Cycling Novist - Need help choosing a Bike

The_Chopper

I was hoping someone here would be able to help me choose a bike.

As part of the government "cycle to work scheme" I am looking to spend up to 1k on a bike. What I am looking for is the following:
Light weight
Comfortable
For getting fit
Mainly for city use, but may do the odd "country cycle"

As part of the scheme I have been given the following two sites as reference
www.Halfords.ie and
http://www.bikes4work.ie

After having a look around I thought of the following http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_502579_langId_-1_categoryId_212377 but then realised I really haven't a clue.

Apologies if this is a common thread, but the search function is down.

Thanks for all you comments and recommendations

blorg

That hybrid bike gets good reviews and would probably be one of the best value options at that price level in Ireland. Only risk factor with the Boardmans is that Halfords bike set up can apparently be dodgy.

A fast hybrid is perfectly suited to "city use with the odd country cycle" and is a good choice for a beginner looking to get fit. That bike will also take full mudguards and a pannier rack on the back, very useful for city use.

If you think you want to do longer spins in the country worth considering a road bike with dropped handlebars. With many you lose the rack and mudguards option though.

davecork

Hi there, I know this is my first post here but I have a Lapierre rcr300 and I love it. It cost me about €700 from cyclesuperstore in Tallaght

rflynnr

I dunno if your use of the cycle to work scheme implies that you're new to cycle commuting but if it does, I'd set aside at least €200 for lights, rain gear and locks (all of which qualify under the scheme). I don't know your finances but that might imply looking at bikes around the €800 mark rather than €1000.

Don't get me wrong - the Boardman is a fine bike although it's basically a road bike with flat handlebars rather than a true hybrid and has a narrower range of gears as a result. You might want to think about your commute route and how much you'll be carrying on the bike. If there's hills and you're bringing panniers I'd think about a bike with three rings at the front (rather than the two on the Boardman).

blorg

@rflynnr- bear in mind that the Boardman uses a wide-range mountain bike cassette at the back (11-32T) - with the 36T small chainring this gives you a lowest gear equivalent to 30-27 on a typical roadie triple. This is low enough for just about anything IMO, even with panniers. If you needed more you have the option of going to a 34T cassette and indeed a 34T small front ring, this will give you much lower gearing than possible on a typical road triple. The 11T assures you don't lose anything at the top end either. I think it makes a lot of sense.

rflynnr

Missed that - too focused on the double at the front.

The_Chopper

Cheers for the advise guys. I'll buy gear such as lights, helmet etc separately.

So people think this is a good buy?

Any other suggestions perhaps?

cdaly_

Just bear in mind that Bikes 4 Work and similar broker services take 8% to 10% of the price from the bike shop so you lose any haggling room you might have had. If you can persuade your employer to deal direct with the shop you might save a bit. That said, I don't know if Halfords have any haggling room anyhow...

The_Chopper

cdaly_ wrote: »

Just bear in mind that Bikes 4 Work and similar broker services take 8% to 10% of the price from the bike shop so you lose any haggling room you might have had. If you can persuade your employer to deal direct with the shop you might save a bit. That said, I don't know if Halfords have any haggling room anyhow...

It's true I lose haggling, but I save 51% in tax

cdaly_

It's true I lose haggling, but I save 51% in tax

Your employer doesn't need to go through the brokers to participate in this scheme. They can administer it themselves (not sure of exactly what they have to do) and pay the bike shop direct.

The brokers are just middlemen taking their cut.

Doctor Bob

cdaly_ wrote: »

Your employer doesn't need to go through the brokers to participate in this scheme. They can administer it themselves (not sure of exactly what they have to do) and pay the bike shop direct.

The brokers are just middlemen taking their cut.

Where employers have elected to use a third party provider, I suspect they'd tell you that the choice is between using that service and not participating in the scheme at all.

I know that the admin of the scheme should be manageable by someone in HR with very little time investment, but not every company either realises that or cares to do it (or has a HR dept in the first place). For many, using the third party is the ideal solution. Better to get ~40% off than nothing at all, no?

(I'm not a broker, btw. Just putting the other side of the argument.)

muckraker

I wanted to get the Boardman's Hybrid despite worries about Halford's setup/support but couldn't because bike to work Ltd didn't get along with Halfords (AFAIK they won't deal with any middlemen) and my employers wouldn't participate in the scheme directly - so i ended up going the other way with a bad boy 8 '09 at a reasonably discounted price.

Just waiting for my voucher now!

feltAR2

hey, eurocycles and eurobaby have really good deals on commuter bikes and starter bikes that fit into ur 1k bracket.

The_Chopper

How does this bike compare? Well the updated version of this?

http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/bike_path/hybrid/7700e/

Thanks