Bike advice

[stavroshamster]

Hi all,
I am looking for some bike advice....

I'm after a good quality bike for road use for a) the commute to work every day and b) longer-distance stuff, generally on my own when I'll be trying to go relatively fast (at least what I think is fast).

In the last few years I have had a very cheap bike from Halfords (which is now falling apart - not surprisingly although its lasted 4 years), and a friend's aging but well specced Kona mountain bike for other stuff (originally the plan was to go off-roading, but this happens very little - hence the switch to a road bike). A problem is that I don't really have the space to store more than one bike at home, so I'm limited to a one-size-fits all solution.

I don't want to spend too much (because I will be leaving the bike around town, and I live in York where bike crime is fairly rife), but nor do I want something which will fall apart if I try to do more than 4 miles a day on it. I was thinking somewhere in the region of 400 quid?

Other requirements... I'm 6ft2 so I need around a 21 inch frame. That's about it.

Any help much appreciated...

[integerspin]

I would stick some road tyres on the kona and see what it's like.

[SUMMONER]

I can recommend a Voodoo Marasa, good value for the money. It replaced my old Carrera Vengeance Limited Edition bike, which was nicked in a burglary last year.

link to manufacturer's page
link to store

There is a 10% off voucher code on HUKD. link

My inside leg (trouser leg length actually) is 32" and the Marasa's 20" frame is a good fit for me.

[stavroshamster]

I would stick some road tyres on the kona and see what it's like.

Forgot to say - the Kona is too small for me really - only a 17inch frame - hence uncomfortable for regular use...

[Terbinator]

£400 should get you something decent from Evans Cycles. Pop into your local one and ask - they do the commute to work deal there as well if your employer offers it.

[b0redom]

How fast is fast? I started on a Trek 7.1 hybrid, but found I could top out the top gear at about 30kph.

Then I bought a Specialized Tricross but recently have been looking for something which I can put tribars on and is a bit lighter (I'm doing triathlons now). That tops out at about 40kph (ish).

I've just bought a Giant Defy Advanced 3 which is ludicrously fast and scary (I overtook a car yesterday).

It also depends on whether you want flat bars or drops, whether you'll be on the occasional tow path or always on roads etc etc.

As a side note, Giant offered by far the best service of any bike shop around me. I wandered in off the street, and they ordered a bike in of my size, spent a couple of hours fitting it to me (doing some measurements on a Wattbike to analyse performance etc) and let me take it out around Richmond Park for an hour to check it out before I'd paid a penny.

Far better than Evans: Yeah you look like about a 58, we have these two
Sigma Sports: Well yeah we don't have anything in stock in your price range, we can order something, but it'll take 5 weeks

etc etc.

They were doing a scheme where you could order one in for a weekend and give it a go, but not sure if that's still running.

Oh, looks like they have a shop in York too.

[integerspin]

Forgot to say - the Kona is too small for me really - only a 17inch frame - hence uncomfortable for regular use...

I want to try a Kona, want to sell it?

[stavroshamster]

Well, in the end I went for this:

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtb/ht_teamr.html

Got it for £540 (RRP £850) with a 10% off voucher at Halfords (and might get another £20 off via quidco if it tracks...) - a bit more than I wanted to spend.

Was a bit unsure about buying from Halfords as they are generally pretty useless, but they seem to have set it up properly and it's incredible value for money at that price. I summed up the drivetrain and brake components on Chain Reaction Cycles and they cost more than the whole bike cost! The slick tyres are good for road (and it's pretty fast, although I haven't had the chance to use it properly in anger yet - the weather is too hot for me at the moment!) and apparently it's capable off-road too if you put fat tyres on...

p.s. can't sell the Kona, integerspin as it's my mate's...

[SUMMONER]

Nice, that looks like the bee's knees.

What size frame did you go for in the end - 18"/19" ?

[stavroshamster]

19" - which is the largest size it comes in. I thought was going to be too small, but actually it's fine.