Can you recommend a reliable hybrid bicycle? Help please

[WhiteEagle197]

Hi,
I'm an enthusiastic amateur from Cambridgeshire. We have loads of lovely ultra-low traffic asphalt roads around here and I love to cycle on those. I have a five years old cheap (£160) Halfords Apollo hybrid alloy bicycle and I am not very satisfied with it at all - things get broken all the time, on a regular basis. So I decided to buy a better quality hybrid bicycle around March time. The only problem is that I am a dummy to better(ish) bicycles so I would need some help to choose the right one. If you can recommend any brand/model/etc or even link a few good ones from manufacturers'/shops' websites or from eBay/Amazon/etc that would be great. Here are the specs:
- Must be a hybrid bicycle
- Frame size/load to fit for a 184cm tall (between 6'0"-6'1") 80kg man
- 27"-28" wheel size - not too wide, not too thin and preferably reinforced/durable wheels (on my present bicycle a number of spokes broke so I had to replace the entire rear wheel...)
- 21-24 speeds
- Preferably alloy frame
- Preferably telescopic suspension in front fork and in seatpost
- Preferably straight handlebar
- Preferably reinforced/durable bottom bracket/reinforced crank/bearings (more than one of my previous bicycles had bearings and other crank/pedal-related problems, and they were not the cheapest to have fixed)
- And most importantly: be reliable! If I go for a 50-60 miles round trip/tour around our town then I don't want to worry what brakes down this time and whether or not I get home by my cycle or I need to push it on the way home (also happened, took a few hours...).
- And finally, I am not very rich, so I couldn't really spend more than £400 at the most. But I hope there are a few good enough ones at or below that amount. I needed it for short tours only, not for racing etc so it doesn't have to be mega-hyper-superb, just good and reliable.
Thanks,
WE197

 

[vickster]

Why are you looking for suspension on a bike for those sorts of distances? Is it all rough terrain? Suspension adds weight and on a cheaper bike, will be heavy and not very good

You'd be better off with carbon forks if you are looking for comfort on the road

The Halfords Carrera range seems pretty bullet proof and will be well within budget

 

[NotFabian]

Hi WE197,
I have had my Marin Mill valley for a couple of years now, Alu frame with rigid carbon forks and seat stays so very comfy, it was £1050 new but i know theyre around £700-800 on offer in places. Good components (part ultegra)and decent shimano R500 wheels. I know its over your budget 2nd hand may be an option??
Just so happens mine is about to go onto gumtree for around £300.

 

[HLaB]

I would stick away from suspension unless you are intending on going on fast off road downhills, its just an extra weight and another thing to go wrong. There's a lot of bikes out there which will meet your needs for less than £400. Personally I would also consider 700c wheel and increase your options. Typical recommendations are the Carrera Subway, Giant, or Spesh or Ed Co Ops own brands. I own a Ridgeback Velocity which for me has been a very reliable bike.

Edit: cross post, vickster has said similar to me with regards to suspension ;-)

 

[WhiteEagle197]

Why are you looking for suspension on a bike for those sorts of distances? Is it all rough terrain? Suspension adds weight and on a cheaper bike, will be heavy and not very good

You'd be better off with carbon forks if you are looking for comfort on the road

The Halfords Carrera range seems pretty bullet proof and will be well within budget

Thank you. As I said I'm dummies to bicycles, I don't know the technical details, I just ride them :-) My present bicycle is not very comfortable when using on older roads (rougher surface, some holes too etc), it shakes me, so I thought suspensions would help. Sometimes I go on dirt roads as well, but they are not very though, nothing that would call for a mountain bike. Maybe all I need is a gel seat and soft foam handlebar grips?

 

[vickster]

Certainly better grips will help - ergo ones with bar ends for more hand positions,. but not a gel saddle, they feel comfortable to sit on intially but not support. You are better with a well designed saddle and quality padded shorts

Suspension is energy sapping even when locked

I would find a good local bike shop and ask for advice

 

[HLaB]

Thank you. As I said I'm dummies to bicycles, I don't know the technical details, I just ride them :-) My present bicycle is not very comfortable when using on older roads (rougher surface, some holes too etc), it shakes me, so I thought suspensions would help. Sometimes I go on dirt roads as well, but they are not very though, nothing that would call for a mountain bike. Maybe all I need is a gel seat and soft foam handlebar grips?

A good saddle helps not neccesarily gel but what is right for you, with some folk gel causes more movement and chaffs/ hurts more. Use your arms and legs for more effective suspension. Padded grips may indeed help as well as running your tyres at a comfortable pressure. Padded shorts and gloves help too :-)

 

[WhiteEagle197]

Hi WE197,
I have had my Marin Mill valley for a couple of years now, Alu frame with rigid carbon forks and seat stays so very comfy, it was £1050 new but i know theyre around £700-800 on offer in places. Good components (part ultegra)and decent shimano R500 wheels. I know its over your budget 2nd hand may be an option??
Just so happens mine is about to go onto gumtree for around £300.

Tell me more details :-) Is it in good shape? How many speeds? What size wheels? Any photo maybe? Where are you located - no point if you in Scotland :-))

 

[WhiteEagle197]

I would stick away from suspension unless you are intending on going on fast off road downhills, its just an extra weight and another thing to go wrong. There's a lot of bikes out there which will meet your needs for less than £400. Personally I would also consider 700c wheel and increase your options. Typical recommendations are the Carrera Subway, Giant, or Spesh or Ed Co Ops own brands. I own a Ridgeback Velocity which for me has been a very reliable bike.

Edit: cross post, vickster has said similar to me with regards to suspension ;-)

Thank you. What is 700c? :-) I guess 700 is the diametre in mm, but what is c? My present bicycle got 700mm dia 35mm (or 38mm I'm not sure) wide tires, those seem about to be the right size for me.

 

[Peteaud]

For your money i would go for a good rigid, like the carrera. Your main problem is the forks in your price range are going to be heavy.

If you need forks, look at the giant roam 3 or trek 7000 (7.1 or 7.2) or maybe the spesh crosstrail.

 

[HLaB]

Thank you. What is 700c? :-) I guess 700 is the diametre in mm, but what is c? My present bicycle got 700mm dia 35mm (or 38mm I'm not sure) wide tires, those seem about to be the right size for me.

It just refers to width of the wheel and tbh you hardly ever get (if at all) now a,b or d, just people commonly refer to 700c, if you want to read up on it Sheldon does a good piece. My Ridgeback Velocity runs 700c by 37 mm tyres, basically the wider they are the slower they are but the more comfortable they are and they are less likely to pinch p'ture.

 

[WhiteEagle197]

Also, a tricky question. There is a feature of my present bicycle that I don't like very much. Although it has 21 speeds, they are not enough for speed. Let me explain: when I ride on a straight plain road (0% rise - we have load of them :-)) even if I move that chain on the largest cogwheel (front) and the smallest (bottom) it is still not very fast. When I reach approx. 18-20mph speed on one of those roads I feel that I have to pedal to quickly. I feel I could pedal MUCH harder and create bigger torque, but it feels awkward to pedal faster. So I would change one gear down if there was one even smaller cogwheel at the bottom (or a bigger one in front). But there isn't. So I limited to that 18-20 mph speed, why I feeld I could do 22 or even 24 if I had more cogwheels. I hope it is clear what I try to explain, I don't know the right terms/expressions. And especially don't know how to look for faster gears, what are the key words/specs. Because if I buy a bicycle that has 24 speeds it may be that it has cogwheels sized so that I can reach higher speed OR it can be that the gears just mean more fine steps between the same min. and max. transmission.

 

[WhiteEagle197]

S

Also, a tricky question. There is a feature of my present bicycle that I don't like very much. Although it has 21 speeds, they are not enough for speed. Let me explain: when I ride on a straight plain road (0% rise - we have load of them :-)) even if I move that chain on the largest cogwheel (front) and the smallest (bottom) it is still not very fast. When I reach approx. 18-20mph speed on one of those roads I feel that I have to pedal to quickly. I feel I could pedal MUCH harder and create bigger torque, but it feels awkward to pedal faster. So I would change one gear down if there was one even smaller cogwheel at the bottom (or a bigger one in front). But there isn't. So I limited to that 18-20 mph speed, why I feeld I could do 22 or even 24 if I had more cogwheels. I hope it is clear what I try to explain, I don't know the right terms/expressions. And especially don't know how to look for faster gears, what are the key words/specs. Because if I buy a bicycle that has 24 speeds it may be that it has cogwheels sized so that I can reach higher speed OR it can be that the gears just mean more fine steps between the same min. and max. transmission.

Sorry I made a few spelling typos, load=>loads, why=>while, etc

 

[NotFabian]

Tell me more details :-) Is it in good shape? How many speeds? What size wheels? Any photo maybe? Where are you located - no point if you in Scotland :-))

Scotland..? Worse(geographically)...N.Ireland.

Anyway, its 21" frame in White, i'm 6" 1" and its a perfect fit and its in great shape,2.5years old and recently serviced, new chain, cassette, cables. 18speed with compact chainset, 700cx25 wheels/tyres, carbon bar-ends, spd pedals, the only blemish is a tiny rip on the outter/bottom edge of the saddle. Having to sell cause I've been bitten by the bug and have 2 other bikes now so need to free up space.


No Pictures taken yet but if you google it it'll give you an idea.

BTW 700c is the diameter, I think it originates in France(prob way wrong there but...) basically its the most common road wheel size.

 

[WhiteEagle197]

Why are you looking for suspension on a bike for those sorts of distances? Is it all rough terrain? Suspension adds weight and on a cheaper bike, will be heavy and not very good
You'd be better off with carbon forks if you are looking for comfort on the road
The Halfords Carrera range seems pretty bullet proof and will be well within budget

Thanks - that Carrera range seems to start from around £350 (on bicycle) and all the others are well above £400, some of them even £500. Or am I looking at the wrong place?