Sorry if this isn't the correct forum to post this, I'm new to the website. I'm looking for a new commuter bike, i'm leaning torwards a hybrid or a singlespeed. I have a budget of 500 pounds and i'm looking for something that is light and comfortable - something like a lower priced canyon roadlite. It should be suitable for riding around suburban and city areas and must be suitable for all weather types. Any suggestions?

Take some test rides at your local bike shops.

Determine What Size you Need.

First, check your local college campuses for abandoned bikes. Next, look for used bikes in good condition. If the landscape is mostly flat, then a nice singlespeed would be hard to beat if the previous options aren't available.


*If you're not familiar with singlespeeds, then stick with multi-speeds. Perhaps even a 3-speed would be a better option for you.


** Sometimes campus police can inform you about abandoned bike sales...

People tend to suggest what they like, reflective of their own situations, predilections and experience, which may or may not have any bearing on your bike commuting. Which is why 10 Wheels advice is solid - not just the test ride but you'll be talking with the (hopefully) experienced people there and narrowing down your choices.

The only general advice I could give at this point is to select the kind of bike that you'll like to ride, that you will ride. A commute is just a bike ride and all of the refinements that we like are really secondary. I suggest approaching it from that angle.

Near London? Might be worth your while to check out these guys: Welcome | bikefix

I've ridden around London and Edinburgh a fair bit. A 3-speed city bike is ideal for most of London. Fairly flat and due to congestion you'll not get much benefit from any type of road or off-road racing style bike.

Edinburgh is quite hilly and less congested. I still prefer an upright city bike but with an 8-speed or N360 internal geared hub. Given the hills a hybrid does make a bit more sense here though the drawbacks don't outweigh the advantages for me.

A couple of places to check:

https://www.flyingdutchman.bike

https://www.kidsandfamilycycles.co.uk

I think most folks who commute regularly in London have fenders. Get a bike with fenders.

It seems that for a new bike, 500 pounds would afford a *very* nice single-speed and a not-as-nice geared bike, of course buying a used machine would change that significantly. The OP did not specify his location. How hilly are the rides around town, and how young are the knees?

OP mentioned Canyon rigs - nice, and seemingly pricier than the 500 pound budget.

I have eyed the VanMoof cycles, but their only dealer in the Eastern US is in New York, I see they have several dealers in the UK. The "Standard" bike with chain guard, fenders, and integrated head and tail marker lights retails for 485 pounds, which is pricey for a single speed, but appear to be a cool low-maintenance machine with useful accessories. A 3 speed Standard is a bit more spendy,

These guys know their bikes, but these bikes aren't light at all. If I wanted to bike in London I would certainly want a fully upright position for safety and comfort, and I would certainly want fenders and a fully enclosed chaincase so it's allmost maintenance free and all wheather.

But if he's got to carry it upstairs to the 5th floor everyday, maybe a lighter bike is nicer, for the ride it's not an issue as London is quite flat. I would happily carry the 20+ kilo's bike upstairs but only to 3 floor max and not if the stairs are narrow. Also 500 won't buy him such a bike, those are build to last 50 years at least.

I have been enjoying some fun London bike commute videos today... what an experience.

London is improving a bit each year. The new Blackfriars bikeway opened a couple of months ago and has been hugely popular. Hopefully the new mayor will keep things going.

Still a long way behind Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and many others but making good progress.

I bought a hybrid as my first bike and rode it for 10 years. It's a good all 'rounder, they'll do most anything, though as they say, jack of all trades, master of none. It'll get you around. You can refit it for all sorts of uses, put on 28s at high pressure and roll pretty fast, put on up to maybe 45s with nobbies if you need to roll on grass and gravel.

If you wind up not sticking with it, you're not out much and still have a nice utility bike that you don't have to be terrified to leave locked on the street. If you do, it'll teach you what you want on a bike and what's important to you, and make you more qualified to take a test ride when you decide to upgrade.

I think long run the money put into a hybrid is a good investment in learning.

I was alone in London for a few months summer of 2001, subletted a room from a college student home for the summer, and bought a crappy mtb at a police auction. Actually I had to buy a lot of 3 bikes, I think I got the lot for 15 pounds, and sold the other two to another guy there for 5. When I left, I left the bike behind.

I like their approach, the frame is a matter of taste I guess, like their mixte very much but don't think the men's frame is that pretty. But I see old ones here also, and they can't be older than 10 years, some of them look at least 20 years old with the fenders all rusty and stuff like that. Probably the frame etc will last but I'm not impressed with the general durability.

500 pounds? That is like 15-20 bikes! Oh, wait... currency, not weight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulMcCormack

…I'm looking for a new commuter bike, I'm leaning torwards a hybrid or a singlespeed. I have a budget of 500 pounds andi'm looking for something that is light and comfortable - something like alower priced canyon roadlite. It should be suitable for riding around suburban and city areas and must be suitable for all weather types. Anysuggestions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wphamilton

People tend to suggest what they like,reflective of their own situations, predilections and experience, which may ormay not have any bearing on your bike commuting. Which is why 10 Wheels advice is solid - not just the test ride but you'll be talking with the(hopefully) experienced people there and narrowing down your choices.

The only general advice I could give at this point is to select the kind of bike that you'll like to ride, that you will ride. A commute is just a bike ride and all of the refinements that we like are really secondary. I suggest approaching it from that angle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItsJustMe

I bought a hybrid as my first bike and rode it for 10 years. It's a good all 'rounder, they'll do most anything, though as they say, jack of all trades, master of none

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItsJustMe

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItsJustMe

. It'll get you around. You can refit it for all sorts of uses, put on 28s at high pressure and roll pretty fast, put on up to maybe 45s with nobbies if you needto roll on grass and gravel.

If you wind up not sticking with it, you're not out much and still have a nice utility bike that you don't have to be terrified to leave locked on the street.If you do, it'll teach you what you want on a bike and what's important to you, and make you more qualified to take a test ride when you decide to upgrade.

I think long run the money put into a hybrid is a good investment in learning.

I’m a fussy, decades-long, year-round commuter of a minimum 14 miles in Boston, and a generic road cyclist. My preferred commuter bike is a high end carbon fiber road bike with 25C tires, with a heavy-duty beater Cannondale Mountain bike for inclement weather. FWIW, I just bought a Specialized Diverge Elite Road Bike,with fenders, rack with trunk bag, computer, clipless pedals, disc brakes and30 C tires for about $900 (US). The Cannondale will then be reserved for winter riding with studded tires.

I don’t do mountain biking, but I think this bike will be a good compromise for riding in inclement / inhospitable urban commuting as well as on unpaved roads, and it was a good deal (MSRP $1400).

High design (VanMoof) is no excuse for inferior materials or execution. That's unfortunate.

You get a reliable Bike and ride it to work , then After work you ride it Home.

If they steal Bikes a lot there, spend a Lot more on the lock and chain than the Bike.

To be fair to them, it might not be inferior in general. But they claim they are designed for the beating daily use in the city gives them, not to be cleaned and stored in a heated garage after use. I'm sure the quality is fine for a fancy bike one would take out for a ride on a sunny sunday, but with their claim of a highly practical city bike, they should have made sure it's got superior durability. With claims like that, you have to pay special attention and for example zinc coat the fenders before you put layers of very hard paint on it. Durability is more than just leaving vulnerable stuff off.

But the parts they use now are different from what they used in the beginning, and the early ones weren't very expensive, so probably they are getting better. It just attracts my attention when I see such a modern bike looking like it has been parked outside for 30 years.

I don't think weight makes any or much difference for probably 90% of people who are riding for transportation. As you mentioned, having to carry them up stairs would be the biggest issue. The problem is that in the US and to a lessor extent in the UK the bike shops don't know any better. Most have never seen nor ridden a proper city bike. They have no knowledge about the them. Anything less than a road or mountain bike is a beach cruiser and not for any kind of 'serious cycling'.

Their knowledge is largely based on racing or mountain biking so that's what they sell. They consistently say that weight is critical so all of their customers think that as well. IGH is more expensive than cheap derailleurs so if cost is an issue (and it nearly always is) then customers end up with the lightest and cheapest road or hybrid they can afford. But these are uncomfortable for average people to ride, require shorts or at a minimum a pants clip (and then still get pants greasy), and go out of adjustment quickly. The result is that people buy them but then don't ride very often.

Something like this bike. Raleigh Bicycles - Harlan
The gearing is rather low and goofy, but just needs a $5 17T cog switch.

For sure get a 3 speed. The middle gear is the same as SS. They are fun, efficient and seldom have any problems at all. An annual lube is all that is needed. My SA 5 spd has 10,000 miles with many century day rides. A drum brake in the front is even better, mine has 20,000 miles.

We all want a human powered contraption, but our human power is always just a bit short for the speed and ease with which we want to ride. So a bike beeing faster is always a major selling point, it always will be and it has always been. Before manufacturers knew anything about aerodynamics and just hadn't much possibilities to do any weight saving, they advertised with cycloid barings for lower resistance or claimed anything else specific to theirs would make the bike faster. I don't believe those things made a huge difference either, and how fast a bike feels is very subjective. You could fool me with very high tyre pressure on a rigid frame, if it's bouncy it feels faster to me.

I think it's only natural to want the fastest bike if you compete on speed. But because at this point it's about the only thing manufacturers can distinct themselves with, weight is made way too important. I don't think people realize it only counts uphill, and only as a percentage of the total weight, not just the bike, and downhill it's slower. So if it's just a bit hilly in you area without it doesn't really matter, uphill every bike will feel too heavy anyway, but it's not the bike, it's mainly you. Aerodynamics do count at higher speeds, but the main thing is the relevant surface, not the shaping, that's just a very tiny factor until you go all the way with closed wheels . If you want to average 30 km/h drop bars will certainly help, at 20 km/h even that is not helping very much and just keeping that riding position costs a bit of energy also. Slim tyres don't have a smaller friction surface, is just different shaped than the footprint of fat tyres, and their aerodynamical advantage is limited to high speeds.

For me it's important to have a bike that I can do 20 km/h on without any sweat, so I want it to ride 'light'. Tour de France and track technology isn't important for that. I need a frame that is rigid enough for my size and strength so I wont put energy into flexing it a lot, generally heavier frames are more rigid. The bike got to be straight and stay straight (a bit of strength will probably add weight), with true wheels exactly aligned. The drive train should be clean and stay clean for efficiency, and it should be build to run efficient. So I'd skip the NuVinci and the Nexus7. And the geometry helps, I not only like a lot of angle on the head tube, it helps going in a straight line and that's an energy saver. Of course if you're racing concentrated you can steer clean lines with hardly any caster, but the people I see commuting on their MTB's and hybrids are not concentrating and waist energy by not going in a straight line and correcting a lot because their bike's aren't very stable by design.

Also the ride position determines which muscles are used. If I'm on a MTB it's more a full body work out, while when I'm on an upright bike, I only use the thighs and the buttocks. These are my most powerful muscles, they have lots of torque, 20 km/h is hardly an exercise for them. When I start moving the rest of my body for power, that's when I work up a sweat.

It's just very difficult to build things both light and strong, and very expensive. Also in London a derailleur is more efficient than a SA5 or a Nexus8, but after a few months of rain and dirt, an internal hub and a fully enclosed chain case (aerodynamic!) is probably running a lot smoother. It's not just about the new bike, it's also about how it ages and holds up between maintenance.

So I liked the idea behind the Van Moof. I also believe a bike should look like what it is, if it looks sturdy and durable, it should be sturdy and durable. Bikes are going to get used in the way their looks invite people to, if it looks fragile, it will be treated nicer.