[Closed] Recommend a bike for 49yr 1st timer

Bike is for general fitness

I should go electric.

i make that a no.

my vote goes HT MTB for shear versatility, but recommend you find something in stock in your size that you like the colour of at the lower end of your budget - if you take to it, you will want to upgrade in a year or so anyway, so dont fret about the details, just get out and ride
saddle - while there are some major differences in fit of saddles to individual bums, suspect as a newbie that those muscles will just need to toughen up, get some half decent padded shorts and build up distance/time slowly

A suitable hybrid or lighter hardtail will do all that with ease. A hardtail will encourage some more off road without being too bad on a road. Some less knobbly tyres, good brakes and any decent gears will work. At your price point is hard to get a *bad* bike, fit is most important.

IMO, go to two local shops and ask them what they have and what size fits best.

Saddles - don't be too put off by firmness as this is actually (and there's a balance here) more comfy as you get used to them. Padded shorts for the win with a saddle the shop suggests after they measure your backside....

Electric will eat your budget and then some - and be heavier to transport etc. They have their place, but gentler rides with kids or country parks isn't really it.

Edit: budget for a helmet, gloves and some padded shorts (can be baggy with undershorts), puncture kit and pump and a bottle and cage.

Over lockdown a few of my Karate Club mates got into MTBs for the first time. The bikes of choice were largely Carrera or Scott hardtails in the £400-£600 range. After a year the bikes are still holding up to the abuse.

I'd have a look at them.

Hard tail sounds perfect.
If budget allows, I'd say a fork with lockout means it covers hybrid/ road/ bimbling with the kids/ off road adventures.
brilliantly versatile, could last years

I'm 49 and 90kg too. I wanted something to ride to work a couple of times a week, a 5 mile each way trip mostly on a gravel track.
Having looked for far too long for "the perfect bike" for me (in a similar price bracket) I bought a 1990s mountain bike in half decent condition off marketplace for £60. It's been great and I've been riding it to work regularly.
If you can use an Allen key and some spanners you can change the saddle and anything else if you need to.
I found a lot of the new bikes weren't in stock anyway.

Thanks, some great advice there, thanks for the tips on the saddle and padded shorts.
Will stick to HT MTB (non-electric).

I have the issue where I end up researching everything to death and end up wasting so much days/time.

Have some local centres, I'm in Nottingham, (rutland water and sherwood pines) where they hire bikes, will pop down to get a feel for the bikes.

I need to get out more, been stuck working behind a screen for most of my life.

When starting out, a little and often is a good mantra.

3-4 spins a week max, take advantage of the longer evenings and then a nice spin.

Kids should be good for up to 5miles each way on a spin unless you are somewhere really hilly, if that's the case plan flat routes that they will enjoy.

If you want to get fitter do a spin without the kids. Although at that age don't be surprised if they are mega fit in a short while, it's normally pacing kids are poor on.

And something that might not have been made obvious, the cables on those new bikes will stretch in use and the gearing will go off, go back after about 10 hours/6 weeks use for their service to tune the now fully stretched cables so they are good for ages.

Vitus Nucleus and Vitus Sentier are great value for money and great for the price.

They are on Chain Reaction Cycles website.

At the top end of your budget, I'd definitely have https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBOOWHSX/on-one-whippet-sram-sx-mountain-bike on the shortlist.

Good call on hiring bikes at Rutland and Sherwood.

I ride round both of them quite a bit (or did) and having done both of them recently I'd suggest using them to get a feel of course but, if you do some/all of the red trail at Sherwood it can be damned annoying on a hard tail as it has loads of small braking bumps.

This means a lot of it feels like an energy sapping wash board on a hard tail and if you are tired it becomes annoying very quickly. The trail itself is good though and will be a good test for how you feel on a bike.

Rutland will probably offer you a Giant something or other. They are generally good bikes so not a problem but as a ride it is maybe more akin to what you want to do. For that reason I'd be tempted to use that as more of a guide over Sherwood.

Bike wise, the Whippet suggested above is a great bike. I have one and although I've contemplated selling it, I won't as it is such a nice ride and damn fast* over smooth-ish terrain.

*I however, am not - hence the indicision.

The Vitus Nucleus and Sentier - either wheelsize (27.5 or 29) would be great for your usage. They’ve all got air forks which at your budget are better than a non adjustable coil fork with terrible / no damping.

Just see if you can find stock of any of those models in your price range. I think they start about £550 and then there’s a grade up around £850. You’ll get an air fork / 1x drivetrain / hydraulic disc brakes / reasonable wheels / decent tyres.

The Vitus Nucleus and Sentier seems to be getting some good votes and I had also seen the Nucleus recommended over at Bike Rader (but never sure whether these things are paid/sponsored), so feel better that others are also recommended these bikes.

It's a good price too, I was just a little worried about the weight at 14kg and whether I should be getting something close to 10-12kg, or does it not really matter that much.

The whippet looks like a good bike but seems to have a rigid fork.

Thanks for all the advice guys, really appreciate it.

It’s a good price too, I was just a little worried about the weight at 14kg and whether I should be getting something close to 10-12kg, or does it not really matter that much.

You're over thinking this, and will exceed your budget to get that. (Mines 12kg-ish and was £1500 RRP..)

You’re over thinking this, and will exceed your budget to get that. (Mines 12kg-ish and was £1500 RRP..)

Yep, that is my Achilles heel, tend to over think everything.
You are right, think there are a good few options at the £500 level, the Vitus, some Scotts, Whyte and Giant bikes I've seen.
Will take a punt on one of them - might have to do a lucky dip 🙂

Availability of bikes in that price range is probably going to be something to consider at the moment. I'd definitely be looking at used hardtails if I was buying these days as there's been a load of bikes bought through the lockdowns that will probably not be used much now the shops/pubs/gyms are opening up again

Bootzipper might be another alternative.

Basically a steel Whippet for a bit less dosh.

Would make a nice commuter bike too.

OP. Welcome to the biking club.

Hi Chaps,

Just a heads up that woman ride and know about bikes too. STW has some of the best bike journalists going - some happen to be female.

At that price the key is finding something that feels like it fits you well, and doesn’t put you off your goals of riding with your kids and getting fitter, to ensure you keep getting out. I agree try and demo some to get an idea of what feels right for you.

With your level of experience it might be a good idea to go to a major retailer. They should offer you a good package, maybe a few freebies, and you'll get a six week service and a decent guarantee. A few others have recommended some good hardtails, but as you won't be off-roading I think you'd be better off saving the weight/cost of forks and going for a hybrid or city bike with narrower tyres.

Evans Pinnacle bikes have a good rep. This bike is bang in the middle of your budget so you should be able to get yourself some mudguards/lights/gloves/helmet if these are your thing:
https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/pinnacle/neon-2-2021-hybrid-bike-934355#colcode=93435503
This has Shimano 105, which is good at the price

I have a few friends who bought Boardmans from Halford's and are happy with them. This bike:
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/bikes-available-stock/boardman-urb-8.9-urban-hybrid-bike-2021---small-426942.html has hub gears and belt drive, which would save you a lot of maintenance

If you want to go for a 'name brand' you could look at something like this Trek:
https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/hybrid-bikes/fitness-bikes/fx/fx-3-disc/p/28474/?colorCode=reddark
You won't get the same level components with a brand, but this looks ok for the price.

I reckon any of these will cover all your needs, and should be reliable. All the retailers will let you do a test ride and should give you a basic fitting.

Good luck - let us know what you decide.

The Virus and voodoo are bargains and seem to do very well in reviews.

The Sonder Frontier might suit you well, either rigid Hardtail or with a short travel fork. Available now/soon ish depending on size and component level.

I'd pick a few localish bike shops, go and have a look and come out with a shortlist of bikes that are ready to buy.

You'll probably want to go back for a tune up and perhaps for the odd repair so good to buy local rather than online or from far away. I'd be skeptical about committing to a bike that's going to be available next month as everything seems to be delayed.

Rigid or hardtail MTB
Or
Gravel Bike (probably the flat bar variety) as they are perfect for your description unless you actually want to go and find some rough off-road trails. It will be a nicer ride if you want to go exploring the lanes etc.

We got a Whyte 603 for my daughter for £650. I'm gutted it's not my size as it's begging for a damn good thrashing. A proper MTB for a bargain price.

^ that's a good offer

To me it sounds like a mountain bike is a more flexible option than the hybrid / gravel / city bikes above. If your kids find they like easy trail centres you want to be on something with big ish nobbly tyres and a suspension fork.

Forgot about the Voodoo Bizango - that’s also decent. Calibre Line 10 also used to be decent and the slightly more expensive version they do.

At that price I’d try to avoid Suntour XCM / XCT /XCR 32 coil. The XCR 32 air is the minimum fork I’d consider - as in that actually works and gives up most of the travel it’s meant to. A mate has a Marin Bobcat trail with a coil sun to it and even at 13 stone it’s only give it about 60-70mm of the advertised 120mm travel. It’s really not very good.

I will suggest you not to go for electric bike if you want to enjoy the ride. Go for Mountain bike! You can easily find a mountain bike under £500 and it will worth it. I recently bought Schwinn high timber MTB for £450 and really enjoying the ride

lolx. Just a day after telling you about my Schwinn High Timber MTB, it's tire got busted while riding on trail

Cube do a good selection of 29ers in this range.

Lots of good advice here already so I'll just add that buying local is great if you can, but I'd also recommend Paul's Cycles as they have loads of great bikes for bargain prices.

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/

Just checked back in on this thread, wow some really great replies, you've given me some great bikes to check out.
Though, I think in my head I'm thinking I'm going to go to all these nice country parks for riding, thinking more realistically on most evenings I would be riding more locally, which will be cycle and footpaths, maybe some rough ground on grass. As someone mentioned above might be an idea to save the weight and go with rigid forks. If I do go for forks, will look for air forks as mentioned above.
Apologies for the 'Chaps' reference.