your help.

I am doing the cycle to work scheme and will park up my car this year, but my basketball team is doing a lot of cycling. I have tried to go out with them with an Apollo Transporter (decent bike bought on FB) from Swindon to Cirencester and every hill I hit was disaster and these guys were way ahead having to wait on me. So I am biting bullet and getting a new bike. Halfords has a carerra subway 2 at £325 ready to go, but I really like the Scotts Subcross 40. My problem is the guys want to ride from Swindon to Newbury on the weekend so getting the Carrera kitted out is easiest. No one seems to have the Scott in stock and I am told the wait can be a week or a month due to covid. So the quetion, is it worth me waiting and paying more for the Scott and missing the ride or picking up the carrera and hoping its a good enough bike to try and keep up. By the way on flat roads and through the woods I was fine. Once we hit hills I was an old man chasing teenagers

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/hybr...-bike-2020---black---s-m-l-frames-345886.html

vs

https://www.scott-sports.com/gb/en/product/scott-sub-cross-40-men-s-bike

 

[Sharky]

You're selecting bikes with front suspension. What sort of bikes are your mates riding? If they are on road bikes, you will be at a disadvantage?

 

[cyberknight]

the one you linked to is a cross fire tbh unless your off roading you dont need front suspension

 

[vickster]

the one you linked to is a cross fire tbh unless your off roading you don’t need front suspension

FTFY

 

[cyberknight]

FTFY

cheers i was a typo i meant that

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

If you're saying your current bike is an Apollo Transfer hybrid, that will probably be faster and less effort to ride than either of the two you are intending to replace it with - so you might as well save your money and keep it!.
Suspension forks are just a waste of time, extra weight, extra effort to ride, more maintenance and result in a shorter economic life of the bike. Don't bother with them.

 

[Cycleops]

Heavy suspension fork, big tyres and sit up and beg position won’t do you any favours on the road when doing any distance. Look for something with narrow tyres, conventional fork and a more aggressive position. Something like this:
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-rc500-flat-bar-id_8548314.html

 

[Reynard]

For road riding, you definitely don't need anything with suspension forks. At that price point, it'll be more of a hindrance than a help. Think heavy, ineffective, energy-sapping...

You're probably far better off looking for a flat bar road bike if you must have something new. The other option, if you're mechanically savvy, is look at the gearing on the bike that you have, and maybe change it if you will be riding hilly routes on a regular basis.

 

[mjr]

You're probably far better off looking for a flat bar road bike if you must have something new.

A path/racer might be better (I hate flat bars) but would probably cost more because it's a smaller market because people keep inexplicably buying flat bar wrist-strainers!

 

[Reynard]

A path/racer might be better (I hate flat bars) but would probably cost more because it's a smaller market because people keep inexplicably buying flat bar wrist-strainers!

Horses for courses. If we all liked the same thing, the world would be a much more boring place.

I'm equally happy riding a flat bar bike as a drop bar. Mind, I have Ergon grips on the hybrid, which do, IMHO, make a big difference.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I'm sorry if this comes across as patronising, but the first thing I think of when I read that you're struggling on hills is not the bike, per se, but the gearing (or indeed the engine!)

What kind of gearing do you have on your current bike? How familiar are you with gear ratios? It could be a simple fix of changing the cassette to give better climbing gears.

Along the same lines, it could be climbing technique. I've seen people using gears that leave them grinding slowly as opposed to spinning. That'll kill me on a hill.

Can you borrow a friend's bike on one of the hills to see if it's easier? If so is it down to the difference in gearing between the two bikes?
If there's no significant difference it might just be the engine - you!

Finally, if I was buying a new bike, bike2work or not, I'd be buying the bike that best suited me for the way I planned to use it...... not the one that suits best for this weekend.
Buy in haste, repent at leisure and all that.

Good luck!

 

[Hocus]

Cheers everyone for your comments. Well my engine is in decent shape and I would say better than some of the guys on the basketball court. I think one guy rides with an XL Carrera mountain bike and hes killing me. Perhaps I need to look in the mirror lol. No one has a road bike as we often go off though some wooded areas, muddy spots, and rocky paths, hence the suspension. I could not tell you about gearing as I am only learning. I think it was 6 gears on the right side and the same on the left on the apollo. At the end of the day I will be using what ever I buy to commute to work and back which is 10 miles round trip at best. The apollo bike has its issues being a second hand and I have passed it on to my 12 year old. Perhaps I am just old they have a 10 year and more age difference on me, and not being a person who cycles much has its disadvantages. I am learning about gears and posture ect. So i will stick with it, just started looking at the voodoo and boardman bikes, but I am with you might be the engine.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

(I hate flat bars)

.....Says the bloke who rides 3-speed roadsters!
Have you quite thought that statement through before posting?

 

[Pale Rider]

.....Says the bloke who rides 3-speed roadsters!
Have you quite thought that statement through before posting?

Presumably by hating flat bars, he means he hates flat bars with no sweep.

 

[mjr]

Presumably by hating flat bars, he means he hates flat bars with no sweep.

Next to no sweep or rise, yes. Flat. I've only got such bars left on the folding bike now because they're so uncomfortable.