I wanna a new bike: Hybrid or Mountain bike?

EvilMonkey

billy_the_kid wrote:

I feel that the current trend for disc brakes is a fashion over form trend. For most rider's (competition excepted) V brakes will be more than adequate. They are also less complicated and lighter. I can easily lock up both wheels with mine.

I would say that as someone who's gone from V's to discs the difference is ASTOUNDING. I had a set of cane creek's direct curve V's, supposedly pretty good, and I thought they were...

A season of muddy rides and burning out pads after 2 days (mud \ rims \ brakes don't mix well...) and some scary brakeless hills meant an upgrade was due. As soon as I got them on the difference is obvious. I feel so much more confident with them now. Even commuting I notice them. I can tail a car safe in the knowledge that at almost any speed and situation I can brake quicker and with more control.

Having bought a road bike recently with cantilever brakes I really see the benefit of the discs. I have to be far more aware of my braking capabilities, with the discs I just didn't need to think...

That said they are expensive (these are the hydro's), I think the minimum you'll pay is £150 + fitting... If the V's seem ok to you now then stick with them.

One other site where a lot of MTB \ commuters hang out is the forums at www.singletrackworld.com

On the net vs local, I'd agree with those who say stay local. I bought a bike off the net (discount bikes I think, a v lurid green site). When a part failed within warranty they refused to replace it. I ended up having to pay them to fix it (as I'd schlepped all the way over to their warehouse to get it sorted to save on postage \ time). I talked to my local place who told me that they'd have sorted it, mainly as they NEED the customer service reputation in the local community. Websites don't... All in all, I'm about £10 worse off for buying it online vs my local.

Hope this helps

E.M.

alkip

Hybrid no, sorry just no. Specialized would be my recommendation and you should easily find one within your budget.

As for brakes cable operated discs are better but far more costly, than V's and without going the whole hog for hydraulic disc brakes I think you'd be as well to stick to V's.

Of course regardless of costs it has to be something that you like, is comfortable, reliable and of a decent quality.

Hope whatever you get fills all of these criteria.

cheghead

https://www.cyclesmart.co.uk

billy_the_kid_2

alkip wrote:

Hybrid no, sorry just no. Specialized would be my recommendation and you should easily find one within your budget.

would love to know why you wouldnt recommend a hybrid. My sons full susp 24" moutain bike weighs a ton compaired to mine.

If most of the op's journey is on good surfaces, I cant see where they would need a MTB

EvilMonkey

billy_the_kid wrote:

would love to know why you wouldnt recommend a hybrid. My sons full susp 24" moutain bike weighs a ton compaired to mine.

If most of the op's journey is on good surfaces, I cant see where they would need a MTB

Obviously I'm not the poster against a hybrid, but just to clarify, there is a stage between dual suspension and hybrid, a front suspension bike (or hardtail). In my opinion this is where the choice should be, as another poster pointed out, full suss bikes only really start to be any good at £500+ where as £400 should see you with a reasonable starter hardtail.

alkip

billy_the_kid wrote:

would love to know why you wouldnt recommend a hybrid. My sons full susp 24" moutain bike weighs a ton compaired to mine.

If most of the op's journey is on good surfaces, I cant see where they would need a MTB

Just my opinion, my specialized front susp (hardtail), V brakes MB is superb and cost £300

BlueVinney

Check out you're local tchibo store (if you've got one). Their latest advertising booklet shows a hybrid with aluminium (I guess alloy) frame for £199. Their stuff is usually very good quality, their website is https://www.tchibo.co.uk and hit the 'Coming Soon' button. Surprisingly couldn't find the bike on the web although everything else was there. At least you can find your nearest store 'Shop Locator' at bottom.

Lorian

EvilMonkey wrote:

...there is a stage between dual suspension and hybrid, a front suspension bike (or hardtail). In my opinion this is where the choice should be, as another poster pointed out.

Ive looked at the differences with a hardtail. It seems the hybrids generally have:

higher/wider gearing
shorter travel on the front suspension
larger wheels
smoother "road style" tyres

I've sat on a few bikes now and I'm starting to understand some of the thing important to me. My current MB has too low gearing so I know I need to go and count the teeth to figure out what it has.

I like the bikes with preloading and lockouts on the front suspension but my budget is looking a bit thin.

parkside_stroller

Lorian

If you were going down the mountain bike with front suspension only route.

you can often adjust the front suspension so you might find that a quick adjustment (no tools required) is sufficient to make it a bit stiffer for road use (and therefore more efficient pedalling as your are not bouncing about so much) and vice versa for the bumpy trail.

Depending on how muddy the trail is you could also swap the knobbly tyres of the bike over and put semi-slick tyres on which would be fine for times when a trail is slightly muddy in parts and also much better on the road than knobbly tyres - if the route is always a hard surface you could go for slick tyres as they are faster on this type of surface but it doesn't sound as if you have a guaranteed mud free route.

EvilMonkey

Yup those are the main differences, You get a road bikes drive systems (wheels and gearing) on a mountain bikes frame.

On the gearing side, I have to say I thought it'd be a huge difference when I bought a road bike, it was quite dissapointing to find I really can't go all that much faster with the higher gears...

Preload front suspension should be within your budget (my £300 MTB has it), but yes lock outs are probably a bit too much (and to be honest probably OTT for your needs, unless you have a massive hill or 2 to climb)

One last thing, be sure to put aside some cash for other essentials (lights, clothing, waterproofs, helmet, panniers etc.) unless you already have it all. Easy to forget, but can easily add up in price.

On brands, have you looked at Claud Butler bikes? As far as I recall they do 2-3 models of hybrids, some pure roadie and pure MTB's. The MTB's normally get good reviews as you get a v good component set for the price. For instance the Cape Wrath disc version (full hydro discs) can be found under your £400 budget at evans here

Not a hybrid, but the fastest I've been on my cape wrath = 42mph, fastest on race bike = 31mph... (I also rode the cape wrath in a 106 mile race with no problems)

See here for the specs on their website, the disc got 10/10 from mbr, non disc got the gold award from what mountain bike.

Sounds like I'm biased \ work for them, nope, just got one and like it...