"Hybrid" Bikes

monquixote

I need to get me a bike to ride to the station.

I'm torn between getting a super cheap "beater" bike and buying something half decent through http://www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/ ;

Assuming I do the latter I'm interested to know opinions on what are decent mid priced hybrid bikes, 

My local stores do the Giant Escape 3 and the Specialized Sirrus in the £300-400 price range I'd be looking at. 

I've also heard the B'TWIN bikes that can be purchased through Decathlon are supposed to be good, but I'm more inclined towards using a local shop as I like to support small independent retailers.

Any thoughts?

Jeremiah

Get a bike with disc brakes even if you have to pay a bit more for it.

stimpsonslostson

Hybrids are good- I ride one!

Have you considered a "Cross bike"? Several of my friends ride this: 

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/revolution-cross-1-16.html
Quick, comfy and tough. Revolution is the in house brand of my local bike coop. 

MY essentials for a decent commuter bike are: Good brakes, mudguards, decent lights, a pannier rack (& compatibles bags) and a helmet (you may not like em but personally I wouldn't ride without one- especially having seen a woman without one get hit this week. Horrible). 
it all adds up & the bike to work scheme lets you buy it all and then get the discount off the whole lot- you could save a LOT of money! 

getting a beater is often a false economy if you're not VERY handy with the spanner- I've been there & realised that I could have bought a new bike for less money!
It adheres to the Sam Vimes theory of economics. (I miss Terry Pratchett). 
"At the time of Men at Arms, Samuel Vimes earned thirty-eight dollars a month as a Captain of the Watch, plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots, the sort that would last years and years, cost fifty dollars. This was beyond his pocket and the most he could hope for was an affordable pair of boots costing ten dollars, which might with luck last a year or so before he would need to resort to makeshift cardboard insoles so as to prolong the moment of shelling out another ten dollars. 

Therefore over a period of ten years, he might have paid out a hundred dollars on boots, twice as much as the man who could afford fifty dollars up front ten years before. And he would still have wet feet."

Good luck with the search. Much like guitar shopping, go into store & try loads- you may find something you love but wouldn't have considered. 

bluechargeboy

After commuting on an MTB for years I have just bought a Genesis Borough (last year's model so £450). It fulfilled all my criteria which were:

- Mudguards (dry bum)
- Chainguard (clean trouser leg)
- Rear Rack (no rucksack = no sweaty back)
- Disc brakes (more resistant to wet weather; hub brakes would have worked too)
- 700c wheels that could take a 35c tyre (so I can fit studded tyres if we ever have winter again)
- Flat handlebars (upright seating position)
- No front derailleur (unnecessary faff)

So I can ride in normal clothes in a sensible Danish/Dutch manner, but it will go fast if necessary.

Also it doesn't look like the kind of bike you'd want to steal.

I would echo the advice to sit on a few until you can work out what dimensions and geometry of bike you like.

dchwhite

Yours may well be different, but just mentioning in case - my employer will let you take out one travel to work loan per annum. For me, it was more important to get the loan for an annual train season ticket than a bike.

p90fool

Jeremiah said:

Get a bike with disc brakes even if you have to pay a bit more for it.

Why? 

Not disagreeing with you, just curious as I have bikes with three different types of brakes and have no real preference. 

jimmyd

I would get an old beater so you're not worried about it getting nicked. I have a mountain bike that cost £10 second hand. 

stimpsonslostson

p90fool said:

Jeremiah said:

Get a bike with disc brakes even if you have to pay a bit more for it.

Why? 

Not disagreeing with you, just curious as I have bikes with three different types of brakes and have no real preference. 

So long as they're maintained properly I don't really have a preference.
That said I find the discs are more consistent & the maintenance interval is longer, but that maintenance is more effort. 
With my rim brakes I tweak them regularly and replace the pads quite often to keep them in tip top shape. 
I DO carry a LOT of weight on my bikes and wear pads rapidly- I have panniers and TWO children on bike on some steep hills. 

monquixote

bluechargeboy said:

After commuting on an MTB for years I have just bought a Genesis Borough (last year's model so £450). It fulfilled all my criteria which were:

- Mudguards (dry bum)
- Chainguard (clean trouser leg)
- Rear Rack (no rucksack = no sweaty back)
- Disc brakes (more resistant to wet weather; hub brakes would have worked too)
- 700c wheels that could take a 35c tyre (so I can fit studded tyres if we ever have winter again)
- Flat handlebars (upright seating position)
- No front derailleur (unnecessary faff)

I agree with your criteria. 

I am especially surprised that hybrid bikes seem to fall into the "more is better" trap. When I did ride mountain bikes 15 years ago I progressed from a bike with 10 gears to 18 to 21 and even then I found that for rough terrain having 21 gears offered very little advantage, but seemed to be more prone to breaking and causing problems. I really don't see why most hybrids for pootling around town would need more than 7 gears and yet many expensive ones seem to have 32 gears which is frankly bonkers. 

Will certainly be getting mud guards fitted. 

BigLicks67

I had a Sirrus for commuting duties, it was light and fast and I used it in all weathers, I did about 2000 miles on it before I sold it. I did go through several sets of brake blocks. Regards snow I used it with 28mm tyres but it was a bit hairy on the bends. : >

If you live in a flat area consider single speed.

Also, the old 70's sports bikes are pretty good for commuting, they are cheap cheerful and no one wants to knick them.

stimpsonslostson

Are you leaving the bike at the station? If so I'd add an excellent lock to the list & go for the most innocuous bike I could! 

Veloeye is worth doing too. 
http://www.veloeye.com

octatonic

If leaving at the station then get a £50 gumtree special, a £50 lock and you will have a much easier life.

I used to ride a 15 year old mountain bike to the station, despite having several very nice road, cyclocross and mountain bikes.
You simply cannot leave a nice bike locked up in public in the UK imho.

p90fool

stimpsonslostson said:

p90fool said:

Jeremiah said:

Get a bike with disc brakes even if you have to pay a bit more for it.

Why? 

Not disagreeing with you, just curious as I have bikes with three different types of brakes and have no real preference. 

So long as they're maintained properly I don't really have a preference.
That said I find the discs are more consistent & the maintenance interval is longer, but that maintenance is more effort. 
With my rim brakes I tweak them regularly and replace the pads quite often to keep them in tip top shape. 
I DO carry a LOT of weight on my bikes and wear pads rapidly- I have panniers and TWO children on bike on some steep hills. 

Ah fair enough. I did convert my tandem from caliper to v-brakes and the hybrid we use for the grandkids tag-along has discs, but on a solo I'm not too bothered.

monquixote

octatonic said:

If leaving at the station then get a £50 gumtree special, a £50 lock and you will have a much easier life.

I used to ride a 15 year old mountain bike to the station, despite having several very nice road, cyclocross and mountain bikes.
You simply cannot leave a nice bike locked up in public in the UK imho.

You are probably right.

The bike sheds at the station are glass and located by the front entrance so they don't offer much opportunity for thievery and bury is a relatively low crime area, but it is on my mind that someone will rob anything nice that I buy.

TTony

monquixote said:

The bike sheds at the station are glass and located by the front entrance so they don't offer much opportunity for thievery and bury is a relatively low crime area, but it is on my mind that someone will rob anything nice that I buy.

Or take it with you to the office, if there's somewhere safer to leave it there?

Lots of people take bikes on the trains on that route.

ThorpyFX

I have a cannondale hybrid bike with discs. It's fantastic for commuting and riding with the kids, surprisingly fast and comfortable too. I bought it secondhand for a third of the cost of new, the only fly in the ointment is the stupid model name. "Cannondale bad boy" FFS

fields5069

bluechargeboy said:

Also it doesn't look like the kind of bike you'd want to steal.

You may think, but we had our KTM German-style hybrid bikes stolen from our garage, so you can never be sure.

monquixote

TTony said:

monquixote said:

The bike sheds at the station are glass and located by the front entrance so they don't offer much opportunity for thievery and bury is a relatively low crime area, but it is on my mind that someone will rob anything nice that I buy.

Or take it with you to the office, if there's somewhere safer to leave it there?

Lots of people take bikes on the trains on that route.

I have pondered this option, but though the 7:30 train is fine the train I get home is rammed to the doors with noisy school kids until you get to Newmarket. 

If I got a bike it would mean standing up for 45 minutes each way unless I got a Brompton and once I got to Cambridge it would end up locked up outside my office anyway.

crunchman

Probably not in your budget but if I was looking for a commuter now I'd be looking at something with hub gears - something like Shimano Nexus or Alfine.

They don't use the narrow chains of a derailleur and the chain is lined up nicely so everything lasts longer and needs a lot less maintenance.

monquixote

crunchman said:

Probably not in your budget but if I was looking for a commuter now I'd be looking at something with hub gears - something like Shimano Nexus or Alfine.

They don't use the narrow chains of a derailleur and the chain is lined up nicely so everything lasts longer and needs a lot less maintenance.

Ooo good call 

I really don't want something with six billion gears that fall apart at the drop of a hat. 

This looks awesome!
https://foffabikes.com/shop/bikes/urban-7-speed-nexus-bicycle-range/foffa-urban-7-speed-nexus-hybrid-city-grey-bicycle/

I love it and it's in the sale. 

Hmmm...

EDIT: They seem to get a lot of hate on the Bike Forums. 

bluechargeboy

Why don't people on forums like it? Looks pretty cool.