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[bauldbairn]

Just signed up today and need some help on picking a bike.

Currently having researched on line these are the short listed options given my £400/450 ish budget.

Can anyone advise on any of these or how to really get to test a bike befre buying???

Firstly rsanso, Hello and Welcome to the forums.

Secondly, you'll get a better response to your request for info if you post this in "Beginners" or "Cafe." This bit of the forum is just to get your first post in. The moderators/admin will probably() move it for you.

Don't know where you live but Edinburgh Bicycle Coop(they have shops outside Edinburgh too!) offer good value for money - over some of the brand names you've mentioned. As do Decathalon. EBC have reasonably well trained knowledgeable staff and will allow test rides - they also have 15% off till midnight on Monday(they regularilly have sales - approx every 3 months).

Good luck.

 

[cnb]

Another newby.

Hello, Another addition to the site. I live and work in tyne and wear and mainly cycle on the old railway lines in the area (No great lover of traffic)...

 

[philbrown]

hello one and all can any one give me advice on b&b's along the leeds and liverpool canal as close as pos

 

[OFFROAD RIDER]

Hello. Im steve from devon and have just got back into mountain biking after a break of 8 long years. My fitness is slowly coming back even though ive only had it a month. Hope to chat to you soon

 

[Norm]

Greetings, Steve, lovely part of the world to have as your playground.

 

[petern]

New member.

Hello everybody, I've just joined yesterday. I live in Dublin city, and love cycling, especially after a week in the office. I have a Dawes audex supreme bike. I want to ride Dublin to London via Holyhead this summer,traveling very light, 4 days I hope? so will be looking for advice. Hope the weather gets better, its terrible in Ireland.
All the best, Peter (new member)

 

[bauldbairn]

Hello, Another addition to the site.

hello one and all

Hello. Im steve from devon

Hello everybody, I've just joined yesterday. I live in Dublin city, and love cycling, especially after a week in the office. All the best, Peter

Welcome one and all to the Cycle Chat forums.

May I be as bold as to suggest you post a small intro to yourselves on the Welcome Mat.
Click on "Welcome Mat" above - then on "New Topic" at the bottom of the page - and you'll get a thread all to yourself.

Good luck to you all! Once the weather improves the cycling will be a lot less effort and the miles will just roll by.

All the best from central Scotland.

 

[BrumJim]

IMHO 5 mins out of 30 is a big increase, and the determining factor is probably biological, not mechanical. Depends on a few things about your current arrangement though:
-a lighter bike is often quicker to stop and start, but tops out at a very similar speed to a heavy one. Unless your route has a lot of climbs or stop lights, I don't think you'll see much difference here.
-a more reliable and efficient bike will allow you push with greater confidence, and may slightly increase your top end speed.
-a new bike almost always yields some improvement, just because you ride it more and push harder.

I'm assuming your current bike is reasonably fit for purpose, but if its really bad, you could get 5 mins here.

Then there are the special multipliers of 'fit' (is the saddle height correct?) 'cleat' (are you clipless?) and footing (are you on road tyres?).
If any of those is a no, you can expect significant gains, but they won't necessarily require a new bike.

To put it in perspective, I have 2 bikes I use on a regular 17 mile very hilly commute. Both are mechanically sound, both have cleats, both run road tyres. One is super lightweight (for its kind) and is set up for racing. The other is 8kgs heavier and is a very comfortable tourer.
When I only had the heavy one, my average speed was 12 mph. Including time lost to lights and traffic, the journey took around 90 mins. After I bought the new one, I slowly got the average up to 15+ and could do it in an hour and ten. 6 months later and iit takes an hour an five, on *either*.

The main difference has been my fitness. The new bike was a fun way to improve that, but wasn't directly responsible for any of the gain.

Anyway, this is just my experience. There are some lovely machines out there, and I'm always a fan of n+1.

Used my new cycle computer for the first time today, and pleased to announce that I HAVE chopped 5 minutes off my commuting time. Four factors - the first two are the better bike and better body. Having one encouraged me to get the other. Second factor is that the bike computer does not count waiting time. However I had a very clean run this morning and hardly stopped at all. The fourth factor was that I took the main roads rather than combined usage cycle path and canal towpath. Again, I only do this as I cycle in every day and like the variety and avoid the more rural route when it is wet. But on the positive side, I didn't have a following wind.
Average speed of 16.7 mile/h over just less than 6 miles. So I'm happy now.

 

[missgeorgieo]

Hey, hope everyone's enjoying the spring like weather :-)
Just got my hybrid bike about two months ago & really enjoying it (when it's not raining!). I'm finally cracking the many hills round here, happily one of them is a nice 15min downhill from my mum's to my house- great fun!
Hoping to do a bit of girly bike decorating soon- on the hunt for a dress guard, mud guards & chain case & paint them up all pretty.

 

[ace]

hello every one

thanks for the welcome

 

[ace]

hi shaun

new post thanks for the welcome

 

[Pixie]

Hi to all
My name is Pixie and live in the deep south of New Zealand in a place called Invercargill. Decided to do something crazy like Lejog and am wondering what I have let myself in for!! Under duress from my partner Gary obviously!! We intend to start biking 1 July from Lands End. Looking for lot of advice and anything that will help our trip easier. So if anybody out there has got some useful websites or any info they would like to share it would be great. I have many questions!!!

 

[Norm]

Hey, Pixie, welcome.

I saw your post in the LEJoG thread, hope that you get some good advice. I have little that I can offer, although I do live pretty close to Heathrow so can offer somewhere to crash for your first / last night if you are travelling through there.

 

[Konstantine]

Hi! I'm new here! I've been commuting to work on my bike for about 3 years now.

I love my bike, love cycling to work! I ride a geared hybrid at the moment, she's an awesome bike but I keep have fixie-envy! Not sure if my legs could cope with fixed gear up Camden Road though...that hill goes on forever!

 

[Downhills]

Hi All
Newbie to this site, just got back into cycling after a big break - finally bit the bullet after years of the London Underground. Amazing - love it, now I want to do some longer runs on the weekend. just taken posession of a lovely Brian Rourke steel frame, and want to build up to a road bike. Any advice appreciated, but thinking of 7 speed Shimano Arabesque set up, seems a shame to make it a fixed speed. If anyone is selling a groupset (any type) let me know - I'll check classifieds as well. glad to be on board
Cheers, Downhills