Hi all.

I have a friend who is considering trading in an entry level Giant mountain bike for something that will move a bit faster on the road.

The bike she is considering is the Giant R1 Escape at about £475.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-GB/bikes/lifestyle/2466/32860/

I wonder what the competition is? Any suggestions. Whilst I am sure the bike would be lighter I wonder if there is better spec out there for the money? The drivetrain on the Giant looks quite similar to what is on her current mountain bike.

This kind of bike is right for the purpose she wants to use it for – group rides on the road (up to 50 miles), sustrans, and local roads and smoothish offroad tracks. A sporty hybrid, comfy yet purposeful and more speed per effort than a mountain bike.

It also needs to have a full complement of gears, this bike needs to go up the occasional 1:4 hill so triple chainset a must.

Any thoughts on this or other bikes easily availible for a similar purpose which can be bought in a real shop in the Manchester area would be great – I’m just not that up to speed on these.

I realise this probably isn’t the ideal forum but it is the one I have a login for 😉

keppoch.

Most of the ‘names’ do a decent sporty hybrid. As a couple of suggestions, the
Marin Kentfield is refined and light, the Specialized Sirrus is a road bike with flat bars: either of those are at the road end of the hybrid ‘spectrum’

Hope that helps

I’ve got one of the Marin Alp bikes, this one would be in her budget:

Marin Belvedere

It’s not a womens specific model if that’s an issue. Mine is about 25% faster than my mountain bike on the road, but I wouldn’t take it off-road really. The Sirrus mentioned above was the other type I considered.

To my mind, the bike you’ve listed and the kentfield would be too similar to her current bike with slicks, i.e not really worth paying £500 for. Is there no way she could keep the mountain bike and get a new bike purely for the road?