Clueless and looking for advice

[Mushroomgodmat]

Hi All,

A few years back I had my really nice simple, cheep bike stolen, my insurance company replaced it with the next best thing they had - in this case a somewhat chunky, heavy, over complicated Giant mountain bike. And while theres nothing wrong with it, iv never once taken it down a mountain, or used 1/10th of its gears, and i find it to heavy etc!

So, with the summer looming im thinking about selling my current bike and buying a new, upto date road bike.

What Im after, something lighter than my current bike, something with less that 21 gears (can you buy bikes with 3-5 gears), thinner frame (current bike built like a tank), and something thats all togther more simple.

Im 6.1ft, ill be using it to bike 12 miles a day (to and from work) on mostly roads/bike paths. I have around £500 to spend.

Any advice would be great, iv never known a great deal about bikes (makes or styles), and I hate going to a shop being totaly clueless, and loosing sight of what i want due to the many options.

 

[accountantpete]

Hi MGM and welcome.

For starters you have the choice between a "hybrid" or a "Road Bike".

Hybrids have flat bars, bigger tyres and have some off-road capability - so they are a bit slower on the road but are more flexible in their use.

Road bikes tend to be more speed orientated and more at home on the road although they are well built and will take some off road use especially if you fit wider tyres. The best bet for starters is a compact chainset to keep things simple.

 

[Mushroomgodmat]

Cheers pete, I think (looking on the net) that a hybrid bike is the best option. I live out in the sticks, but 6 miles from a city, so there would be some light of road cycling combined with a lot of town/road. So with that in mind something that's more general sounds like a good bet