So I'm thinking of getting a bike

[897sma]

Hi,

I'm after some advice. I've not wandered into this section before so please make allowances for a "newbie" if some of my questions seem naive.

I've not been on a bike for 30 years (now 47) and have decided I fancy giving it a try again. I'm a little overweight but go to the gym regularly and am fairly fit but thought cycling might help shift those last few extra lbs.

I visited my local specialist but to be honest felt a little intimidated by the stuff on offer. Everything seemed to be pitched at semi-pro's with bikes at many £thousands. The staff made no attempt to talk to me... I guess I didn't look like a customer. I don't trust the opinion of some employment scheme youth in Halfords either so thought I ask here.

I'm planning on fairly steady riding to begin with, some roads, canal path, country park type thing until I get into the swing. Although I live in Derbyshire so everywhere is uphill!

So where do I start? I've no idea what type of bike, how many gears, alloy/steel/carbon. I don't want a crappy thing which I'll outgrow in ability in few months but nor do I want to spend thousands in case it doesn't work out. I thought maybe up to £3-400.

What would you recommend?

Also will I need the clothes, not sure Lycra would suit my physique

[Simond S]

Bib shorts. you can wear t shirt and shorts to hide the lycra.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/pearl-izumi-attack-bib-sho...

I'm not saying you are a fattie, but most cycling stuff is measured on a little Italian man who hasn't eaten for 5 years and cycled every day of that!

Bike wise, anything that floats your boat? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/basso-loto-105-2013/ is a great bike with quality components for £1200. If that seems a lot (and it wont after a few weeks of cycling, you always wish you'd spent more) then for £650 (or 5 tanks of fuel!) you can have http://www.wiggle.co.uk/battaglin-s11-105-2013/ which is perfectly acceptable.

Anything more than this level of bike is wasted, but if you are anything like me you're quite happy being slightly over engineered. Both are better than a generic Halfords type bike shaped object.

[Disco You]

Probably the best value "entry level" road bike on the market, which gets universally great reviews is the decathlon BTwin Triban 3:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-road-bike-whit...

Good luck finding stock though

[Steve Evil]

I bought a Giant Roam 3 hybrid recently which I've been using to run into work for the past couple of weeks, similar usage to what you're planning on doing and I picked it up for £400. Ideal if you're not too sure you're going to stick with it.

That said, the bug is beginning to bite and I'm sizing up stablemates for it already, would keep this one for winter duties and as a bit of a hack.

[897sma]

Thanks for your comments so far. The Decathlon one isn't available in my size - I'm 5'10" so guessing 19" frame. What about something like this Boardman Hybrid?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

Or should I be looking at road bikes?

[Mr E]

897sma said:

Or should I be looking at road bikes?

Honestly, up to you. If you want to go out and ride for a bit of fun, a hybrid is a good thing. It's more upright and a bit less "on it".
If you want to ride more seriously, a full roadie will be faster.

Personally, I'd buy a lumbering MTB and find a wood to crash through. But I'm an idiot.

[BPC7]

You mentioned country parks in your list of where you wanted so I would have thought a hybrid would be a good starting point. It gives you the best of both worlds in that you can take it off road and also will be quick enough on the tarmac. Nothing wrong with the Boardman range IMO. Most have reasonable quality components and ride pretty well. Obviously the more you spend the better machine you will get. I personally would blow a small fortune on your first bike as you are not sure at this early stage as to where you would like to go with your cycling, either off or on road. The Mrs and I bought cheapo Halfords MTB's 2 years ago to get fit (both in our early/mid 40's), she has just bought a Boardman hybrid and I now have 2 road bikes as well and am now looking for No3

[bingybongy]

I have nothing to do with this shop

http://www.thebikeshopderby.co.uk

However I was in the same boat as you, a few weeks ago, and the blokes in there could not have been any more helpful.

I don't know where you are in Derbyshire but putting together circular routes of anything up to 40 miles is easy without going anywhere near a road.

[M777CUS]

ive recenetly bought a carrera crossfire 2 (about £280 from halfords) its a hybrid bike, i do a similar mix of riding to you (mostly road but some canal paths) and it is absolutely excellent VFM.

[nagsheadwarrior]

Seconded on the carrera hybrid.
I got a Subway 2 off tinternet for only £185 and use it daily,its good on road and easily handles a bit of off road too.
Buy one while you work out what you want then trade up to someting posher.

[M777CUS]

nagsheadwarrior said:

Seconded on the carrera hybrid.
I got a Subway 2 off tinternet for only £185 and use it daily,its good on road and easily handles a bit of off road too.
Buy one while you work out what you want then trade up to someting posher.

exactly this, buying this hybrid is giving me some time to really figure out what type of riding ill be doing, im thinking it will be more road riding so will be switching up to a road bike soon, in the interim this is an excellent piece of kit though.

[bbc]

Hi sma,

It is available in your size - you need to have a larger road bike frame. For 5'10" I would guess a 57/22.44 frame.

897sma said:

The Decathlon one isn't available in my size - I'm 5'10" so guessing 19" frame. What about something like this Boardman Hybrid?
Or should I be looking at road bikes?

the Boardman looks a good buy, just make sure that Halfords screw it together properly. I had a female colleague where I used to work who collected an mtb from Halfords and they had fitted the forks the wrong way round - this is not made up, I sorted it out.

Bingybongy suggested the Bikeshop in Derby - I agree they seem pretty good and work hard on their prices.

If you're further north, the best bike shop in the world (IMO) is Stanley Fearns in Matlock: http://stanleyfearns.co.uk/
No direct connection, but I've been using them for years - they're kind of 'Arkwrights' for bikes (but no Nurse Gladys Emanuel). I've also heard good reports about Buzz Cycles in Belper.

If you intend to do the canal paths, go for a hybrid; when you get addicted, you can decide what will suit you best, then buy your road and/or mtb. If you want to borrow an mtb to try out, I have an old one knocking around that would fit you.

Andy

[rst99]

I am not clued up enough to tell you which bike to buy , but in my experience Gumtree and Ebay are great places to buy. I got an as new 1 year old £800 bike for £350. It seems there are a lot of 'bike to work' bikes coming on to the 2nd hand market for buttons.

[897sma]

The feedback has been great guys thanks. I'm in Chesterfield so Matlock or Derby are close by so I'll call at the two recommended. Also checked Decathlon at Nottingham and they have a Triban 3 in my size in stock so will pop over and try it out. So many choices already, this is harder than choosing a car

[bingybongy]

Much harder.

[bbc]

Just another thought - I guess you went to James'?

These guys are fairly new on Old Road/Chatsworth Road:

http://www.pelicancycles.co.uk/

[blugnu]

Decathlon Sheffield seemed pretty well stocked with bikes the other day, and it's not far from the new-ish and large Evans, or the Edinburgh Co-Op.

[donfisher]

897sma said:

Also checked Decathlon at Nottingham and they have a Triban 3 in my size in stock so will pop over and try it out.

If you do look at the Triban3 please could you let us know if it no longer has a carbon fork or if they've just forgot to mention it in the spec. I've seen a few about and can't tell if it's carbon or not - there's a section that looks like carbon but could just be a sticker.

Thanks

Don

[y2blade]

rst99 said:

I am not clued up enough to tell you which bike to buy , but in my experience Gumtree and Ebay are great places to buy. I got an as new 1 year old £800 bike for £350. It seems there are a lot of 'bike to work' bikes coming on to the 2nd hand market for buttons.

This^^^^ but just Ebay not Gumtree (Gumtree seems to be full of people that are hard to deal with).

I paid £300 for my year old £775 bike.

[nadger]

I bought a new hybrid bike recently. Money is tight, and I don't cycle that much, so I bought the cheapest one they had. It's called a diamond back courier, and it set me back £200. It's actually very good (although you have to understand the bike it replaced was about 20 years old and cheap when bought!). I'd recomend one if budget is a consideration!