Manchester to Blackpool bikeride

[Gazlights]

Hello Everyone! My second post at Cyclechat! looks like a busy forum!

I'm fairly new to cycling and have only ever had a Claude Butler bike in my early teens! I used to love that bike but unfortunately it was given away to my sister when i moved to university.

Looking for some advice as i have recently and stupidly volunteered myself to do the Manchester to Blackpool bikeride for Christies cancer charity next month. I've not been at the peak of fitness for a couple of years now so that combined with my mother being diagnosed with cancer i have decided to get fit and raise some money for charity. I've already embarked on a fitness programme.

Now it comes to buying a bike....
i don't really want a road bike as i am likely to use it off road.
I've been told to get one with front suspension
comfortable
£300-350 budget
decent amount of gears

These are the ones i've looked at but any suggestions or advice you may have would be brilliant!
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...208956#reviews

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/...-bike-ec017060


Thanks

 

[fossyant]

The Felt is a nicer bike. You may want to budget slicks in for the Manchester Blackpool - off road tyres are hard work.

 

[punkypossum]

Suspension at that price is not going to be great - how much offroading are you planning on doing?

 

[RedBike]

Now it comes to buying a bike....
i don't really want a road bike as i am likely to use it off road.
I've been told to get one with front suspension
comfortable
£300-350 budget
decent amount of gears

It all depends on where you plan to ride!
Front suspension helps if you're riding quickly on very rough terrain off-road. Otherwise you're probably better off without it. Its will sap your power and add a lot of additional weight to the bike for virtually no benefit. Suspension forks cannot react quick enough to absorb vibration so somewhat irronically a good carbon fork is often more comfortable on smoother surfaces. The trouble is nearly every bike will have suspension forks as it's seen as a sort of must have item for MTBs.

Likewise the larger volume tyres with more aggressive tread patterns, as found on MTBs are great when you need grip to cope with harsh off-road environments; but they're seriously draggy and slow when it comes to the road.