Please help us to find a bike

[Monkspeed]

Hi there,

The wife and I want to take up cycling to become fitter, we are generally in good shape but just want to be more healthier.

Yesterday we went to Redbridge Cycling Centre to get a feel for cycling and have to say we really enjoyed ourselves. It is something we would like to do on a regular basis.

We rented out bikes from the centre, the bike I had was a road bike called "Giant SCR 2" in a Medium size I believe, it was a tad small for me, so probably looking for a Large size. And the seat was awful BUT I really loved this bike, the ride was so smooth and it was effortless to pedal, It had dual function brake/gear levers which pressed sideways to change up and down gears and I love this concept!

Can you recommend me something that rides similar? Unfortunately the bad news that our budget is not great, so I am looking for second hand probably. Maybe £500 for us both.

I have also been looking on the bay of e for second hand vintage Eddie Merckx bikes, these look nice but will they come with a lot of problems?

My wife is very petite, I believe the bike my wife used was a Orbea Hybrid, according to one of the workers it was a 17" frame. My wife found it a bit big for her to use, the seat was on its minimum setting and she was just about reaching the floor with tip toes!

What can you recommend for her? Do you think we should look at road bikes for her also?

Many thanks for any suggestions you may have!




EDIT: Just want to add that we did about 10ish km on our first ride in a very long time! It was really enjoyable.

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

Glad to read you enjoyed yourself, I wish you many puncture free miles...

£500 for two bikes is pretty tight: the budget says "second hand", but your inexperience says "brand new".

If you don't know what you are doing it is easy to buy a cheap, second hand bike and then pay double that to put it right; if you are buying over the internet there is an even greater risk that you'll get stung.

Back in June of this year, the magazine Cycling Plus reviewed four £500 road bikes and in conclusion wrote that "All four of these bikes will provide a positive road riding experience for the newer rider...".

They were:
- Raleigh Airlite: www.wiggle.co.uk/raleigh-airlite-100-2011/
- Revolution Continental: www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f_ProductID=12962&f_FullProductVersion=1
- Carrera TDF: www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_810707_langId_-1_categoryId_165710
- Dawes Giro 300: www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b1s6p2409

The Carrera and Revolution are "own brand" bikes, so you won't find them (new) elsewhere, but if you shop around the other two might be had for less: now is the time of year when shops clear out stock for next year's new models.

That would leave less than £200 for the other bike, which is less than most people would recommend spending on a new bike. Buy something from Tesco for that sort of money and you'll be sorely disappointed and likely put off cycling; that's assuming you're not injured by the failure of a cheap, poorly assembled component.

So you either need to save up another couple of hundred quid or take the plunge and go second hand. I assume you don't have any experienced cycling buddies to look over prospective purchases, so you could get in touch with local cycling clubs for advice and recommendations of reputable sources of bikes.

Check bike shops to see if they have taken any bikes in part exchange: likely to be cheap and fully serviced.

Here in Ipswich all the bikes that the Council finds abandoned or the Police recover but can't return are donated to a project for young adults with learning difficulties, there they are refurbished and resold.

Being neither a woman nor petite I don't speak from experience, but can't think of any reason why size alone should dictate what your Wife rides. However, I would think that with a very small frame there won't be many bikes with dropped handlebars to choose from, if that is what you mean by a "road bike".

A "hybrid" with flat handlebars, such as she rode, is fine on the road: the "hybrid" in the title refers to it being capable of light off-road use (canal tow paths etc) as well as the road.

She might also consider a mountain bike: change the knobbly tyres for road ones, and perhaps the saddle, and it'll be fine on the road.

The most important thing is to actually ride bikes and hiring them, as you have done, is a great way of trying them out: whatever feels good is the "best" bike, regardless of whatever (largely meaningless) classification the marketing men have put it in.

 

[Monkspeed]

Jimmy,

Thank you very much for taking the time to write all that!

I agree with you somewhat about dabbling with second hand bikes, I'm sure most will probably need something replacing or mending but I think I am capable of fixing them but it's a moot point as I have had a little chat with the better half and she said pretty much what you have, regarding buying new and upping the budget a bit.

Those bikes that you gave links to, all look great! Although I am not too sure about the Halfords stuff, I was in the local store recently and noticed a few discrepancies between bikes, even the same make and models but with different forks, different gears/brakes etc. Seems like whoever built them just used whatever come to hand rather than sticking to the advertised specifications... Actually there was a boy in the corner building a bike and he looked real young so maybe that explains the way some of them were built...

I like the edinborough bike's revolution but it is only available in a 56cm frame and I think that might be a tad too small for me as I am 6' 3" (32" inside leg)?
I quite like the Raleigh Airlite 100, I will show the wife and see what she thinks. It is a very reasonable price I think. Although I wouldn't be able to try it out if I bought it from Wiggle, but I would get the 59cm frame I think. Wiggle are also doing £30 off when you spend over £250 so thats great!

I want to go over to a local evans cycles store together and try out a few bikes and see what we like then go from there but I would like an idea of what sort of things to look out for.

For instance:

Road tyres, whats the difference if it is 23mm or 25mm regarding riding feel? I presume 23 is "faster" but 25 is more comfortable?
Chainset: Is a compact chainset better? Like the one the revolution and Raleigh have (34/50)?
Brake/Gear levers: I've noticed some bikes dont have the little black lever to change gear in the other direction, do these change up and down with just the brake levers when pushed both left and right? Is it easy to push outwards with the fingers?

Also, later on when I get more clued up on things, can I upgrade those bikes to better spec, say if I want carbon forks or better bearings, wheels, gears, levers etc??

Sorry for such a long reply!

Many thanks.

EDIT: Also what about the Decathlon Btwin Triban 3? £300
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-id_8167038.html

 

[HLaB]

For instance:

Road tyres, whats the difference if it is 23mm or 25mm regarding riding feel? I presume 23 is "faster" but 25 is more comfortable?
Chainset: Is a compact chainset better? Like the one the revolution and Raleigh have (34/50)?
Brake/Gear levers: I've noticed some bikes dont have the little black lever to change gear in the other direction, do these change up and down with just the brake levers when pushed both left and right? Is it easy to push outwards with the fingers?

Also, later on when I get more clued up on things, can I upgrade those bikes to better spec, say if I want carbon forks or better bearings, wheels, gears, levers etc??

Sorry for such a long reply!

Many thanks.

EDIT: Also what about the Decathlon Btwin Triban 3? £300
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-id_8167038.html

25mm is indeed more comfortable and the pros think 23mm are faster but tbh its hard to notice the difference between the two.
Compacts: I like to think I'm a strong cyclist and I ride a 38/52 compact and a 39/53 double but with larger 11-26 and 12-25 cassettes. Compact just refer to the internal bold diameter of the chainset. A compact chainset has the advantage of being able to take smaller rings like 34/50. Lower rings offer lower gears which make hill climbing easier but top speeds harder to attain, a larger cassette also offer the same but without a compromise on top speed but there is less scope to lower gears even further, its your choice base on your fitness.
Gear changing varies a bit on bikes cheaper bikes may have paddle (friction) shifters on the frame or paddle or revo (grip) shifters on the bars; they are not integrated with the brake levers (non sti). The bikes above I think all have 2300 or sora which is how you describe but that thumb shifter is only really accessible when riding on the hoods. Bikes above that have a second lever behind the brake instead (Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura Ace) and have the advantage of the gear change being reachable from the hoods and drops. To muddy the water further you also have other brands which are completely different (SRAM, double tap & Campagnolo, like Sora but designed better).
Most bike parts are upgradeable but if you are wanting to upgrade beyond wheels/ tyres you are often better having bought better in the first place.
I've not much experience of Decathlon myself but the general consensus on here is that they offer good vfm.

 

[Monkspeed]

Hi there, thanks for the reply!

I am still trying to get my head around cassettes, chains, shifters, tyres etc..

I have tried out a few Shimano 2300 shifters and to be honest I hate them, I much prefer the Tiagra style shifters so I am looking at bikes with these. I have found a second hand Giant Defy 2.5 which looks good, If I miss out on it then I think I will use Evanscycles 0% finance and just plump for a new bike for around ~£650.

I have been recommended to buy either a Felt Z95 or F95. Both look nice, maybe I might even go for a Defy 2, but that is a bit steeper price wise.
I believe the Felts come with Microshifters, haven't had experience of those but they look the same as Tiagra shifters so hopefully I will be ok!

My wife tried a few bikes out, but she is so petite that I think she will end up buying a kids bike!

Jimmy: I bought a cycling plus yesterday and they had another £500 round up! So thanks for the heads up. The Airlight came out on top again along with the Revolution.
I had a closer look at the Tdf the other day, personally I wasn't impressed, nor with its bigger brother the Virtuoso. To be honest I didn't like the lower end of the Boardman range either, they all had the horrible shifters until you got to £900 or something similar. Not much VFM in my opinion.

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

You're most welcome: most of what I know, I learned from here (and trial & error).

HLaB has covered the technical points you raised and I'd second what they wrote.

To check what gears different chainset/cassette combinations actually achieve try this page: http://www.gear-calculator.com/#.

I've no experience of Decathlon, but plenty speak well of them and for the money that looks worthy of consideration.

Microshift are a Twainese manufacturer of groupsets (like Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM). I believe they are relative newcomers and aren't that common as yet, although I do see them being offered more and more.

Giant and Defy are both respected brands and I doubt you'd be disappointed with anything from them.

It's easy to get hung-up on tech. specs. at this stage: with your budget whatever bike you buy will have compromises in one area or another, but only experience will determine if they are relevant to you.

If I was in your position I'd be considering something like the Decathlon or Raleigh, rather than blowing what was your original budget for two bikes on just the Felt or Giant.

When you are ready to upgrade in a year or so, you'll know what areas you want to spend more money on and what is marketing hype.

Yes, the Felt and Giant are "better" bikes than either the Dec. or Raleigh, but whether they are worth the extra bucks to you is another question.

I'll warrant that if you were to buy either of them, you'll soon be wondering if you shouldn't have spent a grand on something even more shiny.

I'll also warrant that you'll have more fun cycling with the Mrs on a £350 bike than on your own on a £650 one...

 

[Globalti]

Your petite wife could do worse than to have a word with Isla, the owner of Islabikes. She makes bikes that are specially sized for growing people with correctly proportioned components. We bought an Islabike for our son and it is a fantastic bike; handles beautifully and very well specced.

Here: http://www.islabikes.co.uk/

 

[Monkspeed]

Well we have finally bought our bikes but they are nothing special so don't get your hopes up!

I really wanted the Felt Z95, especially in the green/yellow colours or the Cube Streamer 2011 model, but in the end we just can't afford those at the moment so I had to bring myself back down to Earth and picked:

Btwin Triban 3 for me
Btwin Rockrider 5.0 Womens specific model for the better half.

Nothing special but for those that are interested I could upload pics and mini review if you so wish?

I also bought a Btwin cycle computer, was all set to get a fancy sigma model but the assistant said its way too much cash for what you get and recommended the btwin computer for £20 instead.

Let me see how i get on with cycling in general and if its all good then I can get something better later on.

I already flipped the stem around so its upwards slightly maybe 10-15 degrees and changed the seat for a £30 more comfy one 260gram i think.

Gonna go for a proper ride later once i fit the computer.

Cheers. Let me know if you want pics.

 

[summerdays]

How petite is your wife? There are some shorter ladies on here (but I'm a middle sized one), who may be able to say what bikes they considered.

 

[fossyant]

You won't go far wrong with Decathlon bikes. They come with a good warranty - 2 years on parts, 5 on frame. Service is good, as is value.

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

Awesome!

Yeah, let's have some pics and let us know what you both think of the bikes.

 

[Monkspeed]

summerdays: She is tiny! 4' 10". She tried some kids bikes but she said her legs felt weird, I got her to try a Triban Junior road bike but she was so scared of falling she couldn't even pedal it properly, and we settled on the Rockrider 5.0 in the end.

Fossy: Yep warranty as you have said plus anything you buy with the bike at the same time also gets a two year warranty!

I just been on a 9km ride, it's not bad bit bumpy but I love the seat, it really made it comfortable for me.

Anyway here is some pics...

Pssst, don't tell the wife I used the tray!

My first trip!

I turned the stem around, just until I get used to the riding position.

Not Tiagra style but it will do for now...

 

[Monkspeed]

The numbers don't make much sense to me but you lot will know what they mean.

I did see "Sunrace" written somewhere around here before I went out for a ride, so I assume it got wiped off...

 

[Monkspeed]

Update: Well my wife just couldn't get on with the Rockrider so we took it back today for a refund. She couldn't use the twist type shifters properly as it was hurting her thumb.

So we have now ordered a Raleigh Urban 1 2010 model for her from Wiggle in a 14" frame. Will let you all know what it's like when it comes and take some pics.

Cheers.

 

[HLaB]

I had a bike with grip shifters, I did get use to them eventually but even then they are not comfy, good luck :-)