S
Simon Brooke
Guest
in message <[email protected]>, stella
('[email protected]') wrote:
>
> I've tooled around London's West End for the past year on a Ridgeback
> Speed (my first bike) until it got nicked. I've been looking for
> something new for a couple months now with not much luck. As a student
> on budget, I'm limited to roughly £250-300, and with locks, mudguards,
> etc, etc to go on top, so the lower the better.
[snip]
> Looking through the old threads in this forum, I read a
> suggestion that a mountain bike with slick tyres would work well in
> traffic and would appreciate any further advice.
That's a bit misleading. A mountain bike with slick tyres is a lot better
on roads than a mountain bike with knobblies, but if it's got a
suspension fork you've still got a fair bit of weight and complexity you
don't need, and frame geometry that's designed for relatively low speeds
and right manouvering on rough surfaces is not ideal for the relatively
high speeds and flowing turns of urban traffic.
An 'urban hybrid' is going to be a lot better than a mountain bike on
city streets. However, just to muddy the waters, lots of things are sold
as 'mountain bikes' that aren't.
As a specific recommendation, look at the Claud Butler Classic. It comes
with rack and mudguards for around £209, and is very good value indeed
at that price. Further up the price range I'd suggest you look at the
Ridgeback Neutron, which comes with epicyclic gears and hub dynamo
lights (but bizarrely no mudguards) at £449. Epicyclic gears are much
lower maintenance than the more common derailleurs, and consequently
very practical on a commuter bike.
If you're looking at second hand bikes, we wrote a good FAQ article on
this:
<URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk/urcautofaq/jsp/Wiki?BuyingSecondhand>
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; If you're doing this for fun, do what seems fun. If you're
;; doing it for money, stop now.
;; Rainer Deyke
('[email protected]') wrote:
>
> I've tooled around London's West End for the past year on a Ridgeback
> Speed (my first bike) until it got nicked. I've been looking for
> something new for a couple months now with not much luck. As a student
> on budget, I'm limited to roughly £250-300, and with locks, mudguards,
> etc, etc to go on top, so the lower the better.
[snip]
> Looking through the old threads in this forum, I read a
> suggestion that a mountain bike with slick tyres would work well in
> traffic and would appreciate any further advice.
That's a bit misleading. A mountain bike with slick tyres is a lot better
on roads than a mountain bike with knobblies, but if it's got a
suspension fork you've still got a fair bit of weight and complexity you
don't need, and frame geometry that's designed for relatively low speeds
and right manouvering on rough surfaces is not ideal for the relatively
high speeds and flowing turns of urban traffic.
An 'urban hybrid' is going to be a lot better than a mountain bike on
city streets. However, just to muddy the waters, lots of things are sold
as 'mountain bikes' that aren't.
As a specific recommendation, look at the Claud Butler Classic. It comes
with rack and mudguards for around £209, and is very good value indeed
at that price. Further up the price range I'd suggest you look at the
Ridgeback Neutron, which comes with epicyclic gears and hub dynamo
lights (but bizarrely no mudguards) at £449. Epicyclic gears are much
lower maintenance than the more common derailleurs, and consequently
very practical on a commuter bike.
If you're looking at second hand bikes, we wrote a good FAQ article on
this:
<URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk/urcautofaq/jsp/Wiki?BuyingSecondhand>
--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; If you're doing this for fun, do what seems fun. If you're
;; doing it for money, stop now.
;; Rainer Deyke
