What bike? Commute includes Ditchling Beacon.

[Fume troll]

swerni said:

That's just what I thought I did.

Since then,I've replaced
The Frame
The wheels
The group set
The Saddle
One of the shifters

and a few other bits

but that's part of the fun!

Cheers,

FT.

[OneDs]

swerni said:

That's just what I thought I did.

Since then,I've replaced
The Frame
The wheels
The group set
The Saddle
One of the shifters

and a few other bits

SO you have the pedals, shoes, stem, bars, headset, bar tape, seat post & clamp, tires & tubes left to upgrade! Get moving!

[dubbs]

okgo said:

The profile is identical you berk, that's what I said.

True... apparently Bradley Wiggins loops round it 6 times every Sunday in preparation for the alps...

[dubbs]

okgo said:

Really? Just getting into a good position without peddaling assuming no headwind would see you to 45 at least I think.

Cycling with a normal double and you'll get over 50mph easily

[HundredthIdiot]

This thread is a bit mad.

OP, to answer your original question...

Yes, the bike you linked to looks like exactly the right sort of thing. It has bottom-end Shimano components (2300), but they're reputedly reliable enough and shouldn't cause you any problems. Wheels are usually a weak spot on cheap bikes, and may go out of true, but upgrading those is normal and not terribly expensive (£100 or so) if you end up needing to do this.

Importantly, the gearing is reasonable (50/34 "compact" crankset), 12/25 cassette. This gives you an easiest gear of 34-25. If that proves problematic, you can go up to about 27 or 28 on the cassette before you may need to change your rear derailleur to one with a longer cage and more capacity.

If you don't cycle regularly and/or are heavy you will probably struggle with Ditchling Beacon to begin with, even on that gearing, but your budget is pretty tight. Maybe start out doing it three days a week (Mon,Wed,Fri) to give yourself a chance to recover.

If you had a fair bit more to spend you could get something much lighter and nicer. A Canyon Roadlite 5.0, for instance...

http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=21...

...is all the bike you'd ever need, although I've heard they might have stock issues at the moment.

The most important thing is that the bike fits you. If you get one the wrong size you'll never be comfortable.

[neilski]

swerni said:

2. Get a bike with a SRAM apex group set they do an 11-32 that will actually give you the same Span of ratios as a triple.

But the problem with such a wide spread of ratios is the massive jumps between the gears. One minute you find your legs spinning just a little bit faster than you'd like, change up a gear and you find you have to really mash the pedals to maintain your speed....drop back down, spin....change back up, mash....bugger. It would be like having a car with a six speed box but only having 1st, 3rd, 5th & 6th available.

Anyway, a 32T sprocket on a road bike? He said Ditchling Beacon not the Scanuppia.

[HundredthIdiot]

neilski said:

But the problem with such a wide spread of ratios is the massive jumps between the gears. One minute you find your legs spinning just a little bit faster than you'd like, change up a gear and you find you have to really mash the pedals to maintain your speed....drop back down, spin....change back up, mash....bugger. It would be like having a car with a six speed box but only having 1st, 3rd, 5th & 6th available.

I tend to agree with this (which is my I like prefer triples) but I think we've all become a bit spoilt by 10 and 11sp cassettes.

I believe in the 7 speed days people used to race on 13-23 cassettes, with a maximum gap of 13.3% (15-17). The gaps on an 11-32 Apex cassette are not that much worse, apart from the 18.2% jump from 11-13.

Campag 11sp has the option of a nice 12-29 cassette (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 29) which with a compact chainset would get over anything, but the cheapest Athena bike is probably the Canyon Ultimate AL 8.0 at €1500, which is about 200% over budget.

[okgo]

My gf's bike has this on it...

I've yet to have a go, but having seen her go up hills at probably 2 mph its quite a funny thing!

http://www.discountbicycles.co.uk/biz/product.php?...

[OneDs]

HundredthIdiot said:

This thread is a bit mad.

OP, to answer your original question...

Apologies to the OP, I feel I'm partially to blame for the madness in the thread.

As everyone has suggested your best option is basically a good light hybrid or road bike with a triple up front or failing that a compact double with a wide range rear cassette.

[neilski]

HundredthIdiot said:

I believe in the 7 speed days people used to race on 13-23 cassettes, with a maximum gap of 13.3% (15-17).

One of my bikes still has a 13-21 7 speed cassette (13-14-15-16-17-19-21). Nothing like having to actually put a bit of effort in to get over the summit of a climb, not like nowadays with these newfangled triple chainsets and compacts and whatnot. Cyclists these days, they don't know they're born, it would never have happened in my day etc etc.

[bga]

DJC, if you want to try out a cyclocross bike the I'm not far from you (Haywards Heath) & you are more than welcome to have a go on mine. It's an XL frame so if you are 6' or over then will fit.

My Sunday morning ride usually takes me to the base of the Beacon & most of the time I turn around and go home via Buggers Hill!

[anonymous-user]

What about one of these for £579? :-

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/specialedition.asp?a...

Choice of gear ratios, mudguards to make it a practical year round commuter, not too aggressive geometry so comfortable day in day out...

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 28th July 21:26

[IroningMan]

okgo said:

Really? Just getting into a good position without peddaling assuming no headwind would see you to 45 at least I think.

It's not fun if it's not fifty...

[IroningMan]

swerni said:

You keep telling yourself that granddad

'Let him who is without sin hair cast the first stone.'