Dracoro

Need to get a bike (mountain bike style) for commute to work (2/3 miles, busy roads, bumps everywhere, urban type thing so not a weedy racing bike/town things).

Budget £150/£200 ideally.

What makes are better? Only one I 'trust' are Raleigh as I've had them as a kid, as did my brother and loads of others and they were sturd things on the whole. However, these days there are so many more manufacturers about so which ones are good and which ones not so good for the budget I specified? I'm 15 stone or so, so something well built will be good although clearly not the level needed for mountain trekking that needs extra sturdity.

Want front suspension and front disc brakes ideally?

Help, as sick of almost being able to walk faster than my local buses!

ADP

in all fairness youll only get a fairly basic bike for that money from a reputable shop try

http://www.evanscycles.com/
http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk

as a start

you can have disks, suspension and all the rest from crappy car parts shop or some such but it will be tatt.

^OPM^

why do u want front suspension and disc's on that price bike-as above they will be no good and will just make ur bike even heavier.
For on the road normal solid forks and normal rim brakes are more then good enough.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Get road tyres as well, not knobblies - better road grip and less rolling resistance.

decepticon

i swear by my trusty (not rusty!!) old claude butler. very reliable and built in britain
try a urban hybrid bike ideally-its a mix of larger lighter frame with thinner and bigger wheels. easier ride than a mountain bike but lots more comfy than a racing one.
defo no need for disc brakes as cheap ones are problematic and waste of time imo
you'll do well to not get front fork suspension as its virtually standard now.
hi vis jacket and good bash hat are also recommended
try to scrape together a bigger budget-it will pay off in the end
neil

Dracoro

points taken. I was told disc brakes work better in the wet. Suspension: I'm not a light chap so would have thought all my weight on just the wheels/tyres would have meant that suspension would ensure less risk of buckling & tyre damage?

Tyres don't bother me as I can always have two sets (knobbly and non knobbly)? I'd like the flexibility of taking the bike away for some countryside cycling although not very often. Commute is only 2/3 miles so would have thought semi-knobby would be ok?

I saw this in halfords..

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...tegoryrn_55069

Are they a good make/bike?

Also sat on some cheap apollo thing.

Also sat on th following raleigh which seemed sturdy enough.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...tegoryrn_38308

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Where are you? If in London or area with cycle couriers, see what they use. Those with mtbs will use smooth tyres or at least the majority will. By all means have 2 sets, I do, but I use the smoothies for my daily cycle ride on roads and tbh with such a short commute, in the long run will save you a bit of grief/effort.

Much the same with the rest of the bike - its for commuting. Keep it simple and get something special for play time. Normal centrepulls will stop you fine in the wet and for £200 all in, any chasis will be robust enough (read heavy) to absorb a fair bit of punishment on the daily commute.

imlach

You could do worse than this....

http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/c...l.cfm?ID=22637

Quality where it matters, and no suspension/disk brakes which are not necessary for commuting.

Abdabz

You could do a lot worse than that Carerra fella, namley the appollo one The bike on the link will work perfectly for your needs.
I took up cycling again after 10 years away about 4 years ago (Im 32 now) and I started at Halfrauds where I bought a Saracen bike for £200 that should have been £300 (Traverse from memory). As long as you service it at least once a year it will do you fine.
I had mine off road down Winter Hill at 30mph, cross country in Wester Ross and kept up with my mate on his £1000 hand made jobby round Delamere Forest etc. The only notable difference being my chain would pop off under severe stress from time to time...
I eventually upgraded to a £500 Claud Butler Cape Wrath last summer and gave the Saracen to a mate - its still going strong!!
P

SiPie

<Apologies for thread hi-jack>

Imlach

How's things...?

You still doing the old commute...?

Not long started the Penicuik to Edinburgh commute due to the Edinburgh council and their parking restrictions (fair enough) and thoroughly enjoying it...ok so the snow hasn't started yet

27 minutes Penicuik -> Edinburgh
36 minutes Edinburgh -> Penicuik

Oh the joy of Liberton Brae

Would love to use a road bike but the state of the cycle lanes....especially the hidden pot-holes when full of water makes the Cannondale mtb with road tyres pumped up to 60psi seem the best compromise ....

Good old 20 miles a day keeps the old knees fit

KiwiGTI

This would be the cheapest I'd look at : (2005 Giant Terrago)

http://shop.devercycles.co.uk/images/prod_1457.jpg
http://www.devercycles.co.uk/buy-roa...aram=MB/GNT/05

Giant are also one of the best brands too.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

IIRC, no "British" biles are now made in Britain. the best you'll get will be a taiwanese frame with SOME components added over here. Dawes and Claud Butler used to be made down the road from me in Brigg, as did Falcon, but I reckon none are made there now:9

Have a look at Halfords own brand, Carrera, for decent VFM.

Alcazar

corradoboy

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/offers.php?cat=1

Dracoro

Right, kinda limited to something I can see/try locally so some internet one ok but can't see them in the flash.

So, trip to Evanscycles has them bringing in 3 for me to see later this week (in stock but not at my local branch)...

Trek Navigator100
Ridgeback Motion
Raleigh Voyager (last in list but thought I'd throw it in as a wildcard)

All £200 (my absolute max). Whichever 'wins' when I try them later this week wins my money

vindaloo

That £200 will snowball with regular use, I'm afraid.

Though I think you're trying to do it right and get something "not road focused".

Using it every day, things will wear out. Very much worth asking questions based around servicing and availability of parts.

Dunno whether suspension is a good idea with that budget, either.

J.

imlach

Sadly not at the moment, due to having to work in FIFE of all places for the next 10 weeks

The place of work in question doesn't have showers as far as I know, so out goes the cycling for a wee while Fecking financial institutions

Sounds like you're doing some good times on the Penicuik route though.

SiPie

It's just so wind dependant

Can easily add another 10 mins on........guess I'm one of the sad ones who also stops for red lights, pedestrian crossings and other such silly things, so I guess that adds some time on....

lol..

Never mind, once your 10 weeks are up, we'll be starting winter and you'll be ready to go again

Cheers