Commuter

[Buzz]

Going to buy a new commuter, fed up with sitting in traffic as soon as i leave work, i work near gillette corner in Hounslow which is well known for traffic, I then drive a bloody long way home. My drive is fine on my late and night shifts but on the earlies when im with every one else its hell. I used to cycle through central london and really miss riding to work, so the plan is to drive half way to work and then ditch the car and ride the last 10 miles into work missing most of the major traffic.

I like the idea of a fast hybrid, it must be able to take full guards and a rear rack. I also want it to have discs, as i will be lobbing it in the back of my car its much easier to take the front wheel off.

Budget is £500-800

Un yet decided but i may do about half of the money on the cycle scheme (i know how crap it is now)

Current favs is the Whyte Portobello £630 -£700



other posibilites are:

Cotic Roadrat £900 with discs
Scott Sportster 20 £850
Boardman Hybrid Team £700 (cant get this if i do cycle scheme)
Giant Seek

Any other ones Ive missed?

Or any advice?

[Deadpool2e]

Giant Escape Disc 2011
Marin Muirwoods 29er Steel 2011

any good?

[pittgoat]

Whyte looks v nice but also very attractive to thieves so presume you have safe storage?

[BMJBOY]

Loving that Whyte - even looks quick.....

I hope theres cycle lanes at Gillette Corner, I had the misfortune of having to visit Sky daily for a few weeks, a little while ago now, and those crossroads are lethal - surprised theres not many more accidents around there.

[Buzz]

Storage is pretty safe, its onsite behind security so should be ok, cyclist get pretty good treatmeant here, seperate showers/lockers and onsite evans shop.

The worst junction is the cross roads but thats nothing compared to what i used to ride through in central london.

The whyte is still winning for me.

[sailor]

Whyte looks nice but 20 miles a day on the road....I would buy a road bike, would probably get an endurance type road bike rather than a race one for a bit more comfort.

[BennyP]

[quote="]Whyte looks nice but 20 miles a day on the road....I would buy a road bike, would probably get an endurance type road bike rather than a race one for a bit more comfort.[/quote"]

+ 1 why would you not get a roadie for those kind of miles? I don't mean that in a what are you thinking kind of way however the white does look nice. I have a boardman hybrid and it's a great cheap and good bike. I'm upgrading to a boardman carbon roadie for a 32m roundtrip commute! It's pretty open though so I want something a bit slicker and that I can tuck down on.

[alkali]

+1 for full guards and a rack, don't bother with the crud raceguards or whatever they're called, proper guards ftw. Any decent commuter bike in London will be a thief magnet, so make sure it's locked with a very decent krypto and the wheels are protected, there's scumbags selling knocked off ones every weekend on Brick Lane, you need something reliable for a fair daily trip, but don't choose something too flash or it'll be noticed.

[Buzz]

I did start thinking last night that maybe a roadie would be the faster and more sensible option, will have a look over some tonight thanks guys.

[dgw15]

Nahhhhhh, your on th right line, honest.  Get a nice hybrid with discs, or like me get a HT and slick it up.  I hardly use my road bike at all now, and I have a good one.  The HT is much bettr for battering about, better brakes, better control, hop up and down kerbs if you need to.  Not a great speed difference either, sure on nice smooth tar the road bike is king but only by a couple of kph.


Plus if you do end up with a HT can obviously use it off road some day if it takes your fancy.  How about a cheap 29r?

Road bikes are ok but defo have their limitations, and that not comng from some anti road bike slant, I still use mine now and then but 90% of road riding I do is on slicked up mtb and it's all good.