Owd lad needing advice!

[Widge]

One thing I have noticed in the last year or two, Denis, is that bike manufacturers have cottoned on at last to the idea that riders might actually like a bike with all the speedy svelte attributes of a full on road bike combined with more rider-friendly attributes (ie. less acute geometry and etc).

I will try and find some links to the sort of bikes I'm talking about.........but they are most definitely out there now and could be just the ticket.Hie thee to a bikeshop as others have suggested and you might just find one of their ilk waiting for YOU to put yer leg over it?

 

[buggi]

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Hi Denis. I just Googled Clumber Park - it looks nice!

Something like this Cannondale hybrid bike might suit you. It is halfway between a road bike and a mountain bike so it will cope with road and offroad. The front suspension would give your dodgy wrists a bit of relief.

There are plenty of other decent hybrid bikes at about that price.

my mate has this bike but i think hers is the next model up. whatever, it's really nice. it's technically a mountain bike with big wheels like a road bike (but tough tyres). this could sway your opinion either way. if the path through the woods is very muddy, and rough, you might be better off with a mountian bike like my Scott Aspect (£499) with the smaller mountain bike wheels, as this makes it more agile. however, if the path through the woods is just more like a trail, then the big wheels will be fine, and they are better on the road. you will get to your destination much quicker. the only other thing i would say is, go for suspension by all means (softer on the wrists) but get lockable suspension so you can lock it on the road to make your bike faster/less effort.

my Scott has REALLY fat tyres which i will probably change to thinner mountain bike tyres coz they really are too fat! it has nice wide handlebars which are easy on the wrists. it's quite a heavy bike though (although this could just be because i'm used to my carbon road bike LOL).

There is plenty of similar stuff for the money, but just make sure you get one with lockable suspension and straight handle bars to ease your wrists.

 

[Biggler]

Another bike in your price bracket is a Giant Roam 2. It has disc brakes which you might not notice the benefit of (is it really only wet conditions that disc brakes perform better than V brakes? or just variable conditions?), and it has a lock out fork.

Disclaimer: I recently bought this bike and I was deciding between the Giant and a Cannondale Quick CX5. Evan's weren't arsed when I went to the shop inquiring about the Cannondale, and the local bike shop (Giant dealer) couldn't have been more helpful, so that made my mind up . I do find that I use the fork lock out more than i thought I would, and would recommend getting a bike with this feature.