Bike for beginner

RoddyMcLean said:

Hi Folks,

I'm looking for a bike for an ex-runner - I am getting too many
injuries these days. A bit confused 😕 as to what is suitable
mountain, hybrid, city, racer etc.
My intentions are to cycle on roads, canal paths and some slightly
bumpy paths but no severe terrain. I also need to get a good workout -
so I don't want to be sitting upright too much.

In summary I want a bike for a beginner thats fast, lightweight and
tough:eek:. Any suggestions?, my budget is around £300. I will go up a
little.

Best Regards🙂
Roddy McLean

Being a runner you'll undoubtedly be disappointed by the workout you'll
initially get from cycling. You'll find that your leg strength will give
out a long time before you reach your aerobic limit, apart from on long
steep hills perhaps. You almost certainly won't get a good workout cycling
on canal paths.

If you don't want to cycle off-road much buy a racing bike. The bars give
your hands more positions. £300 is on the low side for something that is
fast, lightweight and tough! You might get something good second-hand.

--
Michael MacClancy
Random putdown - "I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having
you here." -Stephen Bishop
www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

RoddyMcLean said:

In summary I want a bike for a beginner thats fast, lightweight and
tough:eek:. Any suggestions?, my budget is around £300. I will go up a
little.

A word of warning: we have a couple of ex-runners in our club and they
find cycling very different to running. Their lighter bodyweight is
great when going up hills but they can't sprint for toffee (not a great
cause for concern, admittedly) and they tend to run out of juice sooner
over longer distances.

Anyway, that aside, it sounds like you want a road bike - aluminium
frame, drop handlebars, narrow, slick tyres, that kind of thing. You
don't need the fat tyres and suspension of a mountain bike unless you
are doing serious offroad riding. Gears on a road bike are aimed at
going much faster than a mountain bike (which is geared for going up
hills over rough terrain) but you can swap cassettes quite easily (and
cheaply) if you find your road bike over-geared for you.

You won't get anything special for £300 but you could do a lot worse
than the Edinburgh Revolution Continental.
See: <URL:http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk> and click through to the
bikes.

Or you could look at the second-hand bikes in the back of the cycling
mags and might just get something much better for the same price.

d.

in message <[email hidden]>,
RoddyMcLean ([email hidden]'😉

Quoted message said:

Hi Folks,

I'm looking for a bike for an ex-runner - I am getting too many
injuries these days. A bit confused 😕 as to what is suitable
mountain, hybrid, city, racer etc.
My intentions are to cycle on roads, canal paths and some slightly
bumpy paths but no severe terrain. I also need to get a good workout -
so I don't want to be sitting upright too much.

Sounds like the sort of hybrid that's actually a flat-barred racer to
me. Look at Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op's Revolution Courier Race (£269).
It has no front deraileur and consequently only eight gears, but you
can't have everything at this price and what it does have is quite
good. <URL:http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/>

Quoted message said:

In summary I want a bike for a beginner thats fast, lightweight and
tough:eek:. Any suggestions?, my budget is around £300. I will go up a
little.

You can get bargains in the end of season sales, which are happening
about now. Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op (seeing I'm on their site anyway) is
listing a Cannondale Bad Boy for £600, and a Giant FCR 1 for the same
price. Both very good bikes.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; When all else fails, read the distractions.

Simon Brooke said:

It has no front deraileur and consequently only eight gears, but you
can't have everything at this price and what it does have is quite
good. <URL:http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/>

Eight gears really ought to be more than enough for most people. 😉

d.

Thanks for the replies.

Would something like a Ridgeback Velocity be suitable to begin with? I don't really know much about bikes but I gather from the replies that a mountain bike is not what most people need. However, some of the cycle paths around edinburgh are not really flat and pretty bumpy - would a mountain bike be overkill?

Would the Edinburgh Continental or RB Velocity handle this - with semi-off road tyres perhaps?

Best Regards
Roddy

quote='davek'RoddyMcLean said:

In summary I want a bike for a beginner thats fast, lightweight and
tough:eek:. Any suggestions?, my budget is around £300. I will go up a
little.

A word of warning: we have a couple of ex-runners in our club and they
find cycling very different to running. Their lighter bodyweight is
great when going up hills but they can't sprint for toffee (not a great
cause for concern, admittedly) and they tend to run out of juice sooner
over longer distances.

Anyway, that aside, it sounds like you want a road bike - aluminium
frame, drop handlebars, narrow, slick tyres, that kind of thing. You
don't need the fat tyres and suspension of a mountain bike unless you
are doing serious offroad riding. Gears on a road bike are aimed at
going much faster than a mountain bike (which is geared for going up
hills over rough terrain) but you can swap cassettes quite easily (and
cheaply) if you find your road bike over-geared for you.

You won't get anything special for £300 but you could do a lot worse
than the Edinburgh Revolution Continental.
See: <URL:http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk> and click through to the
bikes.

Or you could look at the second-hand bikes in the back of the cycling
mags and might just get something much better for the same price.

d.[/QUOTE]

in message <[email hidden]>,
RoddyMcLean ([email hidden]'😉

Quoted message said:

Would something like a Ridgeback Velocity be suitable to begin with? I
don't really know much about bikes but I gather from the replies that
a mountain bike is not what most people need. However, some of the
cycle paths around edinburgh are not really flat and pretty bumpy -
would a mountain bike be overkill?

Errrmmmm... now we're getting into semantics.

'Pretty bumpy' looks like this:
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page6.html>
(it's even steeper than it looks in the picture)
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page12.html>

This is what you need a moderately competent bike for - although good
cyclists (and serious nutters) can do this sort of thing on rigid
bikes.

This is smooth:
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page16.html>

It's OK without suspension, but you'll go faster and and be more
comfortable with. Big tyres definitely indicated.

And this is smoother:
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page17.html>
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page1.html>

This is fine on rigid bikes, and even fine on touring or hybrid bikes
with 28mm or 32mm tyres.

Quoted message said:

Would the Edinburgh Continental or RB Velocity handle this - with
semi-off road tyres perhaps?

You do not want to try any of these things on a Continental. I'm sure
there are people reading this group who could but it wouldn't be
comfortable and the risk of damage to the bike would be high. The
continental is the sort of bike that wants to stay on tarmac, or if not
tarmac near-perfect dirt roads. Yes, I *know* they race over cobbles in
Belgium...

The EBC Revolution Courier Race (or the Ridgeback Velocity) would cope
with what I've described as 'smoother' above while still giving good
performance on the road. It would _cope_ with what I've described as
'smooth' but it wouldn't be comfortable.

Tyres are not an issue. You need knobblies primarily for soft mud and
very loose surfaces, which I'm guessing you won't be playing in. On any
reasonably firm dry surface a road type tyre, with or without slight
tread, will be fine.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

A message from our sponsor: This site is now in free fall

RoddyMcLean popped their head over the parapet saw what was going on
and said

Quoted message said:

Would something like a Ridgeback Velocity be suitable to begin with? I
don't really know much about bikes but I gather from the replies that
a mountain bike is not what most people need. However, some of the
cycle paths around edinburgh are not really flat and pretty bumpy -
would a mountain bike be overkill?

Have a look at the Edinburgh contour
( http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/ and search for contour )
specialy designed (?)
for the paths and canal towpath around Edinburgh.
Quote "for any terrain a sane person would want to ride"

Think a dedicated mountain bike would be overkill for path
riding.
--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

Thanks Simon,

Thats exactly the info I need. I will be looking at the Courier racer and RB Velocity now and others like them.

Best Regards
Roddy

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>,
RoddyMcLean ([email hidden]'😉

Quoted message said:

Would something like a Ridgeback Velocity be suitable to begin with? I
don't really know much about bikes but I gather from the replies that
a mountain bike is not what most people need. However, some of the
cycle paths around edinburgh are not really flat and pretty bumpy -
would a mountain bike be overkill?

Errrmmmm... now we're getting into semantics.

'Pretty bumpy' looks like this:
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page6.html>
(it's even steeper than it looks in the picture)
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page12.html>

This is what you need a moderately competent bike for - although good
cyclists (and serious nutters) can do this sort of thing on rigid
bikes.

This is smooth:
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page16.html>

It's OK without suspension, but you'll go faster and and be more
comfortable with. Big tyres definitely indicated.

And this is smoother:
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page17.html>
<URL:http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/content/mtb/dalbeattie/pages/page1.html>

This is fine on rigid bikes, and even fine on touring or hybrid bikes
with 28mm or 32mm tyres.

Quoted message said:

Would the Edinburgh Continental or RB Velocity handle this - with
semi-off road tyres perhaps?

You do not want to try any of these things on a Continental. I'm sure
there are people reading this group who could but it wouldn't be
comfortable and the risk of damage to the bike would be high. The
continental is the sort of bike that wants to stay on tarmac, or if not
tarmac near-perfect dirt roads. Yes, I *know* they race over cobbles in
Belgium...

The EBC Revolution Courier Race (or the Ridgeback Velocity) would cope
with what I've described as 'smoother' above while still giving good
performance on the road. It would _cope_ with what I've described as
'smooth' but it wouldn't be comfortable.

Tyres are not an issue. You need knobblies primarily for soft mud and
very loose surfaces, which I'm guessing you won't be playing in. On any
reasonably firm dry surface a road type tyre, with or without slight
tread, will be fine.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

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