Cycling UK Forum

I am about to start training for the C2C in the next couple of weeks and will be going out to buy a bike this weekend with a budget of £500. Can anyone advise me what would be best for me i.e mountain bike or hybrid and what tyres i would require and do i need disc brakes or will v brakes be sufficient. Any advice on anything to do with buying a bike would be useful esp from anyone who has done the C2C before and if anyone can recommend a particular bike in my budget then all the better.

From my own research i was going with the GT Avalanche 1.0 MTB, but a recent visit to Evans they tried to talk me into a Scott Sportster P3 08 hybrid which has left me a bit confused about what I really need

Thanks

eileithyia wrote:Well I saw John's bike yesterday and very sexy it looked.

My new bike will be from Wallis cycles, with an option of red or blue, gone for red as a lot of Ribble frames around here are blue

Thanks for that eileithyia,my scar's still bigger than yours though

Thought as an exercise I'd price up a build:-
Mechs, Tiagra £31
cassette, Tiagra and chain, Sram £25
Sti's, Tiagra £90
Brakes, Tiagra £40
Wheels Ultegra hubs,DRC st17rims
db spokes £150
C/set Tiagra inc BB £50
H/bars, stem, 3T £35
Mudguards, SKS £15
Tyres (conti gators)tubes,rim tape, £50
Saddle, Rolls £20
H/bar tape £6
sub Total £507
Thorn Audax Mk3 Frame inc postand packing= £304
Total cost= £811

Hi Matt,

Welcome.


Mandy x
(From Derby)

I have given myself about 10 hours a day of cycling.
Would you guys think that this a good amount of time to cover 100 miles.

I think that i could do it in around 6 hours per day but I want to take in the views and stop for breaks and actually appreciate what I am doing.

Can anybody from experience of this ride recommend a good overnight resting place about halfway through my route?

Cheers guys!

Hi everybody,

Read a few posts on here before joining, but couldn't wait anylonger!

I'm from Stoke-on-Trent, some lovely places to cycle. I currenty choose to leave the car at home and commute around 11 miles a day to work. I love getting in early, showering and being ready waiting for all the "drivers" to get in rubbing sleep from their eyes and moaning about the traffic.
I commute in all weathers, I'm lucky to have a shower at work.

I love chatting about cycling and reading about it, usually I'll do a big run at the weekends on my own. When the weather picks up, I've planned a " Matt's Tour to the sea" ( my wife shakes her head ) I want to cycle to Rhyl, the nearest seaside to Stoke at around 81 miles from my house. Maybe camp or get a B&B and come back the next day or day after. I've got a longing to do this.

Currently got a Claud Butler San Remo have spent money on it, but collect my new Bianchi soon ( Wanted one of these for ages )

Hope to chat to like minded people in the future.



Thanks

Matt

aesmith wrote:Reoho2,

My comment about Ultegra was more from surprise, particularly that you thought that the frame was good enough to deserve that quality of kit, and also the idea that it could maybe be done for the same price as Thorn charge for their Tiagra based build.

I've had a little check around and it seems that Shimano should be compatible with just about any Shimano cassette/mechanism/levers. Maybe the compatibility issue isn't such a big one. (Once the Campag vs Shimano decision is made). My heart says Campag, but I've a feeling my head should be saying Shimano.

I don't have indexing at the moment, but I wouldn't commit to any combination that didn't support it, not on a new bike.

Tony S

The only compatability issues with Shimano is the front mech,with STI's you must use a road front mech not an MTB one as their cable pull is different.
Having ridden the bike I would definatly say its worthy of good stuff, but then I thought my old Raleigh was and that cracked under the unreasonable pressure placed upon it when graced with such a superbe gruppo as Ultegra ,still I've got 100 days to change my mind.

I'm not knocking the Thorn frame, far from it, it's one of the frames I'm considering this year, Mercian, Jackson or Thorn, depending on how flush I'm feeling. I'd also go for the blue.

reohn2 wrote:Generally any machine that runs on external power, ie a motor, other than human power,does so on dead sunshine and as such is doomed,until we(humans) find a way to power motors from present sunshine (present sunshine power used by the national grid is at present minimal)which by nature would be almost self perpetuating,but there's still a lot of money to be made by greedy men from old sunshine yet, so human power is by nature the most efficient in that it runs on present sunshine with little or no waste,even human waste can be used to produce more food,whereas the waste produced by generating electricity only pollutes.

You are clearly advocating the extended use of nuclear energy which I wholeheartedly agree!

AlbionLass wrote:I priced up the Thorn Audax MK3 frame as a build up with Campag Centuar, Mavic, Deda or ITM etc it came out at about £900.

You could get a Bob Jackson off the peg Audax frame for about £360, vast choice of colours too.

I can't speak for Campag as I don't use it.It seems another reason for using Shimano,its cheaper!

I looked at Bob Jackson and it was a 5 to 6 week wait for an off the peg frame and they couldn't say that clearance for 28mm tyres was a definate.The 28mm clearance with the Thorn was a big factor,as was the 100 day no quibble money back guarentee .
Whilst I agree about the colour choice the only I didn't like blue was that I already have two other blue bikes and red was a no,no for me,so blue it was and nice it is too,also I still have £60 flapping out of my back pocket

I used to work for them years ago when they were in Tysely in Birmingham. At the time there was a real pride in what went out of the door. Now it's mostly imported and isn't the brand it once was.

(like a lot of British industry unfortunately)

[quote="Paul Smith SRCC"]There are some that look like cycling shoes:



Those are the ones I have, fine to walk to and from the garage (50 yards) in but a bit awkward to walk much further I would have thought.

As has been suggested, go and try a few pairs on and see what feels right.

monster wrote:

reohn2 wrote:But we eat food anyway, don't you?, everyone eats food so the food point is isn't valid.
I own a few bikes and if I was to commute say three miles to work my Hybrid would probably be the tool of choice(it weighs about(14kgs) 30lb and could be pedaled by anyone with resonable fitness at about 12 to15mph no worries.No extra food would be needed to do this so no extra resourses needed to operate the machine, compare that with an EB and it would need plugging into an electrical outlet every night, therebye using extra resourses to do the same job as beans on toast!
There is no comparison,I do a 70mile bike ride on the same food as I would if I lay on the sofa scratching my belly watching telly.

hi reohn2

are you saying that our bodies have an infinite supply of free energy? because that is thermodynamically impossible.

there are two possible scenarios here:

1/ food intake regulates energy levels. when we use energy it has to be replaced. we do this by eating more. this "extra food" may be so little that we simply wouldn't notice it unless we started weighing and charting exactly what we eat. as little as 80g of fat, could be enough to power a cyclist for an hour of cycling (assuming 25% efficiency).

2/ metabolic efficiency regulates energy levels. when we are lazy, we could be inefficient at digesting our food because our bodies don't need it (poohing out undigested food). then, when we exercise our bodies could suddenly start being very efficient and digest everything -thus giving us "free energy." this would only work up to a point and we would then have to eat more if we wanted to cycle more.

or it could be a mixture of both.

However, i suspect scenario 2 is only true in morbidly obese people who eat for the sake of eating and the food doesn't have enough time to digest before it is forced out by the input of the next batch.

anyone have any evidence either way?

You seem to be answering your own question.

Lets say my daily imput of food is 123 joules of energy(its a made up figure because 123 are next to each other on the keyboard)when I cycle (about three to four rides a week) my food input remains the same,so what I'm saying is that when I cycle its 123j and when I don't its 123j.I deduce from this simple equation that I cycle on the same energy input.
My/our cycle rides are usually between 40 and 70miles usually,at a brisk pace (solo 16to17mph average, tandem 12 to 14mph av)

If I were to cycle the same rides with an electrically assisted bike I would at least use more energy because the bike would need to be recharged on a regular basis.Not to mention the extra weight of batteries, motor, heavier frame, etc also when not using the electric facility on the bike, ie just pedaling I would use more energy because of weight alone not to mention the lack of enjoyment due to the machine's lethergy.

Lets not forget that the modern bicyle is a very efficient machine indeed, this is compromised with EB bikes by weight alone,thats not to say that I have anything against EB's in their place they're IMO good for their intention, ie shopping where occasional cyclists would find an unassisted bike harder work and less of a pleasure to use, or for a disabled or elderly person not upto anything more than gentle exercise due to their disablilty or age.
To compare EB's with the modern bicycle to me is to compare chalk with cheese,OK they may look similar but thats where the similarity ends Eb's just aren't efficient where fit cyclists and where lengthy day long rides are concerned but I suspect you already know that.

Once the energy is expelled in the manufacture and maintanence of a modern bicycle it runs on as I said beans on toast and is extremely efficient,not so the EB comparetively(sp?).

Generally any machine that runs on external power, ie a motor, other than human power,does so on dead sunshine and as such is doomed,until we(humans) find a way to power motors from present sunshine (present sunshine power used by the national grid is at present minimal)which by nature would be almost self perpetuating,but there's still a lot of money to be made by greedy men from old sunshine yet, so human power is by nature the most efficient in that it runs on present sunshine with little or no waste,even human waste can be used to produce more food,whereas the waste produced by generating electricity only pollutes.

Wassat!!? Water? Itsh absholutely vital fur making whusky!

My bottle dusnae freesh o'er the winter cosh I use a half bottle o' Shcotland's finesht with aboot 20% water, jusht to keep it healfy like!

My biggesh trubble ish keepin' mah deep fried marsh bar fae goin' cold!

Thank you Paul.