My boss now seems to have decided to enter the London to Paris bike ride. He had said he was looking to get into mountain biking, but has decided he needs a road bike for this trip.

I don’t think a racing roadie bike is needed. Any recommendations for touring bikes or road bikes with MTB style handle bars?

He will be buying in the UK, and is in Leeds every so often if you think he needs to see the bikes first.

I take it a hybrid may not be suitable?

Thanks for your help!

A touring/road bike with “MTB” bars is a hybrid!

Ridgeback Flight or Spesh Sirrus would do the job.
[snob mode]
I prefer to call them flat-barred road bikes
[/snob mode]

…but really they are hybirds 😀

Any MTB, fitted with 1″ or 1.5″ slicks would be fine for this. At least that way, he can later use it offroad and won’t have wasted the money on a one-off ride.

Ducati

Many of the organised rides won’t let you take a hybrid or slicked MTB. Worth checking first.

Wot druidh said.

Unless Flashfart is right. In which case, tell him to buy a really nice road bike, which he’ll get bored of, and give to you.

Hopefully.

The speed on those rides is pretty social, a MTB with slicks will be more comfortable. Also, a non rider going straight to a road bike is a massive shock for anything over 2 hours!

I checked with a colleague who rode it last year and he said that it was probably 25% on mountain bikes with slicks, and 75% on road bikes. Yeah – I guess pretty much any bike goes.

He is best mates, and used to share a house with, Dick and Dom – Dick was his best man. Last year Dick rode it too, and managed to borrow two v amazing road bikes claiming he could get publicity via appearing on Newsround or some other shows and tabloids : )

I’d go for an Audax style bike myself Simon something like this perhaps?

Tankslapper

Thanks for the link but I think what is needed is a ready made bike. Maybe in the £300 – £500 price bracket.

Si

Somehting comfortable is the main priority if he’s not ridden too much before.
I’d choose a bike with wide drops for the change of riding position to help my back, shouldrs, hands etc.
How about a Kaffenback with Midge bars?

Simon at that rate then perhaps something by Boardman or a Trek 1000 – my Trek 1000 is 5 years old and I’ve done virtually nothing to it apart from riding the living daylights out of it on Audax etc. Comfy enough – but I take the comments above about comfort – secondhand steel?

A more relaxed ride then, makes life easier!

As mentioned, a relaxed, chilled road bike would be ideal. Something like a Giant TCR, perhaps? depending on the tmie of year, I’d really recommend a decent pair of mudguards! If full on SKS ones aren’t his bag, these are great – http://www.topeak.com/products/Fenders/DeFenderR1_R2_Set (Better than Raceblades, IMO)

Another consideration might be a set of aero bars. Odd, I know, but go for a reasonably high rise stem and then have a set of aeros, will give loads more riding positions, as well as a much needed aero position for the interminable flatness and headwindness of much of the route!

kona dew or one a bit nicer.
If mtb are allowed nice XC one and a pair of cheap disk 700 wheels will be good.

Oh and a pedalo indeed 😉

Flash – I think you mean the Giant SCR.

It’s a good choice. It’s comfortable, and is essentially more in the light tourer/audax bike category. The SCR2 comes with Tiagra, which is nice to use (better than Sora, IMO) and should be obtainable for a reaonable price under the £500 limit.

Mine runs as a year round commuter, winter trainer, utility bike and light tourer. Oh, and like on Sunday, the occasional bit of off-road gets thrown in, too.

Indeed, I did mean the SCR!

The Boardman’s from Halfords are actually very good for that. You can also pick up the 2008 models very cheaply too now.

HI,
Not sure from your thread if your boss is totally new to cycling but my recommendation on a budget for this kind of event. Is any of the Genesis Day 01/02/03 series. They are flat barred hybrids , lightweight aluminium frame with a carbon fork to absorb most of the road buzz tramsmitted to your hands and fingers. Dont leave the original big old round grips on as they are terrible.Tried bar ends for comfort and when climbing with specialized mtb grips OK. Settled on Ergon grips available im most larger shops or online and they are superb.Use Ergon GC2’s circa £30 and well worth the money.On ebay search under Genesis bike and they are a bargain.

Trek 520?

I have one for sale 58cm.

i would say hardtail,

i did a 5 week tour in scandinavia on my hardtail,
which i changed the tyres to continental travel contacts (v good tyres)
and put barends and a pannier rack,
that’s it, oh and an extra bottle cage,

the gearing seemed suitable because of the weight you have to carry,
and the frame and parts are up to it as it is designed to take a bashing off road,

even having front suspension wasnt an issue as the rear is so heavy the front mainly glides over stuff,
my r7’s did have an auto lockout platform damper thingee though
you dont ride out of the saddle much with a full load,
and your thankful when you do hit something

only problem is lack of front mounts,
and the rear triangle is shorter so unless you put panniers right onto the rear of the pannier rack your heels might rub/foul the bags,
again wasnt a problem for me

hardtail is a jack off all trades in my eyes,
just get the riding position right whatever bike he buys,
but you kinda only find this out from riding the bike for a long period of time to be honest.