Hi all,

First post and actually this will be my first proper bike since the BMX I had when I was 8…

The Mrs has just got a new job so I’m having my car taken away from me, I’ve been debating whether to get a second car, moped/motorbike or just cycle. All things considered I’ve decided to go for a bike and get fit in the process…hopefully.

Now, I’m a little worried about the safety of the roads over here, the commute I do will be all main roads with no cycle paths. I do an average amount of running (3 miles a day ish) but I remember cycling up hills being an absolute killer.

I’d be really grateful on any tips for cycling on main roads, a suitable bike and frame/wheel size (I’m 5ft 9) and any advice on how to handle my commute the first time. The journey I take is extremely hilly…gulp.

Many thanks!

Dan

If it’s all road, then you’ll be wanting a road bike!

Get to a shop and try some out – it’s worth getting one that fits rather than one that looks “cool”.

A decent sturdy road bike ( they don’t all have to be carbon featherweights ) or a cross bike.

Good choice to cycle – I won’t lie to you, it’ll hurt for the first few months. Legs will be sore, arse numb, and at this time of year it’s likely to get cold and wet. BUT, stick with it, if you can make it through winter, then by next summer you’ll be flying.

Get a comfortable bike – go to a local shop and try lots. Don’t let them sell you all the latest tech and gubbins. But it’d be nervous of any bikes costing less than £500 for a complete.

Also, get appropriate clothing – waterproofs, jacket, base layer. Stuff that breathes. Nothing worse than boiling in your own sweat.

As for riding on the road – the most important thing is make sure you’re seen. Hi-vis jacket or similar, bright lights, even reflective tape etc. Be careful in the wet, it can get slippery on some tyres.

Road bike. If you’re planning on taking a lot of stuff, make sure it can take panniers, and you probably want to make sure it can take mudguards (although almost all bikes can).

Cycle out near the middle of the lane. This actually forces cars to take care when going past you, rather then just batting it past you at whatever speed they were doing before they saw you.

You might want to go for a flat bar road bike if you’re just coming back to cycling, as it might be a bit less off-putting. You could always swap the bars to drops later if you want to.

Make sure you allow enough of your budget for decent lights, helmet and reflective gear. A selection of rear lights including a really bright one would be my suggestion.

I would be looking for a road bike with drop bars and mounts for a rack and mudguards. I would sit on a few and make sure you get one that fits your well.

I would also buy some warm and comfortable cloths and a serious set of lights.

Fab advice so far thanks a lot.

I assume you’d all go to a private retailer as oppose to the likes of Halfords for trying bikes? Are they likely to have enough bikes to compare? :S

A comfy (to you) bike with gears and lugs for full size mudguards. You may want to go flat bars over racer type bars. Something reasonably light but strong enough for the roads you will be on.

I assume you’d all go to a private retailer as oppose to the likes of Halfords for trying bikes? Are they likely to have enough bikes to compare?

I’m sure somebody on here can recommend bike shops in/around Sheffield that are worth a visit …

Hi Dan,

“Over here” – are you in the UK? No matter. I’ve been commuting to work by bike since 1983 so here’s my input:

If your trip is on road don’t let anyone sell you a mountainbike.

I ride a 700c (27″) wheel bike with 8 speed hub gears and disc brakes. It’s heavy but I chose it specifically for the commute, it regards crappy weather and ill-maintained roads with utter contempt and simply ploughs on regardless.

I have full mudguards.

I have white front and red rear lights on my bike and on my helmet. I have a red rear light on my backpack.

Ride confidently, don’t skulk along in the gutter. Give parked cars a wide berth, and when passing or overtaking, look behind you, signal clearly and make a large bold move.

Watch out for pedestrians crossing from behind parked cars or buses.

Kit: there’s loads of purpose made stuff on the market ranging in price from not much to loads, I don’t know your budget.

Buy a helmet for sure, and I think you need proper padded shorts (wash after each day to avoid saddle sores). The rest you can mix and match according to taste and budget.

Enjoy and HTH!

You might want to go for a flat bar road bike if you’re just coming back to cycling, as it might be a bit less off-putting. You could always swap the bars to drops later if you want to.

Which would be really expensive. Drop bars are where it’s at. Flat bars are horrible on road.

For road bikes, the value for money buys are from websites like canyon, ribble, and planet x. But you can also get good value for money from boardman @ halfords, and from bike shops selling off last years bikes like cube or stevens (if you’ve got a hargroves near you).

In Sheffield you have J E James Cycles & The Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative.

Halfords are worth a look as the Boardman bikes are excellent value. However, Halfords staff are very hit and miss with regards to their cycling advice & technical knowledge. Some are very good, others are dire.

I use a kona dew drop for commuting, rack panniers full guards, it’s great, 8 miles each way. If the weather is nice though i’ll go on my road bike and do a long hilly ride home.

I just got a Boardman hybrid from Halfords and it has been set up nicely, much better than the 29er I was previously using.

Hi Dan,

Dependant upon how your general fitness is at the mo you might find 12 miles a struggle at the start, 5 days a week. (There was a thread on here last week about “how far is too far”).

12 miles hilly could take you about an hour each way, plus you’ll need to shower / change.

Have you heard about Cycle Scheme? You might be able to get a bike through that..

Anyhow, welcome and good luck 🙂

what ever it is, unless you are a fair weather cyclist you will want proper mudguards.

some road bikes have enough clearance for proper SKS guards.

I’d go for flat bars for commuting on busy roads – your head is then placed higher to allow you to see and be seen.

I’d also recommend 700c wheels with 30mm ish tyres, and get yourself a rack and full mudguards to make it practical. And get a track pump to get your tyres up to decent pressures – I’m always amazed when I see people struggling along on tyres that I would consider to be “flat”.

Do your “first time” commute route on a Sunday to get used to the junctions, lane use and the amount of effort required. Take your time!

As above really.

Personally I’d look at flat bar road bike with a hub gear and a set of bar ends, mud guards and a pannier rack. But then I have a pathalogical hatred of drop bars!

Most of the bikes you’ll be looking at will have a compact or triple chainset – don’t make the mistake I did and buy a special offer and then discover it has a full big-gear-dinner-plate-hard-man road chain set on the first steep hill.

Don’t wear a Hi vis and then put a backpack on top so that no-one can see it….

Ribble and Planet X generally have sizing charts on their websites for a bit of background info, but you’ll still want to sit on the bikes.
Planet X have a show room – never been there, but it’s up north somewhere
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/how-to-find-us/

Aldi bike gear is back on sale this Thursday, ideal for commuting gear 🙂

Bike lights – make sure you get something that gives off light to the sides – most mountain bike lights have all their throw focussed forwards for good trail visibility, this tends to not be so good when you want a driver to see you as he’s waiting at a side road.

Tyres with reflective side walls are good, as is any other kind of “passive” lighting – pedal reflectors, wheel reflectors etc etc.

Enjoy – it’s not as bad as you think, and I bet you can find some quiter routes if you try. I’ve been riding into Bradford for the last 8 years & always on the same old route, but when I did a bit of exploring I found an almost traffic free route for most of it.

Good luck

Bike wise – depends on your budget I guess, but the commuter stuff at Edinburgh Bike always looks ok. Courier race disc is £379, I guess you’d want an 18″ at 5ft 9

Link

What facilities do you have at work? For commuting that sort of distance day in day out you will need somewhere secure to lock your bike up at work, somewhere to get changed and store your cycling kit whilst you are at work and shower facilities. If you don’t have all that it’s probably not a goer. If you have all that, a road bike as suggested by many above is the best road to go down get one with mounts for mudguards. If you don’t have the luxury of being able to drive to work when the weather is bad set aside a fair bit of your budget for kit. I would think you’d want a couple of pairs of cycling shorts and jerseys, possibly some bib tights or something for winter, some base layers, a good waterproof jacket, helmet, cycling shoes if you are planning on riding clips. Stuff like arm warmers, knee warmers, roadie caps, overshoes, gilets etc would all serve to make the commute a bit nicer in all conditions and you’ll want to have enough stuff so that if it rains all 5days you’re not running out of dry kit. If you are doing it year round you will spend a fair bit of time riding in the dark so you’ll want to be lit up like a Christmas tree. You’ll also need locks, some tools to fix minor problems and some spares in case you can’t get to a bike shop before needing to ride in again. You’ll have to carry stuff into work (clothes to change into at the very least) so you’ll need something for that. Whatever option you go for, panniers or backpack, make sure it’s waterproof, I’m currently going for waterproof rucksack with a drybag inside.

Iain

Wow, I didn’t expect such a huge response thanks so much for all the comments, they’re very very helpful. I actually work from home but I’m a mature student at sheffield uni 3 days a week so thats what the bike is for. Im used to students stinking of booze in lectures so I’m sure they can cope with a bit of perspiration 😉

Budget wise I was looking at a Boardman Team Carbon (10) which is about £1000 but from what I’ve read this will be too light for commuting in bad weather? I’m thinking icy morning roads at the moment so feel that karinofnines “plough” bike would be ideal! Are the heavier bike frames still made from carbon just at a different density? Thanks for the aldi tip, we have one close by.

Really quite excited about the prospect, just a bit anxious of Buses, Taxis and late for work people.

If it’s all road, then you’ll be wanting a road bike!

You might want to go for a flat bar road bike

I have a road bike and a hybrid and don’t see anything wrong with the hybrid…. it’s also far sale 🙄

I woulld also advise on some decent all round tyres rather than slick 23s

Thanks Iain, the University does have showers in the Information Commons but the whole showering/changing process will be a bit of a faff, especially for a 2 hour lecture…

I have no facilities at work at all, I just sit in my stink all day. Bike comes into the office with me, no-one cares 🙂

It’s about a 17 mile round trip for me.

Yes they do CycleScheme:

The Boardman (like many others) is spec’d and priced to come in just under the £1000 limit:

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/reward/mybenefits/payplus/bikes

If you are in Sheffield, may be worth you taking a trip to Decathlon – they have some very well priced bikes and although most of the staff are on a “Halfords” level of knowledge, there are a couple who know what they’re on about. Consider getting some merino base layers too – they don’t stink like synthetic ones and are much warmer in the winter. Also, what sort of bike storage is there at the university? Some places have bike lockers, but don’t go spending tons of cash on a flashy bike if it’s liable to get pinched!

There are lots of bike racks where you chain the frame to them. I’m just a mere student and not employed by the University mind so no bike discount for me 🙁

I’m at uni currently and for the 2nd and 3rd year I lived about 2.5miles away which was ok not getting fully kitted up for apart from full water proof kit when raining. I was looking at being 5miles away this year (in the end I went for somewhere much closer) and I would have got changed and showered at uni for that, I couldn’t do 12 miles in normal clothes without looking like I had fallen into a lake. If you can, give it a go and see what time/what state you are in at then end and that should make your mind up for you kit wise.

The Boardman won’t be “too light” for commuting but it isn’t as suited as something else, I don’t think it has mudguard or rack mounts for a start. Having a quick look it seams only the boardman hybrids have rack mounts unless I’m missing something.

Iain

I would look at a tourer. I’m currently riding a Kona Stura with panniers and it’s been a revelation from my slicked up MTB.

Budget wise I was looking at a Boardman Team Carbon (10) which is about £1000 but from what I’ve read this will be too light for commuting in bad weather? I’m thinking icy morning roads at the moment so feel that karinofnines “plough” bike would be ideal! Are the heavier bike frames still made from carbon just at a different density? Thanks for the aldi tip, we have one close by

being too light for bad weather? not an issue. main thing for bad weather is mudguards and decent clothes.

as the old saying goes – no such thing as bad weather just bad clothes. Boardman is good value.

if you get a cheaper one you can get guards, lights, clothes etc and still be under the £1k limit

Budget wise I was looking at a Boardman Team Carbon (10) which is about £1000

Nothing wrong with that bike – in fact if I was after a road bike I’d consider it. Not what I’d go for as a commuter though. Check it’s got rack and mudguard mounts, will it get nicked? The best anti-theft device is a bike that doesn’t look too flash.
Plus to get a Carbon frame under the magic cycle to work grand mark there are sometimes compromises on the wheels and groupset, so if you buy it and you ride it all winter, budget for new wheels & groupset next spring

Most what you need stuff has probably been covered but a road bike with ability to fit full guards would be ideal.

Anyway on to the actual commute itself. I commute 20 miles each way and when I started doing it around 4 years ago I found the ride home an absolute killer. I have a long, long climb but I found the best thing to do was mentally break it up into sections, pass that road, done, deal with the next block. Much better than thinking of the bigger picture and your achieving something all the time.

I absolutely love my commute now though and you will get to a stage that the route becomes easy and you’ll look for other challenges rather than just getting home without collapsing.

I always carry an emergency chocolate bar which can help for the last few miles if things get tough.

I would look at a tourer.

top call – whilst they might not seem ‘cool’ they are very versatile and ideal for shopping, commuting general transportation and tend to ride nicely.

ridgeback make a nice range starting from £800 ish

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/ridgeback/voyage-2011-touring-bike-ec025128

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/ridgeback/platinum-2011-touring-bike-ec025126

come with guards, decent tyres etc and safety brake levers etc

Dan

I am cycling 11 miles in Sheffield each way. Though my route is longer to skirt the bigger hills. Running an Edinburgh Bike Co-op Courier Nexus with mud guards and pannier rack, got it mail order before their store opened in Sheffield.
I have five day’s worth of cycle gear so don’t have to live in the smell two days in a row.
Planet X/On-One out near Magna have some nice bikes worth considering.
Don’t get anything too flash if parking up near the university, many bikes over the years have been “tested” in that area, luckily a big lock puts off the passing thief. Bike never attractive enough for a pro.