What bike to buy?

[Tourist since 1971]

For all you cyclists out there, I am in the market for a new bike.
I have been using a 15 year old Trek single track 810 which a mate gave me. For the last 6 weeks I have been going out for rides between 17 and 45 miles over mainly roads but including some off road cycle tracks (no serious off roading for me at my age but wagon ways etc are great fun).
Last weekend did an 85 mile stint (Newcastle to osmotherley via Durham bishop Auckland northallerton) which bloody near killed me, but I did feel the Trek810 seemed a tad heavy.

Any ideas for an appropriate bike for upto £400?

Ta in advance for any guidance.

 

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

Trek 420 fx

Ive got it..class hybrid mate

 

[manchester blue]

Specialized Sirrus.<br /><br />-- Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:37 pm --<br /><br />Specialized Sirrus.

 

[MadchesterCity]

good luck mate, try a second hand bike?

 

[Churchill123]

Can't give you specific models as im an all out roadie and don't do any of that off road track stuff, but from a brand point of view someone mentioned Spesh and they seem to make good bikes, maybe also have a look at what Giant can offer, or maybe focus - All of those mentioned to come in at £400 you'd need to look at second hand..

 

[Tourist since 1971]

Thanks for the ideas - second hand is not a problem I'm not precious, just as long as it
Is light, fast, copes with cycle paths, never gets a puncture, never slips its chain, and has a granny gear to get me up a decent hill. Not much to ask I know.

 

[GazM]

Got a Giant Terrago - not sure if they still make em but had no problems with it whatsoever.

 

[BlueMom]

I don't know about individual bikes at certain budgets, but the type of cycling you do is the same as we do. We have cyclocross bikes, which we absolutely love. We cycle mainly on roads, where we do well compared to mountain bikes or hybrid, but we do some easy offroad (canal paths, farm tracks etc, but no rock!). My husband and I are both 50ish, missing the odd ACL, and one of us is a scaredy cat about downhill stuff.

Cyclocross was apparently started about 100 years ago in France for road cyclists to keep fit over the winter. They used to mainly cycle on road, but sometimes wanted to take a short cut cross country.

The bikes look like road bikes, but the forks are wider (to stop mud jamming up the wheels), and to allow you to use different size tyres. They are light, so you can hop off and fling the bike over your shoulder, or a gate, or whatever. There are rules nowadays defining what makes a cyclocross bike. Those rules were changed a couple of years ago, since we got ours, meaning that you can now have disc brakes. This is good, as our 'normal' brakes do get worn away by gritty mud - which also damages the wheel.

On price, cyclocross bikes are generally cheaper than the stupid amounts some people spend on both road or mountain bikes. About 4 years ago, our bikes should have cost £1000 each, but we got them half price from a local triathlon bike shop, as they were end of line (last season's colours, presumably....)

We do the Scottish Coast to Coast each September, training hard all summer, and I also used to cycle to work along country lanes and cutting through woods and footpaths occasionally. We do get the bikes serviced a couple of times a year and have had to replace brakes, handlebar tape and wheel rims, but basically they still look brand new.

I don't know what the secondhand market for cyclocross bikes is, but I recommend you investigate it, and your local independent bike shops to see if you can get a bargain like we did.

 

[Patientman63]

 

[Lakeysbadknee]

Halfords got a sale on this week I believe,think the Carrera is £150 off,so £349.99 if I remember correctly. May be worth having a look at their Boardman range too,though I think they're a bit above £400.Great spec though.