Looking at getting a bike

KierNet

In an attempt to get fitter, I want to get a bike to use a couple of times a week to get to work (4 miles total), however not had a bike for 5/6 years. So no idea what kind of thing I need!

In the past I've always had full suspension, but I did hate it, always really heavy etc.

It will mostly be roads and pavements that I'll be using, maybe a few off road paths, but only dirt tracks etc.

I'm guessing full suspension would be a waste of time and money. Would something with just front forks be good enough?

I'm looking at spending around £250.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to look at? Bigger the better ideally, I'm 6ft 4, want something that I'll enjoy riding.

Thanks!

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Edit - Because I'm lazy, I didn't see the thread not far down! Opps!

Strider590

KierNet wrote: »

In the past I've always had full suspension, but I did hate it, always really heavy etc.

Cheap full suspension is enough to put anyone off for life!! If it's not £1000+ then it's gonna be sh1te.... Simple as.
Cheap suspension is not only heavy, but it soaks up most of the power you put down (bouncing up/down while you cycle, as opposed to over bumps)

If you can stretch to £350 you could get a fairly good (non-suspension) hybrid commuter bike. Avoid Halfrauds or catalogues and head to a cycle shop or buy online.

I own a decent full suspension cross country bike, but for commuting to work (in the near future I hope) i'd want a hard tail and i'd spend no more than £400.
Also the plainer it looks, the less likely to get nicked.

cardinalbiggles

Strider590 wrote: »

Cheap full suspension is enough to put anyone off for life!! If it's not £1000+ then it's gonna be sh1te.... Simple as.

I know where you are coming from but there are good Giants and even Halfrauds have a decent full-sus Carerra sub 1k.

Strider590

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

I know where you are coming from but there are good Giants and even Halfrauds have a decent full-sus Carerra sub 1k.

No they don't

If you want full sus you need to get away from the high street brands and toward the mid/high end machines.... The brands that make different full-sus bikes for different conditions, downhill, cross country and jump bikes for example.
In fact just avoid the high street brands altogether and get over to a proper bike shop


The strange thing with bikes is that people think it's one bike for all jobs, when in fact bike selection is far more complex than buying a car. If we applied this logic to cars we'd have no need for sportscars or 4x4's, or vans, or trucks, or buses, we'd all be driving about in cardboard boxes with wheels attached. You don't think a Nissan Micra is a dune buggy just because it's got suspension, do you?

esuhl

KierNet wrote: »

It will mostly be roads and pavements that I'll be using, maybe a few off road paths, but only dirt tracks etc.

You probably don't want a bike with full suspension if that's what you're going to be using it for. Rear suspension is really only of use for steep, uneven descents off-road. I mainly cycle off-road (cross-country) over all sorts of terrain and I deliberately picked a hardtail (a bike with only front suspension). I've heard many people say that rear suspension on bikes that cost less than £1000 is a waste of money...

You might even want to consider a bike without suspension at all if you aren't going to ride rough off-road trails. A bike with suspension is likely to be heavier, more expensive and less efficient (as your energy is wasted bouncing up and down). Maybe the money you save on suspension could be put towards better crank/gears, etc.

On the other hand, if you think you might be tempted off-road, it's definitely worth considering a bike with front suspension...

KierNet

esuhl wrote: »

On the other hand, if you think you might be tempted off-road, it's definitely worth considering a bike with front suspension...

I back onto some lovely heath land that is great to ride around (or was years ago when I last went over there), so would like the option, just incase.

esuhl

KierNet wrote: »

I back onto some lovely heath land that is great to ride around (or was years ago when I last went over there), so would like the option, just incase.

Ah! Definitely worth getting front suspension, then!

I just bought a bike last week from Decathlon, who seemed to know what they were doing. I was looking at bikes primarily designed for cross-country mountain biking and ended up spending £450, but it's a damn good bike!

Decathlon only have a few shops, but it might be worth having a look at their website to see if there's one near you. Halfords seemed to have a few popular bikes too (although everyone seems to hate their customer service!)

You might want to have a look at the Bike Radar website - it has buyers guides and forums that might be of interest...

thelawnet

Strider590 wrote: »

No they don't

If you want full sus you need to get away from the high street brands and toward the mid/high end machines.... The brands that make different full-sus bikes for different conditions, downhill, cross country and jump bikes for example.
In fact just avoid the high street brands altogether and get over to a proper bike shop

Decathlon do a nice 300 quid full-suspension bike http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-decathlon-rockrider-6-3-07-20096

TiTheRev

Please steer clear of full-suss unless you want to do proper downhill or jump racing. It's a waste, and as Strider says, will be poor quality unless over £1k.

Get a good hardtail, which will be great for cycle tracks and off-road but also be more forgiving on the road so you're not bobbing up all the hills and wasting valuable energy! Use Bike Radar, but check their Hardtails section on the forum. They should have a sub £X thread for each price bracket.

Strider590

thelawnet wrote: »

Decathlon do a nice 300 quid full-suspension bike http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-decathlon-rockrider-6-3-07-20096

Ok fair enough, for £300 id still go for a hard tail though.

The problem that stands out for me on that bike is the rear suspension (the triangle bit) is solid, it's hinge point is only at the crank, which leads the natural wheel movement on impact of upwards and forward.

A decent full sus will be set-up with multiple links so the wheel moves directly upward on impact... Like this.



It's a subtle difference that most people would not notice until they'd ridden both bikes.

boyse7en

If it's mainly for commuting, as is said above, forget about suspension altogether. It adds weight and complexity without giving any real benefits.

Slightly more controversially, unless you are going to do a high-ish proportion of offroad riding along rocky/rutted tracks, you may not need to worry about front suspension either. I used to ride a rigid Orange P7 (cost me £800, and that was back when £800 was £800!) and didn't find it significantly hampered my progress compared to other club members' suspension equipped bikes until things got really fast and knarly. It was certainly quicker up the hills than the suspension bikes.

A rigid-forked bike with some decent tyres will get you a surprisingly long way off road. I now ride cross-country, on a bike that looks like a racing bike with knobbly tyres, and that can traverse some pretty serious terrain without any suspension.