Buying my first adult Bike.

[judoka]

I am looking for some advice / guidance, please.

I have been looking about and have seen two bikes, both hybrid I quite like but not sure as they are quite different.

The first is a Specialized Centrum Elite 2008 £299.
The second is a Saracen Intent 2009 £329.

Can anyone help, please? Any better suggestions for similar price will be greatly appreciated.

I am way overweight (20st) and thought fixed forks would be better than suspension style.

My main cycling will be cycle paths, canal paths both with varying degrees of undulation.

Thanks in advance

Judoka

 

[Steve Austin]

the specialized is a singlespeed (its only got one gear) right? do you want a bike with only one gear

 

[judoka]

the specialized is a singlespeed (its only got one gear) right? do you want a bike with only one gear

Steve this is where I start to get lost. I presume one gear is not great if my cycling involves good quality pathways but are quite undulating.

Does this bike only have one gear or 3 gears. I read about it and due to lack of knowledge I thought it said it has less gears than most but has enough to do the job.

Thanks for your reply any more advice will be greatly welcomed

 

[HJ]

I would suggest that you would be far better off with more gears, most modern bikes come with between 18 and 27 gears. Single speeds are best for experienced riders, I would suggest you would be better off with a triple (front ring) and a nine speed cassette (than is the cogs on the back) which would give you 27 gears (don't worry about the number you will soon find a use for all of them).

 

[Weegie]

Judoka, I was in the same position as you only a couple of weeks ago - same weight (20st), looking for a new bike in the same price range. And I think we reside in the same toon

I ended up getting a Carrera Subway 2 hybrid from Halfords, based on a lot of positive reviews on this forum. Very happy with it so far. (I built it myself though, as I'm a bit of a geek, and Halfords don't have a great reputation for setting up bikes properly). This might be a better "reference point" bike for you, when looking around at other models?

My local bike shop could only offer me a Claud Butler with a front suspension post, which I rejected based on the advice here that suspension on a sub-£400 bike isn't usually very effective. I don't plan to do much off-roading anyway

Are you just looking around on the internet? If so, I'd highly recommend you get out to a few shops and sit on some bikes. Frame sizes & shapes can radically alter the comfort from one model to the next.

 

[judoka]

Thanks both HJ and Weegie for your advice.

I have been at halfords and evans cycles. The later seemed far better with their service and advice.

cheers its gears for me I think

 

[Randochap]

cheers its gears for me I think

Don't think; just do it. Make sure whatever bike you get has a nice low gear -- with a small chainring (smallest of 3) in front below 30 teeth and cog on rear wheel around 30 teeth.

That will help you climb comfortably.

 

[judoka]

Don't think; just do it. Make sure whatever bike you get has a nice low gear -- with a small chainring (smallest of 3) in front below 30 teeth and cog on rear wheel around 30 teeth.

That will help you climb comfortably.

Randochap,,

thanks for your reply but to me this is completely foreign;

small chainring in front below 30 teeth?
around 30 teeth on rear wheel cog?

I am affraid you are talking to a complete beginner. If you can explain I will he happy to take it into account when purchasing.

Judoka

 

[Banjo]

I am not an expert,only been cycling for 6 months but I did do a lot of research into what bike to buy for similar use to what you intend to do.

If you buy a hybrid bike with triple chain rings on the front it will do what you want.They mostly have 28 teeth on the front on the smallest ring which combined with the lowest gear on the back will get U up most hills.

Dont get too bogged down in technical stuff,if you see a bike U fancy ask advice about it on here first then get a test ride before buying it.

Its important that it fits U dont let the bikeshop rush you make them ensure its the right size.Once U have ridden it a few times it will be difficult/impossible to get them to change it.



http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/vita-2009-road-bike-ec016892

If U click on the link for this bike (picked totally at random as an example) Scroll down to the specification and You will see the bike has 3 front chainrings,with 48 ,38 and 28 teeth .The gear cassette on the back is an 8 speed with a range between 11 and 32 teeth. This is about average for this type of bike and would be OK for you.

For towpath riding you dont want really skinny tyres,I wouldnt go below 32 personally and defo not narrower than 28. You dont need really big fat knobbly tyres though ,they just make it harder work to ride .

Good Luck .If U keep at it the pounds will soon go. I have lost 2.5 stones since March and feel great.

 

[g00se]

Hi

Hope this helps as an 'idiots guide' - no offence meant

There are generally three types of gears.

Most bikes have derailleurs gears. For a beginners hybrid bike - which you probably want - it'll have 21, 24 or 27 combinations (3 'cogs' on the crank by the pedals) and 7, 8 or 9 cogs on the 'cassette' on the rear wheel hub. Some bikes will have only 2 or even only one 'cog' on the front.

With the chain on the biggest cog on the rear, you end up pedaling like mad but going slowly - this is good for going up hills. On the smallest rear cog, you face more resistance to pedaling, but hammer along. Much like how the engine works on cars in bottom and top gears.

There are some bikes that have enclosed gears - where they are built into the rear hub. The benefit here is less cleaning and maintenance which is good for regular all-weather riding. From the basic 3-speed Sturmey Archer gears you find on the old-style sit-up-and-beg 'Hovis' bikes. To more modern designs with more gears that are used on commuting bikes - but these tend to be more expensive and used in higher end bikes that might be out of your price range (looking at your examples).

Finally, there are single-speed and fixed gear bikes. These have one gear ratio and fixed don't even have a free-wheel. They became popular with experienced bike messengers because of the lack of maintenance required. But you need to be really fit to use them - especially near hills.

Derailleurs will be the way to go for you. To see how they work, look at:

http://www.ehow.com/video_2355797_learn-function-bicycle-derailleurs.html


http://bicycletutor.com/gear-shifting/

As for forks - you're right. Avoid front suspension forks in your price range. They'll be very heavy, poor quality and you'll end up exerting too much effort just to make yourself bounce up and down on a heavy bike, rather than go forward.

 

[just4fun]

Hello Judoka,
And welcome to the forums. good luck with your choices.

I would just like to highlight what is in my opinion the most useful bits fo this thread:

Banjos tyre comments
"For towpath riding you dont want really skinny tyres,I wouldnt go below 32 personally and defo not narrower than 28. You dont need really big fat knobbly tyres
though ,they just make it harder work to ride ."

and also weegies post about the "Carrera Subway 2 hybrid from Halfords"

As for all the confussion about the gears

G00se has a great link there

http://bicycletutor.com/gear-shifting/

As for forks - you're right. Avoid front suspension forks in your price range. They'll be very heavy, poor quality and you'll end up exerting too much effort just to make yourself bounce up and down on a heavy bike, rather than go forward.

 

[judoka]

Hi,

Thank you all for your advice and posts.

Evans have told me that both of the bikes I was looking at are no longer in stock so can not be delivered to the store for me to try.

I asked what make of bike I should look at. From the extensive choice on their web site they listed 5 makes only, Trek, Specialized, Scott, Pinnicle, Felt & Ridgeback. from this can I deduct the others on their site are no good.

I have seen a couple of Saracen bikes I like the look of but they advised to 'steer clear'. Does anyone have any advice on why as the salesperson did not elaborate as to why I should steer clear.

Bearing in mind my original post does anyone have any recommendations of bikes I should have a look at and why should I stay away from the majority of makes on the Evans website?

Thanks

Judoka

 

[g00se]

It might be that the sales guy had personal issues with a Saracen bike. I've no experience with them so cannot say.

The makes mentioned are some of the big sellers in hybrid bikes in your price range. It might be that he was narrowing down your choice to the 'regular suspects' to make things simpler and to help ensure they would be able to get them for you to try in the right size?

For example, Cannondale make very good bikes - but might be a bit too expensive compared to the others you have been looking at. Kona make very good hybrids but stock is tricky at the moment for a lot of sizes - as they have sold out of a lot of their 2009 stock and the 2010 won't be in for a while yet.

As for recommendations, I can only give what I tried in my recent bike hunt which was in the £350-£450 range. The ones I liked were:

Specialized Sirrus
Trek FX range (the 7.1 is the cheapest, I tried the 7.3)
Kona Dew and Dew Plus (I went with the Dew Plus).

 

[judoka]

Goose

Thanks for your reply.

I think I will have to reconsider my budget. I do like the look (not sat on or tested yet) of the Trek fx7.1 2010. I will go and see what it is like. Thanks for the other examples too.

I will post what I buy when I take the plunge.

Thanks again

Judoka

 

[judoka]

Goose

Thanks for your reply.

I think I will have to reconsider my budget. I do like the look (not sat on or tested yet) of the Trek fx7.1 2010. I will go and see what it is like. Thanks for the other examples too.

I will post what I buy when I take the plunge.

Thanks again

Judoka

I purchased my first adult bike at the weekend a Trek fx7.1 2010. I have not got it yet, pick it up next Sunday. I am looking forward to it as it is a long time since I have had / gone a bike.

Thanks to all the guys that replied with some sound advice. Now I will be looking for advice on how to overcome all the aches and pains I am sure I will endure in the coming weeks / months.

With any luck my weight will start to go downward too.

Cheers
Judoka