Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Riding to work – help me sort a bike (ideas needed)
  • rob-jackson
    Free Member

    As of next accademic year i may well need to ride to work (teacher in a school)
    Commute is 13.5 miles each way. The first 4 mile sare on a disused railway, 900ft of climbing on the way in and 1371ft on the way home.

    Looking at this with panniers:
    Carrera Gryphon disc

    What do you think or is it unsuitable in your opinion.

    Would need to do this commute at least 3x per week if not more through winter also

    jimc101
    Free Member

    Fit mudguards (you will want these in winter) and a rack, and it should be fine for communting.

    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    Aye mudguards are a given – how robust are hybrid wheels in general??

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    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    anyone suggest anything that is better VFM than the carrera? Money is VERY tight hence riding to work!!

    tonyd
    Full Member

    If that bike is at your budget then I’d be tempted to get a second hand steel road bike and put some mudguards and panniers on, but I’m a bike snob and don’t like Halfords 🙂

    If you don’t need it until the end of summer you’re bound to pick up a decent second hand bike from ebay.

    rewski
    Free Member

    If money is tight buy a stolen one from Brick Lane market, nudge nudge wink wink. Have you checked the for sale on this site and ebaY?

    tonyd
    Full Member

    Check this out on completed listings – 60cm, £84. Prob needs either a new pedal or crank as it sounds like it may be threaded, however this is from a couple of minutes searching.

    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Falmcon-Olympic-road-bike-vintage-531-reynolds-more-/250810687784?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3a657b6128#ht_14408wt_1141

    It has lugs for a rack too. I’d rather ride something like this than a Carrera, plus the kids at school will most likely laugh at it rather than try to nick it!

    jimc101
    Free Member

    Doubt you will find much better VFM, Edinburgh bike or Evans Pinnicale range would be other the place to look in sales, Pauls Cycles may have something, but hit and miss on sizing, unless going the 2nd hand / ebay route.

    Would only look at rigid for comminting, I used a Planet X Kaffenback which is rigid for 3 years, 25-30km per day which was (and is) great, but is over the Gryphon cost by £200-300.

    Whatever you look at, get a decent lock for it, something like an Abus Granit-X plus series.

    Bagstard
    Free Member

    How tall and where are you? I may have the ideal bike.

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    My experience of Carrera is thet they are actually pretty good value for money… Not one for the bike snobs, but still “needs must” and all that…

    I’ve got one of their road bikes for commuting and we got one of their womens MTBs for my missus a while ago…
    I would say the wheels tend to let them down a bit, they are usable but I thrashed mine to bits in a pretty short time, worth keeping an eye on them and having a spoke key ready..

    The frames are generally quite good (IMO) and the parts spec is normally on par with any other brands at the same price point.

    They seem to be making a point of putting out good VFM commuter bikes at the minute, which I think shows they’re paying attention to the market.

    There is the issue of having to deal with Halfords, but in fairness not all of there stores/staff are crap (just most of them), give the bike a proper going over your self once you’ve had it from them just to be sure.

    But yeah, on a budget, need a bike, you could do far worse than a Carrera…

    tommid
    Free Member

    For the Cash I would get an old Steel MTB and some new tyres, rack and Mudguards from Ebay. Wrap the frame in old inner tube for that grundgy messenger look and no one will touch it and it wont get damaged when get locked up.

    z1ppy
    Full Member

    For the mileage & all year round use, I’d go for the carrera with 700cc wheels rather than a mtb of any type.
    Nowt wrong with the Carrera brand.
    Maybe check out to see if there any of that model going cheap on fleabay?

    EDIT: I fact I’m off to check to see how much they do re-sell for myself, as my dad looses bike regularly, and one of those would suit him better than his current 26″ hybrid.

    EDIT #2: Bargain, you can get em easyish for £150 by the looks of things (no idea on conditions)

    tonyd
    Full Member

    I have an old steel MTB for commuting and love it, but for a 27 mile round trip with over 2000ft of climbing I’d be looking for something with bigger wheels.

    Bagstard
    Free Member

    I have a pretty much new voodoo hoodoo 29er for sale. It has done 130 dry commuting miles and that is it. 80mm sus for with handle bar mounted lockout. Perfect fro taking the sting out of rough cycle paths etc, then locked for the road. It is quite big though, frame is 20″, I’m 5’11” and it fits me perfectly with a fair amount of post showing.
    email in profile if interested.

    TiRed
    Full Member

    Looks a good choice. Factor in:
    SKS mudguards
    Rack
    Panniers – you’ll need two if you are a teacher
    Tyres – I’d be looking for something bombproof as you can’t really be late, Conti Marathon Plus are heavy but will be fine along the railway.

    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    Would road wheels be up to an aggregate covered old railway line?

    rob-jackson
    Free Member

    Who commutes by bike – how far – what bike – what luggage?

    rob-jackson
    Free Member
    rob-jackson
    Free Member
    woody2000
    Full Member

    I have a Roadrat with 700c wheels (open pro’s on deore hubs) shod with 32mm WTB All Terrainasaurus tyres, it gets ridden on a mixed commute of 7 miles – road, unsurfaced road, singletrack, rooty woodsy stuff etc etc and the wheels have been fine. Rack + 2 small pannier bags for me.

    Jase
    Free Member

    Me, when its dry – 0.8 miles – Mongoose Maurice – Courier type bag.

    I’m not much help, sorry.

    steveoath
    Free Member

    I’m a teacher also and used to commute using my 1996 Kona Hahana. I recently replaced it with a Trek Marlin SS (But it doesn’t have the fittings for panniers).

    I bought myself one of these “Trakke Mule” messenger bags and can fit (on Mondays and Fridays – my big load days!) My change of clothes, gym kit and boxing gloves and any school stuff I need.

    But not everyone likes carry their kit so you’d need to decide if you want to do that or get the panniers.

    simon_g
    Full Member

    Aye mudguards are a given – how robust are hybrid wheels in general??

    Anything at that price will have a pretty cheap machine-built wheelset that will need attention with a spoke key on a regular basis. Ride it a while, then get some decent handbuilt ones made.

    Dancake
    Free Member

    When I got on a bike after 20 years at 115kG, i bought a thing called a Land Rover Corazon to get me 5 miles to work. The thing pretty much fell apart after a few months (including the forks bending FORWARDS over time until they failed) This cost 200 quid – I just bought the pretty one in the LBS. This was 3 years ago and I was just starting out. (have had far too many bikes and bits since 🙂 )

    My mate rides an old Mountain bike with 1.5 tyres and cut-down-upside-down drop bars complete with Panniers but crucially good kit/ wheels and he does loads of miles on it.

    For work only, I ride a simple 2×8 mountain bike with Carbon forks and mary bars which built up really cheaply for what it was (classifieds and parts bin build)

    BillMC
    Full Member

    I commute on a Felt single speed. Do your marking at work. Email powerpoints etc to yourself or carry a memory stick. Result: no need for luggage. Make sure you’ve got some reasonably breathable waterproofs and/or leave a bit of clothing at work. A fine way to begin and end the day. Try to persuade your Finance Office to sign up to the bike scheme.

    toby1
    Full Member

    If it had been flatter I’d have opted for the singlespeed pompino, maybe still would with a small chain ring – with a rack and guards on it’s literally awesome and the wheels are strong enough to handle me so they are plenty good enough!

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    £329 reduced by 45%: Wiggle

    cr500dom
    Free Member

    Further 20% off Carrera from today until Monday too 😉

Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)

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