Cheapest Budget Road Bike a Bad Idea? & Best Newbie route from Celbridge to Liffey Va

AirsoftAndy

Hey so I'm a full time Student so When I say Budget I really mean Budget I've been offered a Night job in liffey valley so I need a way to get to and from work and as I have been interested in getting a Road Bike and Beginning training for some time It seems to work out pretty well! I have been looking in to Bikes and stumbled across the budget range on Halfords ( http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-zelos-road-bike-2015 ) For €330 euro also I will get a nice D lock , helmet , reflective gear , and lights. What I'm asking is does anyone have or know of anyone with any experience with these cheap bikes and know if I will regret getting the cheapest one I can get or should it do me until I get a bit more experienced with cycling ? Also does anyone know an easy route to liffey Valley from Celbridge, I don't mind if it's a bit slower I just don't want to Get into / Cause any accidents while I'm starting out
Cheers in Advance!

StevieGriff

What I'd say is ask around your family to see if anyone you know has an available bike to work scheme that you could use and pay them the balance. It could mean you'd end up getting something a lot better than the Zelos for not much more money.
Trouble is with those cheaper Carrera's is they're made up of cheap parts so you could find yourself burning through bottom brackets, wheel bearings and such.

cython

You mention cycling between Celbridge and Liffey Valley - one thing to be careful of if you are making this journey in the dark is that not only are your lights good enough to be seen, but also to see with - from memory parts of the road from Celbridge to Lucan are not necessarily well lit in the dark. The best route probably depends a bit on how comfortable you may or may not be in cycling in traffic, but this would be one route from Celbridge which avoids the N4, though a reverse of this is less straightforward as it makes use of a one-way stretch of road into Lucan, which isn't directly reversed, so to speak. This might be one alternative though.

Any time I've cycled from town out that direction I've happily gone along the N4 in the bus lane from Liffey Valley, through Lucan, and then back onto the N4 until the Celbridge exit, basically in the segregated carriageways. Not really sure what the best inbound route might be though.

mezzanine08

One thing to consider is you don't know if you're really into cycling yet, and by that I mean long distances as a hobby. It would be a safe bet to get this bike if all you're doing is commuting because you will find out if you enjoy it or not - if you don't, you didn't sink too much into it and it'll do you for commuting.

Personally I would spend at least 500 on an entry level bike. Check out some sites for deals. As an example I came across a bike on evanscycles that's about 550 euro that has the Shimano Sora groupset (it's called a Pinnacle Dolomite Three, can't link it).

The bike you linked has the Shimano Tourney groupset which is really just for commuting or non-hobbyist cycling. Again, if you're sure you'll like it try save a bit more and go for a bike with at least a Shimano Claris groupset and maybe 10 kilos or less.

macnab

I usually tell people to start with cheap road bikes, 2nd hand Carreras can be bought for €200. Spend your bike to work money on a better bike if you get the cycling bug, or sell the Carerra for €200 if you don't.