What bike?

unsure

I've been riding a Claud Butler Classic for five years, it's a good sturdy hybrid that's tackled hills, a bit of off road and city potholes without ever flinching. Decent gearing (21), comfy saddel and ride, solid decent bike from a decent make. It replaced the previous one which got nicked (despite two padlocks). If you are riding it to work the fact that it's got mudguards and a rack may be handy too, RRP is £299 but you can get them form about £240 (see below)

http://www.discovercycling.com/bikes/bikes-hybrid/claud-butler-classic-gents-2010-.html

just get some decent lights a good lock and you are away!

LATER ADD: WOW! £209.99 delivered here. Now that is a bargain!

http://www.jccookcycles.co.uk/Claud-Butler-Classic-2010

poontang

no_more_cards_for_me wrote: »

Don't buy a heavy bike with suspension, you really don't need it and the benefit is minimal on road. Whilst mudguards are a very good idea, if your trying to keep costs down then a rucksack will do the job.

A rucksack won't keep the mud off you.

Will give you a sweaty back though....

poontang

thescouselander wrote: »

Just something else to think about - this site provides a tool that lets you work out how much you are spending on petrol:


http://www.torquecars.com/tools/uk-mpg-calculator.php

Just as an example I plugged in the figures for your journey based on an average petrol car. If you were to spend say £350 on a bike and some equipment you'd need to cover nearly 1600 miles before you break even. Thats about 120 return journeys to work (about half a working year if you cycle every day).

So as money saving exercise you'll need to be very aware about what you're spending and you'll need to be sure you can keep up cycling to work regularly enough to make a return on your investment.

Well he's also extending his life expectancy by cycling and improving his fitness, so it's not purely a money-saving equation.

Gym membership would be about £30/month for example

squack

i'd recommend an electric bike

you will still pedal but the motor will assist you, especially handy up any hills or inclines etc.

call me lazy but I wouldn't fancy cycling six and a half miles under my own steam, working a 12 hour shift then cycling back!

just a thought

cbrsk

Consider asking your work to join the "Ride 2 Work" scheme. If they agree, you can get a bike and avoid paying tax, vat and other costs. You also get to pay for the bike over 12 months interest free!

Its a very nice perk for the company to advertise especially when going for "Investors in People" awards and such. I went for the full £1000 voucher (max you can get), and got a bike worth £1400 reduced to £900 instore in Evans and spent the extra £100 on accessories. All in all, over 12 months I paid a little over £600 for it. It gave me access to a much higher quality bike thn I could have afforded at that time. Also I was cycling 18 miles a day 5 days a week, and I feel the average bike would not have lasted even a few months under that useage.

Hope this helps.

poontang

cbrsk wrote: »

Consider asking your work to join the "Ride 2 Work" scheme. If they agree, you can get a bike and avoid paying tax, vat and other costs. You also get to pay for the bike over 12 months interest free!

Its a very nice perk for the company to advertise especially when going for "Investors in People" awards and such. I went for the full £1000 voucher (max you can get), and got a bike worth £1400 reduced to £900 instore in Evans and spent the extra £100 on accessories. All in all, over 12 months I paid a little over £600 for it. It gave me access to a much higher quality bike thn I could have afforded at that time. Also I was cycling 18 miles a day 5 days a week, and I feel the average bike would not have lasted even a few months under that useage.

The average bike would be just fine - of course parts will wear out, just as they would on a car - you'll need a new chain and cassette every few thousand miles depending on how clean you keep it and how often you bother to oil it, but bikes don't really have a maximum duty cycle as such - I'd expect a low-end bike doing 18 miles a day to last more miles than one doing 2 miles a day. The more expensive bike will have better parts on it, which will most likely last longer as well as being better in use, but a well-maintained entry-level bike is going to be better than a high-end bike that's neglected.

cbrsk

I agree poontag - the scheme lets you apply for a voucher £300 to £1000. If you go for the £300 voucher, you get a bike for up to £300 but you do not pay any sort of taxes on it, so longs it is mosty used for commuting, so could end up paying less than £200 for a nice bike over 12 months interest free. Winner imho http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/