Road Cycling

[Sweeney287]

The Boardman Road Comp is great value, the Cannondale CAAD8 7 Sora is good bike, as well as Trek 1.2 and the ROSE Pro-2200 compact.

 

 

I recently joined the Cycle to work scheme and got a Boardman Hybrid Comp for £500 and am happy with it, however wish that I went for a road bike instead but will get one next year and sell this one.

 

Maybe cyclists should put there hand in their pocket and help to repair them.

 

I would imagine that the majority of cyclists do own a car so contribute to the upkeep of the roads.

[Champ]

I preferred paths to road anyday with all the punctures you could get from road riding.

 

You're lucky. I've had enough experiences on secluded pathways to make me feel unsafe enough that I'd rather take my chances on open roads where at least I know I'm not on my own. And I'm not a naturally nervous person (woman)

[LeniLegginIt]

What sort of money are you looking at with these?

As L19red said, the TREK 1.2 is around £700, the Cannondale is around £750, the Rose Pro-2200 compact is £850 online, and the Boardman is £630.

 

Can't go wrong with any of these, they're all good bikes.

[LeniLegginIt]

I recently joined the Cycle to work scheme and got a Boardman Hybrid Comp for £500 and am happy with it, however wish that I went for a road bike instead but will get one next year and sell this one.

 

I have a Boardman Hybrid as well, I use it for commuting and popping down to the shops. You should change the tyres to 700 x 23c continental gatorskin hardshells, it should make a diff in how the bike performs. I had to change the tyres on mine because i kept on getting punctures every week and then the back tyre exploded!

 

They're a good bike, I've brought mine up the mountains a few times on a 2-3hr spin and its been just as good as a road bike. If your thinking of buying a Road Boardman, they sell off the previous years model for about a 20% discount around late Jan, early Feb.

[L19red]

Aston Martn have brought out a bike. Its 25 grand and it still doesnt have any pedals.

Aston Martin Launches One-77 Superbike | Cyclingnews.com

[lifetime fan]

Who the fuck is going to spend 25k on a push bike?

[L19red]

77 people, thats all they are making.

[lifetime fan]

77 people, thats all they are making.

 

 

I'm not surprised.

[RoboRiise]

Cycling is great fun and if you do catch the bug, you will be surprised how many miles you can do on a bike, and you get out in the countryside which is also a bonus. Even riding in the winter months can be great fun, and cycling is very good for you and it does cater for all fitness levels in so much as however fit or unfit you maybe you can still have fun participating.

 

 

This is so true.

 

I don't ride any more, don't even have a bike at the moment but about 10-12 years ago I bought a total piece of shit steel framed racer from a mate; not like the Gucci bikes you lads have been posting here, i think I paid him £50 for it and he still ripped me off. The fucker weighed about the same as my Fiat Punto does and was about as far away from being a classy road bike as you can imagine.

 

I bought it to save money, nothing else. At the time I'd visit three or four mates during the week on different nights - they all lived within three or four miles of me, the buses were shite (every 30 minutes or longer and the last bus always left early), taxis cost a fortune and if I wasn't having a beer or a smoke and went in the car, petrol still wasn't cheap, so I thought fuck it - get a bike and save a fortune.

 

Bear in mind here that I live in Oldham; anyone that knows the town will know that you can't travel more than 200 yards in any direction without going up or down a hill; it's is in the Pennine foothills. Also, I was smoking 20 a day at the time and plenty of weed.

 

The first few weeks that I went out on that bike, travelling to my mates was great because they lived in Middleton - downhill all the way. Three miles uphill on the way home almost killed me; at least once a week I got off and pushed the fucker.

 

After about two months, I realised that not only was I never having to walk the last half mile, I was getting home way faster than I had been doing. A month or so later, I realised that I wasn't even out of breath any more when I got home. Then I started monitoring my cadence more closely and using the gears more effectively (not that I knew this was what I was doing at the time - I wasn't reading training plans or anything, I was just listening to my body and realising that sustained effort at the same level was more effective than flogging myself half to death on the steeper sections of the journey) and I started recording how quickly I made the journeys, always looking to do them quicker.

 

Anyway to cut a long and boring story short, within about 6-8 months I was spending Sundays during the summer riding that steel monstrosity from my house to Huddersfield and back on the A62. OK, hardly the Tourmalet but a long way from being flat either. It hurt like hell the first time I tried it but I loved the way my calves burned from the effort.

 

I never looked at getting involved with a club or anything because I'm not really a 'joiner' when it comes to stuff like that, the enjoyment was in testing my own limits not testing myself against other people but I have what you'd call an addictive personality and looking back on it now, it was one of the most addictive things I've ever done.

 

So why did I stop? Same reason a dude stops doing anything - a girl. She is as irrelevant to this story as she is to my life now though and leaves it here.

 

Every year when the TdF starts, I think yeah, I need to lose some weight and get fit again and I've never been as fit as when I was cycling. Then I decide I'll leave it a month or so because the weather is shitty and I don't want to look like one of those sad fucks that decides they're going to buy a bike because the TdF is on. Then before I know it it's September, the weather starts to close in up here and I think OK, spring next year I'm definitely going to buy a bike...

 

Maybe next year.

[Champ]

Good story. Recognise a lot of that personal challenge stuff. I think you're tempted. Get back to it

[L19red]

Get a turbo trainer and I'll stick a few sufferfest films on megaupload. Excellent winter training routines but hard work.

[manwiththestick]

Mountain biking. That's where it's at, more fun on the trails.

[lifetime fan]

Already have a GT mountain bike but it never gets used.

[Champ]

Get a turbo trainer and I'll stick a few sufferfest films on megaupload. Excellent winter training routines but hard work.

Each to their own.There's something about being outside too, being in the elements and taking in whats going on around you. Cant do this exercise for exercise's sake, going to gyms and watching the tv malarkey

[L19red]

Each to their own.There's something about being outside too, being in the elements and taking in whats going on around you. Cant do this exercise for exercise's sake, going to gyms and watching the tv malarkey

 

I'd rather be outside too, but If you want to ride the big cols you need to be in shape so the Turbo Trainer is a necessary evil, and the big avantage over the gym is you are one your own bike so the position is spot on.

[Champ]

I'd rather be outside too, but If you want to ride the big cols you need to be in shape so the Turbo Trainer is a necessary evil, and the big avantage over the gym is you are one your own bike so the position is spot on.

As I said. Horses for courses. My ambitions are much more mundane

[SAXON]

As I said. Horses for courses. My ambitions are much more mundane

 

In an ideal world everyone would like to be out and about on their bike training, but with other commitments and with the dark nights and bad weather then you need to train indoors. Turbo's are great as they give you a workout when it is either to dark to ride your bike, or the weather is too bad, although they do fuck your tyres a bit.

[Champ]

It is one of the perks of shift work that I'm able to get out and about on my bike during the day and if the weather's so bad I mix it up with running..or just staying in and drinking coffee!

[manwiththestick]

I ride to work at least once a week in the summer which is about 15 miles each way most of which is offroad which considering the amounts of half asleep idiots driving on the roads in the morning is a good thing. Would like a turbo trainer for the winter though.

[lifetime fan]

What the fuck is a turbo trainer?

[manwiththestick]

It's like a treadmill for your bike

[lifetime fan]

It's like a treadmill for your bike

 

 

Thought they were called something else?

[stringvest]

It's time for the return of the once-read-never-forgotten Picolax thread...

Picolax

[lifetime fan]

That's nuts.

[Total Longo]

Does anyone know if Evans offer you the £50 part ex discount on your old bike?

 

I'm after this, but obvioulsy want to try and get it cheaper than £500.

 

Specialized Sirrus Elite 2012 Hybrid Bike | Evans Cycles