What would you get with £600

[bakester69]

Hi,
I have recently decided to start cycling with the aim of commuting in the near future if possible. I have signed up to a cycle to work scheme and so have £600 to spend in halfords. Now as this is my first road bike, i need to buy everything with that £600 so please could people recomend a shopping list for me.
Thanks

 

[ed_o_brain]

From Halfords?

I'd look at a Boardman bike. You say a Road bike, so does that mean with dropped handlebars? The Boardman road bikes won't take mudguards and my first choice would be for a dropped handle bar road bike that can take mudguards and possibly a rack.

Halfords do say they will order in any bike you like, so I would start looking at alternatives, but before you do that, maybe appraise the Carerra Roadbikes. The Vanquish does look like a reasonable specification for this year and also has the provision for mudguards.

That said, if you are happy with flat bars, I've heard many recommendations for the Boardman hybrid range.

 

[Marin Maniac]

I've just bought a 2nd hand Boardman Comp 08 road bike and cannot begin to say how much better it is that the Marin hybrid I've been using for the last few months.

 

[bakester69]

I think i want drop handlebars yes and i was looking at spending around £500 to allow £100 for accessories. It needs to be in halfords but i dont know what i need at all!!

 

[Dave5N]

Helmet, gloves, waterproof jacket. Shoes. Glasses. Lights. Pump. Multitool. Spare tubes. Tyre levers unless pump/multitool doubles up.

Overshoes. Earwarmers. decent lock.

ETC etc

Gonna cost you more than £100.

 

[jimboalee]

The only accessory you need to start with are a good pair of padded shorts. Halfords are ill equiped here, so £30 of your own money might be in order.
I have Lusso Coolmax Pro Gel. I buy them two pairs at a time cus of commuting every day.

If you are new to cyling, don't ride to work in the dark until you are confident of fixing a puncture under streetlights. If you are confident of this, a decent pair of lamps is the next item. Halfords have an own-brand Highpower LED about £35 with rear included.

As you get fitter, your commute will turn into an obsession and you will start buying the clothing and kit for longer rides.

So yes, £500 bike, £100 kit.

 

[Arch]

If you are new to cyling, don't ride to work in the dark until you are confident of fixing a puncture under streetlights.

I think that's a bit OTT. If the worst happens, one can walk home, if it's not miles and miles.

Certainly, get confident with fixing punctures and other repairs, but knowing how to change to a spare tube is enough, if you carry one.

Dave's list seems about right. Overshoes and earwarmers are a bit much for me, but it depends how long your ride is. Shoes and glasses are also not my style, depends on your style of bike and pedals (you don't absolutely need special shoes to start with).

Choice of lights and so on might be affected by what your commute is like - all in streetlit town, or some in unlit lanes. Do you need lights mainly to see by, or be seen by? (Those that do the first, will do the second, but not necessarily the other way round.)

The main purchase is lock, because if that's not good enough and you lose the bike, the whole lot is useless. Get a good one.

Then lights/repair kit/spares.

Helmet, if you wish.

 

[jimboalee]

There are some guidelines here.

It takes 20 minutes to push a bike 1 mile.
It takes 15 minutes to change a tube in the dark.
It takes 5 minutes to ride 1 mile.

So if you are LESS than 1 mile away, walk it. Further than 1 mile, fix the tube and ride.
At 1.5 miles away in the dark in a howling blizzard, I'd walk.

 

[banger]

I'd spent the 600 on the bike and buy the accessories bit by bit when you have the cash,

 

[goo_mason]

I got Halfords to order in a Giant SCR2 for me last April on the Bike2Work scheme - that was £545. I also got 15% of the value of the bike FREE to spend on accessories, and when I was there picking up the bike Halfords had another 'free gear' offer on so I ended up with over £100 to spend on bits'n'bobs !

(A tip though - be ready to spend some time readjusting any bike Halfords build for you, as they tend to slap them together very quickly and sometimes even incorrectly. I've had two bikes on Bike2Work now over the years, and both have needed some major work to get them set up properly when I got home.)

 

[Arch]

Oh, and my answer to the OP would be:

"about 1200 Creme Eggs...."

 

[LondonCommuter]

If its similar to the deal I got my first bike on, you should also get 10% worth of kit "free". Check with whoever runs for the scheme, as it didn't happen automatically in my case and I had to ask for the extra. If you can still pick up sale stuff (check on line) then you could do very well for £600+ a possible extra £60. I'm happy with my Boardman Urban Comp - its a straight handlebar hybrid but will take mudguards and a rack.

 

[Dave5N]

Oh, and my answer to the OP would be:

"about 1200 Creme Eggs...."

Jesus Arch, you'll really need to learn to haggle for a bulk discount. Should at least get yerself 1,600

 

[Arch]

Jesus Arch, you'll really need to learn to haggle for a bulk discount. Should at least get yerself 1,600

 

[aqaleigh]

ref op

I'm fairly sure if you look around you'll be able to get 600 shiny £1 coins