How do you buy a bike?

Haggis McMutton said:

I want to buy a bike but I have no idea what I want. I usually travel on
roads although I sometimes like to cycle off road but only on paved areas,
not through woods, etc.

I figure the best bike for me is a hybrid, but apart from that I have no
idea what I'm looking for or where to go. I'm thinking Halfords should be
avoided and I should try other bike shops.

But then what? Which one do I buy?

Talk to the shop staff. Try out some bikes - all good shops will let
you take a test ride. Most hybrids are pretty good even on un-metalled
roads through the woods - they won't be good enough for the real rough
stuff. Even tourers should be perfectly OK for your needs and even the
odd unmetalled road. Buy the bike you feel most comfortable on - this
is the most important thing. It doesn't matter if a bike gets rave
reviews, or you mate likes them or whatever, if you don't feel right
on the bike don't buy it.

--
Andy Leighton => [email hidden]
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

Haggis McMutton said:

I want to buy a bike but I have no idea what I want. I usually travel on
roads although I sometimes like to cycle off road but only on paved areas,
not through woods, etc.

I figure the best bike for me is a hybrid, but apart from that I have no
idea what I'm looking for or where to go. I'm thinking Halfords should be
avoided and I should try other bike shops.

But then what? Which one do I buy?

It's not really a question of buying a particular make/model but the general configuration
and quality of important bits.

(1) Go to local bike shop(LBS) for a chat.
(2) Don't expect to spend less than £300 absolute minimum.
(3) NO : Suspension, saddle fixed by single bolt to seat post, knife-edge saddle
(4) YES : Mudguards _fitted by shop_, Schwarbe(?) Marathon (puncture resistant) tyres

Probably what you want but only a guess:
* Pannier rack with one or two _clip on_ panniers
* Lights : Some excellent battery ones for £20. (+ Battery charger etc.)
* Toe clips : A good start if you're a bit careful with them to begin with
* Computer : Cadence (pedal speed) is quite important
* Stand : Normally unessential
* Lock : IMHO a cable is better than an inflexible hoop
* Clothing : [1] Bright colours in the day, reflective at night.
* Maintenance kit : The odd Allen key, pump (track pump with pressure gauge is pretty
essential - keeping tyres _properly_ inflated makes them last lots longer and keeps the
puncture fairy away), chain lube (don't use 3-in-1 oil!)
* Helmet : [Please listen carefully] If you feel happier with a helmet then go ahead but
notice that the makers don't make any specific safety claims on their packaging - because
(a) they're 'bump protectors' not 'crash protectors' and (b) the scientific basis for
'helmets save lives' is non-existent or discredited.[2]

The bike must 'be your size'. That's must as in MUST. The least adjustable distance is
how far you have to reach to the handlebars. (Top tube length.) A simple way to get the
right saddle height is when you can just touch both toes on the ground or one ball of foot
with the bike at a slight angle. With a properly raised-up saddle you might find the
bars are a bit low.

PS. A snazzy new bike will take you a lot further and faster than the tatty old one if
you get out on it regularly. use the opportunity to spend a fortnight improving your
pedalling technique, ride preparation and 'get-a-grip' road skills.[3]

[1] I put reflectives all down the bike's rear mudguard. If you get a sam browne type
harness and then put a rucksack on guess how much shows up at night from behind?

[2] Money spent on training is 100 times more effective than on polystyrene.

[3] Sounds a bit super-athletic doesn't it? Well cycling is an athletic activity and a
little bit of doing things the right way brings a lot of 'how easy it is when you know
how'. Read the bible : Cyclecraft from all good bookshops pub. HMSO
* Pedalling technique : Bluntly - (a) Aim for cadence >80 (b) use 'ankles' as well as thighs.
* Ride preparation : Don't go far if you haven't eaten. Drink a pint an hour.
* Road skills : Smart gear changes coupled with knowing where you want to be on the road
will whisk you through town and keep you out of trouble.

--
Peter Fox
Lots for cyclists at www.eminent.demon.co.uk

in message <[email hidden]>, Haggis McMutton

(') said:

I want to buy a bike but I have no idea what I want. I usually travel on
roads although I sometimes like to cycle off road but only on paved
areas, not through woods, etc.

I figure the best bike for me is a hybrid, but apart from that I have no
idea what I'm looking for or where to go. I'm thinking Halfords should be
avoided and I should try other bike shops.

Halfords are very variable and the best are good - but the worst are very
bad indeed. I would tend to go to a local bike shop (but these, too, are
variable). Where in the country are you so that we can give
recommendations?

Quoted message said:

But then what? Which one do I buy?

If you're not intending to ride fast, and not intending to ride in bad
weather, and not intending to carry much luggage, a wide range of hybrids
would be suitable.

First make sure the chosen bike actually fits you. Take advice on this - a
bike that doesn't fit will never be satisfactory.

Plus points for your kind of riding would be

* 700c wheels
* Slick or nearly slick tyres
* Kevlar belted or otherwise puncture protected tyres
* Carbon fibre forks (add a bit to price but a lot to comfort)
* Rigid forks (cheap suspension forks are heavy and really sap energy)
* Reasonably good components (see below)

I'd be inclined to add brownie points for bikes which take most of their
components - and especially their transmission components - from the
same 'groupset' (that is, a set of components from the same manufacturer
and designed to work together).

Epicyclic hub gearboxes are easier to maintain than derailleur gears, and
may be worth spending a little extra on.

Avoid

* Gel or padded saddles - comfortable at first but cause real problems
* Large section, knobbly tyres
* Steel frames (unless you're prepared to spend serious money)
* Suspension (except, possibly, suspension seatposts)
* Complete bitsas - bikes where the components come from a wide range of
different makers (there /can/ be good reasons for doing this, but you
need to be knowledgeable)

If other things are equal, lighter is better.

Components:

The main maker of transmission parts for low price bikes is Shimano.
Shimano make parts of all qualities from utter trash to reasonably good,
and I can never remember the precise order of their groupsets. However
Acera and Nexave are acceptable for hybrid purposes, Deore is better, Deore
XT and XTR are reasonably good. These are all fundamentally mountain bike
groups but commonly found on hybrids.

Hybrids designed to be ridden faster are often fitted with road bike
transmissions. In this series, Shimano Sora and Tiagra are acceptable, 105
is OK, Ultegra and Dura Ace are reasonably good.

There are two other makers of transmission components that you may see,
SRAM and Campagnolo. SRAM make components from the acceptable to the very
good, Campagnolo from the good to the best. You may see a SRAM equipped
bike in your price bracket, in which case it's likely to be reliable. A
Campagnolo equipped bike is likely to be good (but bear in mind that if
they've spent more on the components they may have scrimped on the frame)

For what it's worth SRAM mountain bike groupsets are numbered, which makes
it easy to remember which is better - /except/ that X0 is better than X9
(but also more expensive than any ordinary mortal can afford). SRAM road
groupsets are, in ascending order of quality, Rival and Force; Rival is
about equal in quality to Shimano Ultegra, Force is better than the best
Shimano road groups.

Campagnolo don't make mountain bike groupsets any more, sadly. The road
bike groupsets are, in ascending order, Xenon, Mirage, Veloce, Centaur,
Chorus, Record. Xenon is about equal in quality with Shimano 105; Centaur,
with Ultegra; Chorus with Dura Ace; Record is the best, but priced beyond
mortals.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
/-\ You have discovered a security flaw in a Microsoft product. You
|-| can report this issue to our security team. Would you like to
| | * Be completely ignored (default)?
| | * Receive a form email full of platitudes about how much we care?
\_/ * Spend hours helping us fix this problem on your own phone bill?

Simon Brooke said:

Halfords are very variable and the best are good - but the worst are very
bad indeed. I would tend to go to a local bike shop (but these, too, are
variable). Where in the country are you so that we can give
recommendations?

I'm in Stafford.

Simon Brooke said:

Plus points for your kind of riding would be

* 700c wheels

Why? I would have thought that size would not be an issue for the OP. I
find very little difference in riding on 700c & 26". I can't comment on
other sizes as I have not ridden them recently.

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun.
There is no reference to fun in any Act of Parliament.

in message <[email hidden]>, Don Whybrow

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

Plus points for your kind of riding would be

* 700c wheels

Why? I would have thought that size would not be an issue for the OP. I
find very little difference in riding on 700c & 26". I can't comment on
other sizes as I have not ridden them recently.

Hybrids sold with 700c wheels tend to be more road oriented, with better
rolling tyres and better riding position, and consequently ride better.
This is a style and a 'tend to' issue; there is, as you say, nothing
inherently wrong with 26" wheels and provided they've got similar section
tyres there's actually not a lot of difference.

But the typical 26" wheel hybrid is derived from mountain bike parts, and
has mountain bike geometry; whereas the typical 700c hybrid has a road
bike frame and road bike geometry, even when it has mountain bike style
transmission.

Note plenty of use of 'tend to' and 'typical' in that - these are not
absolutes and it's perfectly possible to build a good comfortable fast
hybrid with 26" wheels.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Ring of great evil
Small one casts it into flame
Bringing rise of Men ;; gonzoron

Am Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:09:34 +0100 schrieb Simon Brooke:

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Haggis McMutton

(') said:

I want to buy a bike but I have no idea what I want. I usually travel on
roads although I sometimes like to cycle off road but only on paved
areas, not through woods, etc.

I figure the best bike for me is a hybrid, but apart from that I have no
idea what I'm looking for or where to go. I'm thinking Halfords should be
avoided and I should try other bike shops.

Halfords are very variable and the best are good - but the worst are very
bad indeed.

If he happens to live near a "good" Halfords - the Carrera range is good
value for money. A friend of mine dumped her full-suspension £50 BSO and
got a Carrera Subway recently on offer for £159. She's perfectly happy with
it and on the road she's much quicker now with the new bike.

Quoted message said:

Epicyclic hub gearboxes are easier to maintain than derailleur gears, and
may be worth spending a little extra on.

Well, you need to maintain hub gears less often. That's the advantage. The
actual maintenance once it's needed can be much more difficult. Recommended
intervalls for maintenance to reach maximum life expectancy for a hub gear
are about 3000 miles for Shimano Nexus Inter 8 and SRAM i-Motion 9. For the
more robust SRAM S7 there's no recommended interval - but after about 6000
miles some user would open, clean and regrease it. The average life
expectancy when following these service intervalls for the i-Motion 9 and
the Nexus Inter 8 is about 13000 miles. The new Shimano Alfine 8 has a life
expectancy of about 25000 miles, while the Rohloff Speedhub runs in average
for 75000 miles.
Source:
http://www.radratgeber.de/Radratgeber_Html/Kapitel_Html/106_Schaltung_119.html

Quoted message said:

Avoid
* Steel frames (unless you're prepared to spend serious money)

Why should he avoid steel frames? Both aluminium and steel are practically
similar as a frame material, aluminium might just be a bit stiffer. Cheap
frames/bikes will be very heavy and stiff anyway, not matter if with steel
or aluminium.

Quoted message said:

* Complete bitsas - bikes where the components come from a wide range of
different makers (there /can/ be good reasons for doing this, but you
need to be knowledgeable)

What you can sometimes find is an LX/XT rear derailleur to show off - while
the rest of the components is fairly cheapy. This is something to avoid.
IMHO the quality of the wheels and the hub is much more important than for
example the rear derailleur or shift lever. For hubs I do prefer qualities
similar to LX/XT while for the gear system Deore is more than enough for
on-road use. All Shimano hubs use cup-and-cone bearing, definitely good
value for money, while so-called cartridge bearings can have a longer
life-expectancy.

Quoted message said:

The main maker of transmission parts for low price bikes is Shimano.
Shimano make parts of all qualities from utter trash to reasonably good,
and I can never remember the precise order of their groupsets.

This is the order:

The cheapy groups:
Tourney (notoriously found on BSOs), Altus, Acera

Reasonable quality for hybrids:
Acera, Alivio, Deore

Suitable for Offroad/intensive use:
Deore, LX, XT, XTR

Quoted message said:

However
Acera and Nexave are acceptable for hybrid purposes, Deore is better, Deore
XT and XTR are reasonably good. These are all fundamentally mountain bike
groups but commonly found on hybrids.

Well - the XTR group does only make sense in mountainbike competitions, as
it does not really have any major advantages compared to the XT group,
apart from the slightly lower weight - IMHO of course.

Quoted message said:

Hybrids designed to be ridden faster are often fitted with road bike
transmissions. In this series, Shimano Sora and Tiagra are acceptable, 105
is OK, Ultegra and Dura Ace are reasonably good.

Hybrids? Most of them come with mountain bike components. The road bike
transmissions tend to be more common on touring bikes.

Quoted message said:

There are two other makers of transmission components that you may see,
SRAM and Campagnolo. SRAM make components from the acceptable to the very
good, Campagnolo from the good to the best. You may see a SRAM equipped
bike in your price bracket, in which case it's likely to be reliable.

Yet one should bear in mind that SRAM components are not necessarily
compatible to Shimano, apart from the chain.

Quoted message said:

For what it's worth SRAM mountain bike groupsets are numbered, which makes
it easy to remember which is better - /except/ that X0 is better than X9
(but also more expensive than any ordinary mortal can afford).

Yet different to the Shimano groups SRAM just includes the gear system,
while Shimano would also have hubs etc. as part of the group.

Andreas

in message <[email hidden]>, Andreas

Schulze-Bäing (') said:

Quoted message said:

Avoid
* Steel frames (unless you're prepared to spend serious money)

Why should he avoid steel frames? Both aluminium and steel are
practically similar as a frame material, aluminium might just be a bit
stiffer. Cheap frames/bikes will be very heavy and stiff anyway, not
matter if with steel or aluminium.

Like the 700c wheels thing, this isn't an absolute. Some very good quality
frames are still made of steel, but they're expensive. There are (on the
British market, anyway) a huge number of steel framed bikes which are
absolute rubbish; and as far as I know there are no low priced steel
framed bikes currently on the market which are not complete rubbish.

Low priced quality bikes tend to have aluminium frames. There's no
particular reason I'm aware of why a cheap but honest steel bike could not
be made, but as far as I know none are currently offered for sale in
Britain.

Anyone able to contradict that?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

'graveyards are full of indispensable people'

Andreas Schulze-Bäing said:

Quoted message said:

The main maker of transmission parts for low price bikes is Shimano.
Shimano make parts of all qualities from utter trash to reasonably good,
and I can never remember the precise order of their groupsets.

This is the order:

The cheapy groups:
Tourney (notoriously found on BSOs), Altus, Acera

Reasonable quality for hybrids:
Acera, Alivio, Deore

Suitable for Offroad/intensive use:
Deore, LX, XT, XTR

I use this list, order is most expensive first, marketing phrase
associated with each product included (comments I added are in
brackets):

Shimano products 2007
---------------------

Road range
----------
Dura-Ace 7800
Performance without compromise
Dura-Ace 7803 - Triple
Dura-Ace Triple
Ultegra 6600
Ultegra defines the "New Spirit of the Sport"
Ultegra 6603 - Triple (52-39-30) (10 speed)
Proven in your neighborhood and on the world's greatest road courses.
Shimano 105 - 5600
From Shimano's experience in pro road racing - Shimano 105
Shimano 105 - Triple (50-39-30) (10 speed)
From Shimano's experience in pro road racing - Shimano 105
Tiagra (triple: 52-42-30) (9 speed)
Components for a new generation of recreational road bikes
Sora
For the more casual sport-recreation road bike
2200
Affordable components to inspire more people to enjoy road cycling

MTB range
---------
XTR
The benchmark of cross country component design
Deore XT
The tradition of shimano MTB components
Deore LX
High-energy components that are at home on or off the road
Saint 135
Heavy duty MTB components for bikes with 135mm rear hub spacing
Saint 150
Heavy duty MTB components for bikes with 83mm BB shell & 150mm rear
hub spacing
Hone
Affordable All-Mountain & enduro MTB components
Deore
High-perfomance components for serious cycling fun
Alivio
Great performance and great MTB fun, on or off-road.
Acera
8-speed recreational components
Altus
Responsive MTB-style components
Tourney
Looks and performance for entry model sport bikes

Quoted message said:

Tourney (notoriously found on BSOs)

One of my bikes has a gear system that includes a Tourney rear derailer,
but the rest of the components are the mix that Simon warns about. That
mix only contains one other branded component; Sram grip shifters.

Again I have to say that the gears on that bike work fine, using some
mechanical sympathy I can change gears on the cassette whilst standing
on the pedals with no protest from the rear mech.

--
Membrane

Haggis McMutton said:

I want to buy a bike but I have no idea what I want. I usually travel on
roads although I sometimes like to cycle off road but only on paved areas,
not through woods, etc.

I figure the best bike for me is a hybrid, but apart from that I have no
idea what I'm looking for or where to go. I'm thinking Halfords should be
avoided and I should try other bike shops.

But then what? Which one do I buy?

Anyone remember the radio monologue a few decades ago where someone
reminisces about the difficulties of buying a bike during WWII?
He went on about people riding without tyres or using a broom handle rammed
into the steerer tube. Few of the bikes had brakes and culminated in a
crash at the bottom of a hill.

I think it may have been aired in the late 70's. Anyone know it? I can only
just remember it, it'd be nice to hear it again.

Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Like the 700c wheels thing, this isn't an absolute. Some very good
quality frames are still made of steel, but they're expensive. There
are (on the British market, anyway) a huge number of steel framed
bikes which are absolute rubbish; and as far as I know there are no
low priced steel framed bikes currently on the market which are not
complete rubbish.

Wot he said.

Quoted message said:

Low priced quality bikes tend to have aluminium frames. There's no
particular reason I'm aware of why a cheap but honest steel bike
could not be made, but as far as I know none are currently offered
for sale in Britain.

Wot you said. In my experience you pays a premium for an okay steel frame.

PDannyD said:

I think it may have been aired in the late 70's. Anyone know it? I can only
just remember it, it'd be nice to hear it again.

Bernard Miles?

--
Peter Fox
Beer, dancing, cycling and lots more at www.eminent.demon.co.uk

In article <[email hidden]>, Haggis McMutton
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Simon Brooke said:

Halfords are very variable and the best are good - but the worst are very
bad indeed. I would tend to go to a local bike shop (but these, too, are
variable). Where in the country are you so that we can give
recommendations?

I'm in Stafford.

Me too. I've assisted a friend in buying a couple of bikes from
Halfords - the one they prepared was very poorly done, although I
suppose I shouldn't damn them on the basis of one job. I've only once
bought a new bike, in 1979, and I tend to buy stuff online anyway, so
I'm afraid I can't help you from personal experience.
Henry Burton in Mill Street is a 'proper' bike shop, the proprietor is a
club rider, but from what I've noticed they have a limited range of
bikes and they're not cheap. Mammoth Lifestyle in Milford are supposed
to be pretty good, but I've never been inside.
If you don't mind going up the road there's Roy Swinnerton and Brian
Rourke in Stoke, both big shops with a good reputation AFAIK.
In the meantime maybe I could help you sort out your POS BSO as we're
neighbours. :-)

Am Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:36:08 +0100 schrieb Simon Brooke:

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Andreas

Schulze-Bäing (') said:

Quoted message said:

Avoid
* Steel frames (unless you're prepared to spend serious money)

Why should he avoid steel frames? Both aluminium and steel are
practically similar as a frame material, aluminium might just be a bit
stiffer. Cheap frames/bikes will be very heavy and stiff anyway, not
matter if with steel or aluminium.

Like the 700c wheels thing, this isn't an absolute. Some very good quality
frames are still made of steel, but they're expensive.

They tend to be made from some form of chro-moly steel alloy which allows
the production of fairly light-weight steel frames. My bike has one of
those and it weighed just about 10.9 kg when i bought it back in '95. Now
it's more around 15 with all the extra equipment.

Quoted message said:

There are (on the
British market, anyway) a huge number of steel framed bikes which are
absolute rubbish; and as far as I know there are no low priced steel
framed bikes currently on the market which are not complete rubbish.

I assume that you mean those bikes where the frame material is made from
so-called "high-tensile" steel, often found on BSOs below £100. These
frames tend to be pretty heavy, but apart from that they are ok. The
problem is more that those bikes tend to be equipped with cheapy
equipment/components - but you can't blame that on the frame material.
After all similar steels are used to produce many cheaper Dutch bikes, i
have used one of those for years. Heavy, but reliable. I wouldn't
recommend though to use one of those frames to cycle around the world :-)

Quoted message said:

Low priced quality bikes tend to have aluminium frames. There's no
particular reason I'm aware of why a cheap but honest steel bike could not
be made, but as far as I know none are currently offered for sale in
Britain.

Not just in Britain - the dominance of aluminium as a material for bike
frames is a general trend. Even in Holland Gazelle stopped producing steel
frames some years ago. The bikes from Fahrrad Manufaktur are an exception
though:
<http://www.bikefix.co.uk/index.php?unique=c751c6c2b242b4fb37af5e642a25f305&get_ol_id=2&get_gl_id=13&get_sgl_id=32#a13>

Andreas

in message <[email hidden]>, Andreas

Schulze-Bäing (') said:

Quoted message said:

There are (on the
British market, anyway) a huge number of steel framed bikes which are
absolute rubbish; and as far as I know there are no low priced steel
framed bikes currently on the market which are not complete rubbish.

I assume that you mean those bikes where the frame material is made from
so-called "high-tensile" steel, often found on BSOs below £100. These
frames tend to be pretty heavy, but apart from that they are ok. The
problem is more that those bikes tend to be equipped with cheapy
equipment/components - but you can't blame that on the frame material.

I'm not blaming it on the frame material. All I'm saying is that if an
inexperienced person goes shopping for an inexpensive bike, they're better
off avoiding the steel frames ones because most or all inexpensive steel
framed bikes on the market are [censored]. I asked the group to suggest an
inexpensive steel framed bike currently on the market that isn't [censored], and
so far no-one has thought of one.

So irrespective of whether 'hi-ten' steel is a good frame material (and in
my opinion it's not), an inexperienced person should not buy a steel bike.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
.::;===r==\
/ /___||___\____
//==\- ||- | /__\( MS Windows IS an operating environment.
//____\__||___|_// \|: C++ IS an object oriented programming language.
\__/ ~~~~~~~~~ \__/ Citroen 2cv6 IS a four door family saloon.

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Haggis McMutton

says... On Sun said:

Quoted message said:

Halfords are very variable and the best are good - but the worst are very
bad indeed. I would tend to go to a local bike shop (but these, too, are
variable). Where in the country are you so that we can give
recommendations?

Quoted message said:

I'm in Stafford.

Me too. I've assisted a friend in buying a couple of bikes from
Halfords - the one they prepared was very poorly done, although I
suppose I shouldn't damn them on the basis of one job. I've only once
bought a new bike, in 1979, and I tend to buy stuff online anyway, so
I'm afraid I can't help you from personal experience.
Henry Burton in Mill Street is a 'proper' bike shop, the proprietor is a
club rider, but from what I've noticed they have a limited range of
bikes and they're not cheap. Mammoth Lifestyle in Milford are supposed
to be pretty good, but I've never been inside.
If you don't mind going up the road there's Roy Swinnerton and Brian
Rourke in Stoke, both big shops with a good reputation AFAIK.
In the meantime maybe I could help you sort out your POS BSO as we're
neighbours. :-)

Small world, this interweb thing - Stoke here. Swinnertons and Brian
Rourke are both pretty good if you don't mind the journey. There's
some other place hidden away in Stoke town centre too, but I can't for
the life of me remember what it's called!

In article <[email hidden]>, TimB
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Small world, this interweb thing

Indeed.

Quoted message said:

- Stoke here. Swinnertons and Brian
Rourke are both pretty good if you don't mind the journey. There's
some other place hidden away in Stoke town centre too, but I can't for
the life of me remember what it's called!

Stonefield Cycles?

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Haggis McMutton

(') said:

I want to buy a bike but I have no idea what I want. I usually travel
on roads although I sometimes like to cycle off road but only on paved
areas, not through woods, etc.

I figure the best bike for me is a hybrid, but apart from that I have
no idea what I'm looking for or where to go. I'm thinking Halfords
should be avoided and I should try other bike shops.

Halfords are very variable and the best are good - but the worst are
very bad indeed. I would tend to go to a local bike shop (but these,
too, are variable). Where in the country are you so that we can give
recommendations?

Quoted message said:

But then what? Which one do I buy?

If you're not intending to ride fast, and not intending to ride in bad
weather, and not intending to carry much luggage, a wide range of
hybrids would be suitable.

First make sure the chosen bike actually fits you. Take advice on this -
a bike that doesn't fit will never be satisfactory.

Plus points for your kind of riding would be

* 700c wheels
* Slick or nearly slick tyres
* Kevlar belted or otherwise puncture protected tyres * Carbon fibre
forks (add a bit to price but a lot to comfort) * Rigid forks (cheap
suspension forks are heavy and really sap energy) * Reasonably good
components (see below)

I went to a couple of bike shops, one of them just pointed me in the
directions of the bikes so didn't stay there long. Another guy seemed
helpful and showed me a lot of the bikes and tried to tell me what was
good about each bike but a lot of it went over my head.

Although I wanted a hybrid bike that was mostly for road use and some
off-road paved use he seemed to recommend a mountain bike with the brand
'Aluxx' but said I could use some slick tires. It did have front
suspension though which he says was a good thing. He did also give me a
magazine and suggested a 'Sirrus' at £399.

Two people have said to avoid suspension, why is this? Is the Sirrus any
good? Are slick tires good? no tread whatsoever.

Haggis McMutton said:

I went to a couple of bike shops, one of them just pointed me in the
directions of the bikes so didn't stay there long. Another guy seemed
helpful and showed me a lot of the bikes and tried to tell me what was
good about each bike but a lot of it went over my head.

The second one sounded a lot better.

Quoted message said:

Although I wanted a hybrid bike that was mostly for road use and some
off-road paved use he seemed to recommend a mountain bike with the brand
'Aluxx' but said I could use some slick tires. It did have front
suspension though which he says was a good thing. He did also give me a
magazine and suggested a 'Sirrus' at £399.

It could be that these two bikes are the ones he wants to
shift. Or he could genuinely think these are the best for you.

Quoted message said:

Two people have said to avoid suspension, why is this? Is the Sirrus any
good? Are slick tires good? no tread whatsoever.

Suspension adds weight and cost to a bike. If you are
going to spend 400ukp on a bike, and have a choice between
one with, and the other with suspension, pick them up and
have a good look at them.
The one without suspension will (normally) be a lot
lighter, and have better quality components.

About six months ago I upgraded one of my bikes by
removing the suspension forks, and adding stiff forks.

If you are only riding on roads and off road paved paths,
then knobblies are pointless. They will slow you down, or
use more energy for the same speed than slicks. They also
provide less grip than slicks on road.

Martin.