Recommend a hyrid

joker77

At the moment I'm peddling in to work on a mountain bike I picked up new in Penny Farthing's on Camden St for 130 euro. I bought it in Feb, only taking up cycling then and am loving it, but very quickly outgrowing the bike - I said to myself if I kept it up for a year I'd invest in something decent. Also not sure how much longer the bike will last, strange creaky noises coming from the back wheel / gears.....

So, after having a look around, I've decided what I need for my 5 miles commute from Ballinteer to the IFSC is a hybrid. First of all - does anyone know a good place to shop for decent 2nd hand non-stolen bikes?

If not, what bike would you recommend new? I'd love to buy a Claud Butler Levante, but at 800 euro it might be a little out of my price range. The guy in Penny Farthing who fixed my bike last time said a Dawes for around 400 would be grand - anyone like to second that? The Trek bikes seem get a lot of praise on this board - which one would be suitable and where's a good place to shop?
Cheers

patrido

how about one of these...
http://www.alexmoulton.co.uk/mainindex.html

Jefferson

I'd recommend the Claude Butler, good bike but i've seen them for 600 euros not 800. A few couriers use them and they do look hot..
Also recommend a 501 or 701 Dawes good components on these.
The golden rule as usual is the more you spend the better the quality..
Case being the Specialized 06 Sirrus Comp, a 7075 alloy frame like the levante but better oveall components.

John_C

I've got a Dawes 401 which is the only one with front suspension (good for the speed bumps). They're a bit cheaper if you get it posted over from england.
I got mine here. 50 pound delivery.
http://www.pictoncycles.co.uk

Plankmonkey

John_C wrote:

I've got a Dawes 401 which is the only one with front suspension (good for the speed bumps). They're a bit cheaper if you get it posted over from england.
I got mine here. 50 pound delivery.
http://www.pictoncycles.co.uk

Did you get it pre-assembled like the site says or is that just for UK customers?

John_C

I had to put it together myself.
I had to attach the handlebars peadles and wheels. All the hard bits were done.

1380 mini

i got a ridgeback genesis day one back in September and its been brilliant so far (560 miles on) its good fun for commuting on, you can fly through town on it, and it's strong enough also i came of it on middle abbey St 2 weeks ago(wet luas tracks:mad: ) and there still isn't a scratch on it.

blorg

Personally I'd avoid any suspension at all, it adds to weight and cost without providing any real benefit for road cycling.

I've got two hybrids myself, a Dawes Discovery 201 for cycling around town/getting stolen and a Specialized Sirrus Elite for longer cycles and touring. Very happy with both; the Specialized is a much better bike but also much more expensive. Before I got the Specialized I had a series of Treks - 7200FX and 7300FX; I was also very happy with those, although looking back I think they might be overpriced compared to other makes; certainly their top end hybrids (7500/7700) are compared to Specialized/Dawes etc. They also got stolen (3 of them); I think Treks may be disproportionately attractive to thieves.

Never had a Claud Butler but the one person I do know who had one hated it, could have just been the specific model (it had front suspension). That Levante certainly looks nice. I tried out a Dawes Discovery 701 when I was shopping for the Specialized and it was also very nice indeed, I ended up getting the Specialized as it was discounted.

You could try Buy and Sell for the bike, I got the Dawes 201 for €125 which even with a bit of expense on repairs was a good discount on the retail of €375. If you can wait until a month or so after Christmas/New Year there is a good chance that you'd get a good deal (a lot of people who thought they would take up cycling, tried it for a month and then give up and sell the bike.) A few months into the new year is also a good time to get a new bike as you can often get last year's model at a discount.

Also try to factor in the cost of rear rack (~€25) and mudguards (~€15-20) which you will need but don't generally come as stock on most hybrids.

joker77

Cheers for the posts and advice, am still a relative noob to cycling so it's all appreciated