Newbie(ish) - hybrid bicycle choice

pburns

I am currently thinking of buying a hybrid for general fitness/road use in countryside. I have a Trek 4100 Alpha which hasn't been a great sucess - tyres are too big and chunky for road use, no suspension to be comfortable off road.

My immediate thought was to go for another Trek, something along the lines of the Trek 7.3 FX. I have also looked at the Boardman Comp and a Sirrus Specialised.

My priorites would be lightness, speed, comfort. The Sirrus Comp claims to have 'specialised Armidillo tyres that solve all concerns with punctures'. Is there such thing as tyres that are less prone to punctures (thorns an issue on country roads) or is this brochure BS?

Trek seems the 'safe' choice. The Boardman looks fantastic but Halfords staff are unlikely to be as expert as specialised bike shop for set-up etc. The Sirrus Elite has a carbon fork in many of it's models, and seems good value, but the bikes just don't look as 'sexy' as Boardman or Trek IMO

So does anyone have any pointers or advice please?

Budget would probably be sub €700 BTW...

Civilian_Target

You can just change the tyres (or wheels maybe if need be) on your existing bike and it should be a huge improvement, although if you plan to keep doing cycles you will want to replace it because just looking at the pictures says the front fork is a lump of junk.
The Trek 7.3 will be a big improvement, although if it's for the country side and you want to go fast, why not just get a racer and not bother with an in-between? The potholes aren't so bad that you need a hybrid, even in Donegal.

Armaillos and similar tyres are very good against punctures, glass does nothing to them, maybe a worthwhile investment. Be aware that they are crap in the rain though.

pburns

Civilian_Target wrote: »

...just looking at the pictures says the front fork is a lump of junk.
The Trek 7.3 will be a big improvement, although if it's for the country side and you want to go fast, why not just get a racer and not bother with an in-between? The potholes aren't so bad that you need a hybrid, even in Donegal.

Armaillos and similar tyres are very good against punctures, glass does nothing to them, maybe a worthwhile investment. Be aware that they are crap in the rain though.

I've heard complaints online about the fork. Is that because there's no suspension? Light enough frame but it's neither fish-nor-fowl, mediocre on-road and off. A guy who works in forestery and owns a quad and a couple of bikes was telling me about sealant this evening. Might put that in the tyres of old Trek for off-road use. I have a forest track nearby that would be great fun but plagued with punctures.

Thinking also about a Giant 1.0 but can't seem to find any meaningful reviews online. Seems reasonable value though and has carbon forks - good for absorbing vibration I gather...

I don't like racers, just can't get comfortable on them, prefer the wide handlebars.

neilled

pburns wrote: »

I've heard complaints online about the fork. Is that because there's no suspension? Light enough frame but it's neither fish-nor-fowl, mediocre on-road and off. A guy who works in forestery and owns a quad and a couple of bikes was telling me about sealant this evening. Might put that in the tyres of old Trek for off-road use. I have a forest track nearby that would be great fun but plagued with punctures.

Thinking also about a Giant 1.0 but can't seem to find any meaningful reviews online. Seems reasonable value though and has carbon forks - good for absorbing vibration I gather...

I don't like racers, just can't get comfortable on them, prefer the wide handlebars.

I was going to say - can you get a bike on the cycle to work scheme? Because if you were doing so I'd suggest a Gary Fisher Mendota - it shares a similar enough frame to my trek 7.5fx, carbon fork, avid bb5 disks. Its marginally over your budget but if you were to buy in NI or under the cycle to work scheme it bring within price range. The boardman top of the range hybrid looks grand, though the servicing and set up seems problematic.

coolbeans

pburns wrote: »

I am currently thinking of buying a hybrid for general fitness/road use in countryside. I have a Trek 4100 Alpha which hasn't been a great sucess - tyres are too big and chunky for road use, no suspension to be comfortable off road.

My immediate thought was to go for another Trek, something along the lines of the Trek 7.3 FX. I have also looked at the Boardman Comp and a Sirrus Specialised.

My priorites would be lightness, speed, comfort. The Sirrus Comp claims to have 'specialised Armidillo tyres that solve all concerns with punctures'. Is there such thing as tyres that are less prone to punctures (thorns an issue on country roads) or is this brochure BS?

Trek seems the 'safe' choice. The Boardman looks fantastic but Halfords staff are unlikely to be as expert as specialised bike shop for set-up etc. The Sirrus Elite has a carbon fork in many of it's models, and seems good value, but the bikes just don't look as 'sexy' as Boardman or Trek IMO

So does anyone have any pointers or advice please?

Budget would probably be sub €700 BTW...

Hey PB,
I've a Specialized myself and I'm well impressed with the quality. It's not a Cirrus so I can't give you a direct comparison but if its top quality you want I'd be looking at Specialized. Did a summer of couriering on it and it held up well despite several crashes and well over ten thousand miles over the period I've owned it. I do almost almost all my city trips on the bike so I think I know what I'm talking about. Can't hack sitting in traffic. That said I love my cycling but don't know a hell of a lot about bikes. I have noticed that Treks have more of a mass produced 'feel' to them and the same with Giants.
Structure of this might be messy. I'm writing this in bed.

PWEI

pburns wrote: »

I am currently thinking of buying a hybrid for general fitness/road use in countryside. I have a Trek 4100 Alpha which hasn't been a great sucess - tyres are too big and chunky for road use, no suspension to be comfortable off road.

My immediate thought was to go for another Trek, something along the lines of the Trek 7.3 FX. I have also looked at the Boardman Comp and a Sirrus Specialised.

My priorites would be lightness, speed, comfort. The Sirrus Comp claims to have 'specialised Armidillo tyres that solve all concerns with punctures'. Is there such thing as tyres that are less prone to punctures (thorns an issue on country roads) or is this brochure BS?

Trek seems the 'safe' choice. The Boardman looks fantastic but Halfords staff are unlikely to be as expert as specialised bike shop for set-up etc. The Sirrus Elite has a carbon fork in many of it's models, and seems good value, but the bikes just don't look as 'sexy' as Boardman or Trek IMO

So does anyone have any pointers or advice please?

Budget would probably be sub €700 BTW...

Just to let you know the Trek 7.3 FX is for sale from
http://www.wheelsnmotion.co.uk/ in the North for £374 and they
deliver free to the Republic.
Also if you do go for the boardman comp you'll save about €100 if you buy
it from Halfords in Newry.

SEORG

I tested both the Trek 7.3 and the Specialized Sirrus Elite two weeks ago and sided with the Sirrus.
Before I saw the Trek in person I thought it was the better looking of the two but when I saw both together there was not a lot of difference.
Just found that I had more control and it was a smoother ride so I sided with it. I suppose it is down to personal preference in the end.

Civilian_Target

pburns wrote: »

I've heard complaints online about the fork. Is that because there's no suspension?

Well... suspensions are bad anyway... but just because it looks huge, and doesn't have one. If you're on road, you should have no need for a suspension, unless you're planning a tour of africa.

I don't like racers, just can't get comfortable on them, prefer the wide handlebars.

I dunno, I don't ride a road bike either, but that's simply because my existing hybrid is good enough and I don't want to invest 800 quid in a road bike, and sell my own for less than what it's worth.

And my advice is the same to you. What you have is not that bad, and if you're not in it for the speed -- and it's not uncomfortable -- why replace it? Just change the wheels if that's what you need.

And if you are in it for the speed, well then do it right and start trying racers. If you want speed, you'll want a racer sooner or later.

PWEI

Sorry to bump up an old topic but I thought it would be better than opening a new hybrid topic.After weeks of research I've decided to go for a hybrid
instead of a road bike.I narrowed it down to three but have just ruled out the Trek 7.5.So I'm down to two now,the Boardman Performance Hybrid Bike Pro and the 2009 Specialized Sirrus Expert.Any opinions on either would be greatly appreciated.


http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2009&Brand=Specialized&Model=Sirrus+Expert&Type=bike

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_502567_langId_-1_categoryId_165534

neilled

PWEI wrote: »

Sorry to bump up an old topic but I thought it would be better than opening a new hybrid topic.After weeks of research I've decided to go for a hybrid
instead of a road bike.I narrowed it down to three but have just ruled out the Trek 7.5.So I'm down to two now,the Boardman Performance Hybrid Bike Pro and the 2009 Specialized Sirrus Expert.Any opinions on either would be greatly appreciated.


http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2009&Brand=Specialized&Model=Sirrus+Expert&Type=bike

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_502567_langId_-1_categoryId_165534

I'd imagine the sirrus to be the faster of the two. Test ride the boardman - cycling plus reported vibration issues with the rear discs on the old models. This may have been remedied with the new ones.

manaka

Hi Guys, I was thinking of a hybrid type bike myself but now your opinions have swayed me to just the road bike. In the local ads there is a trek alpha 1000 for sale, 3 years old, good condition, no pics. for 220. Is this a good bike? what should I look out for if i was to check out this bike? Im new to biking and am not taking it up serious, just keeping fit etc. Im located in Donegal. Any tips greatly appreciated..