First 'Adult' bike advice

[caelite]

Looking for some pointers. I'm moving house soon and with that I will have the opportunity to cycle to work whilst the weather is nice.

I've been glancing at bikes but I have regrettably stumbled across many hobbyist sites explaining every minute detail of frame design and material, gearing etc etc etc. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and actually have found I find it all very interesting. Whilst the info has all been very useful it has somewhat laid waste to my plan of just wandering into my local Halfords and given them a hundred of my beer coupons for something with 2 wheels.

However the same enthusiast reviews I have read really only cover new bikes. I would be more than open to a used bike provided they offer more bang for buck.

Basically my criteria would be a upper budget for around £250 for something with a 'sportive' type riding position and a nice beginner (fit-ish guy in his 20s) gearset and seat etc.

Any advice welcome.
Caelite

[anonymous-user]

ebay and gumtree are your friends on this IME

what size do you need and approximately where are you? happy to post a few examples with comments to help you narrow down your search

[caelite]

I'm 5"9, in Scotland

[shouldbworking]

How far away is work? what sort of surfaces would that be on - road? dirt? need to carry anything in?

[caelite]

About 2 miles. Mainly crumbly Scottish roads, and a shared foot/cycle path. Don't tend to carry anything that wouldn't fit in my pockets.

[pozi]

Will you have somewhere safe to store it at work only the sad reality is anything which looks desirable will go missing in a heartbeat?

For what its worth I have a Halfords Carrera Axle (Parva is the same bike) as my "Station Bike" and they regularly drop in price to around £160.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/hybrid-bikes...

Dull to look which blends in with the general bike tat commuters use but actually rolls along nicely and is reasonably light. Just swap the quick release wheel skewers for security jobs.

[Mr Ted]

I would look at a Brand X from Wiggle, I bought one for £250 to use on a turbo trainer and it actually is a perfectly good bike , Shimano 14 speed, Aluminium frame, even the supplied saddle was comfy!

Wiggle ask for all your measurements and the bike was supplied set up, it was perfect, I didn't have to change anything.

[sjg]

Can't really go wrong with a s/h Giant Defy for that money. Look for a medium size (Giant don't go in cm/in) at your height. There are dozens for sale at any given time.

[13aines]

I bought a second hand 5-mile old 2017 Giant Contend 2 for £225 last year. Would be ideal.

Mine is a large, i'm 5' 11.5". I could probably ride the M/L size comfortably too.