Anyone in the Bicycle game?

[jpblue]

Im after a bicycle as central London is not suitable for the ownership of a car (parking) let a lone a motorcycle (theft while parking) so Ill take my chances on a pushy (bicycle) Anyone have any connections with Cannondale, giant or Trek? or others>
Cheers JP

[Dan]

id advise spending as little on one as possible... although if where your bike is being left (at either end of the journey) is safe then its ok, but you can guarantee that at some point you'll want to leave it on the street and i know too many people who within weeks of buying a bike have it nicked even with decent locks on.

i bought a 50quid bmx off of ebay, which does the job as im not riding massive distances, and its a laugh poping curbs and dropping off flights of stairs on the way to and from the tube , i de-badged it and tried to make it look a bit tatty and even that has had the locks cut and tampered with when left at the tube station.

i used to be big into MTB's when i was at uni, alot of the big names use very average/crap components on the basic models and even on the middle spec bikes, its not till you get into serious money that they get better, and then you have the risk that somone will nick the bits off it if you leave it locked up outside.

if your intent on having a really good bike, id go for a custom build, it'll probably cost about the same and you'll get decent bits on it... there are plenty of places out there that you pick the components and thei'll assemble it for you, i used to use chainreactioncycles pretty cheap and have a brilliant range

[jpblue]

Thanks dan,
I have a lockup at work and it will live inside at home. For the daily commute and weekends Ill do 5-6 hour rides so it needs to be a good one. For a commute bike I'd go cheap but this is my escort replacement hobby, for the odd brands hatch visit to watch etc. It wont be left anywhere! not a bike worth more than most cars?? The only way they will get their hands on it, is to rip me off it!
Cherres for the advice
Justin P

[-ToM-]

I used to be into downhill and dirt jumping i had a giant acid hard jail dirt jump bike with over £1000 worth of mods, it was a great bike, i used it to ride to work when i was working in a Comet store, a bit impractical as it had small gearing and then sum cnut stole it and it was chained up aswell f**k knows how they got it i was gutted. My advice it to get something that just does the job, dont go for all the big specs etc its not worth the money especially with the ammount of people who are out to steal from you nover days.

[-ToM-]

I agree with Dan chainreaction cycles is one of the best stores where i got nearly all of my parts from

[Dan]

aaah if your looking for a hobby replacement, defo go for a custom build.. get some bike mags in and find a frame which suits what you need and has decent reviews, and start from there. price wise it may work out cheaper, but you'll know exactly what spec it is and have a proper ace bike at the end of it

another site i used to use was wiggle you generally get a feel for whats good and what isnt, really its limited by what your willing to pay... i cant say what brands are good these days, but i always thought Claude Butler and Dawes made a decent road bike... but that was some time ago

[-ToM-]

Specialized are good

[Broadmoor]

theres a little known goverment grant that will allow you to claim 50% off any bike purchased to travel to the city..

Evans cycles has the details
http://www.evanscycles.com/ride2work...816CF33066.tc5

[jpblue]

Thanks guys, looking at full carbon road bikes, serious stuff! If your going to do it do it well! Giant, specialized, wilier, Bainchi, trek and Cannondale are the brands Im looking at, Cannondale are winning as they are made in the USA not china or taiwan (as far as I can tell) Nothing against chinese but companies should be manufacturing where they sell! Hoping for campagnolo or equivalent though dura ace will do. Have been looking onto the ride to work scheme, But being self employed (contract) I still have to pay upfront?
Cheers, JP

[youngcaprilover]

I'd seriously recommend Specialized of Bianchi.
I got a Bianchi Caal 8400 F/S
Bianchi Via Nirone LIQUiGAS Rep. (for commuting)

My local dealers are www.jdcycles.com (bianchi) and www.gripbikes.co.uk (specialized) in benfleet and rayleigh.

Specialized got a range especially for commuting called the Crossroads (will be revamped for '07) the Sirrus and even the tricross. top spec bikes to have carbon forks and seat stays and are wicked bikes,

With regards to Bianchi ya best bet is the Sport Camaleonte which has racing bike dimensia, but flat bars for a more upright position.
Hope this is of some use m8, Also if u do go for a bianchi i'm a v. gd customer at JD's so "for you my friend special price"

[luz008]

i got a carrera kraken 2006 model via the governments cycle to work initiative. it should have been £400 but was on sale due to new model so it was £299 but then the government pay 50% so i got it for £150 with 12 months interest free
its a great bike and i would def recommend carrera to anyone - if you read reviews they always get high marks for the low money they are

[Nige S]

What ever bike you decide to go for, make sure you're happy with the spec of the groupset, ie, a middle of the road specced one.
I ride to work every day, a journey of about 90-100 miles a week and believe me, there's nothing worse than having crap gears and bear in mind that if you're chain wears due to the increasing amount of crud that seems to be on the road these days, you'll have to replace the chainrings and cassette aswell.
If you,re going for a full spec road bike, I would recommend a Pinerello like the one on the link.
http://www.parker-international.co.u...4-13164c941728

[andy]

Cannondale are winning as they are made in the USA not china or taiwan (as far as I can tell) Nothing against chinese but companies should be manufacturing where they sell!

well thats quite strange considering that china, taiwan, japan,etc have the largest numbers of bicycles users, with over 80 million bicycles sold in 2005 in china alone , and the amount bicycles actually in far eastern countries is estimated to be more than is in the rest of the world combined

[jpblue]

Andy,
I have nothing against the chinese, I believe a company has a moral right to manufacture, thus employ people in the countries in which they sell their products. I am against large corporations taking advantage of a cheap workforce to make more money at the expense of the people who would and should be employed. For example, as far as I can tell Cannondale an American company, sucessfull through selling to Americans employ americans to build their bikes. Wheras some other companies who succeded have now gone offshore to make even more money as they can pay their employees less, therefore a bigger profit.
And Im not sure how many of the employess of foreign manufacturing can actually afford to purchase the product they build? Im guessing its not alot.
Not to mention the social repurcussions of foriegn manufacturing. Its my moral/ethical thing going on.
Cheers, JP

[andy]

I totally agree matey, was just nitpicking foir the sake of nitpicking. Two huge companies ( tesco and NCR ) are leaving dundee in favour of cheap overseas labour leaving a huge number of unemployed persons in dundee, so believe me i'm very much an advocate of companies sticking to their roots and employing in their home country.

If you were to really enforce your own feelings irrespectively you probably end up not being able to buy anything, the reason why these big companies are so big is their focus on cheap manufacturing costs, you have worn a pair of nike/reebok/addidas/etc/etc trainers havent you, i would probably say yes, these are all made in these same cheap labour countries as where your disliked bicycle brands choose to have their manufacturing done.

And yes i know if everybody had the same views as you and chose not buy from these companies, then maybe something could happen but the damage is already done, big empire companies are not gonna halve their profits by coming back to their home countries for manufacturing on a principle, business is business unfortunately.

It is an admirable effort, but is equally futile in the greater scheme of things.

[IanLorenc]

I've got a bit of a thing for the old skool MTB. IMO, 21 gears is the optimum number for a mountain bike. 24 is overkill and 27 is nonsense.

I've done a little bit of racing, way back in the past plus also some track experience which was good and a little road work which was alright. I do enjoy my occasional commute into town though, it's exciting dicing with traffic. Makes you feel alive.

I'm running a custom built Dyna-Tech Diabolo for a commuter. 1994 frame but everything else is new.

Also, at the end of last year, I bought a mint '93 Dyna-Tech Diablo DX off eBay. Full Deore DX apart from XT thumbies, it's the mutts bits. I love it. Not enough though to build it up out of it's crate it appears, as it's sat in it's pieces since January in the corner of my bedroom.
I really must get round to it and take it for a spin.


Excellent points raised in the last few posts btw.