Hi newbie here!
I am not really a beginner (54yrs old or young depending on how cheesy you can stand it!) as I used to ride a bike all the time about 40 years ago!
But over the last few years I have piled on the pounds and am heartily sick of the whole gym rip off, so about two years ago I decided to get back on my bike and loved it so much I now get up at 05.45am most morning to get an hour or so in before leaving for work
I currently ride a specialized hard rock sport disc, I have changed the huge fat knobblies to reflect the kind of riding I tend to do mostly road with a weekly trip along my local country park riverbank trail and the odd rough bit of road and that’s about as rough as offroad as I go.
The traffic from where I live in the Woodford area to Blackheath has got really bad of late, so I thought I would move on from my daily hour to hour and a half, before work sessions, to commuting the 30 mile round trip initially three times a week and see how my knees hold up.
The Specialized was a nice starter bike and has served me well; however I now realise I should have bought a hybrid in the first place but that’s the price I have paid for being seduced by all those lovely gears springy forks and changer thingys!
I have started looking around for my next bike and like the Whyte Stirling part of their 2011 R7 fast Urban range.
However I have no experience of Whyte as a manufacturer (although the one person I have spoken to says they are top notch) and the components they use so I would welcome some others views
Can anyone suggest alternatives that may be out there? I do know I don’t want another “heavy Bike” so the 20lb of the Stirling is a maximum weight. and I want hydraulic brakes they just out perform any others I have used and 28in Wheels.
I don’t know if I qualify as a beginner or a slowly improving in-betweeny I am never going to be a Merx or a Contador either!
I am not really a beginner (54yrs old or young depending on how cheesy you can stand it!) as I used to ride a bike all the time about 40 years ago!
But over the last few years I have piled on the pounds and am heartily sick of the whole gym rip off, so about two years ago I decided to get back on my bike and loved it so much I now get up at 05.45am most morning to get an hour or so in before leaving for work
I currently ride a specialized hard rock sport disc, I have changed the huge fat knobblies to reflect the kind of riding I tend to do mostly road with a weekly trip along my local country park riverbank trail and the odd rough bit of road and that’s about as rough as offroad as I go.
The traffic from where I live in the Woodford area to Blackheath has got really bad of late, so I thought I would move on from my daily hour to hour and a half, before work sessions, to commuting the 30 mile round trip initially three times a week and see how my knees hold up.
The Specialized was a nice starter bike and has served me well; however I now realise I should have bought a hybrid in the first place but that’s the price I have paid for being seduced by all those lovely gears springy forks and changer thingys!
I have started looking around for my next bike and like the Whyte Stirling part of their 2011 R7 fast Urban range.
However I have no experience of Whyte as a manufacturer (although the one person I have spoken to says they are top notch) and the components they use so I would welcome some others views
Can anyone suggest alternatives that may be out there? I do know I don’t want another “heavy Bike” so the 20lb of the Stirling is a maximum weight. and I want hydraulic brakes they just out perform any others I have used and 28in Wheels.
I don’t know if I qualify as a beginner or a slowly improving in-betweeny I am never going to be a Merx or a Contador either!
