Recommend me a new hybrid bike - budget £1K

[Orang Utan]

If anyone's interested, I ended up buying a Cannondale Bad Boy 8 '07 for £850 and bought a new lock, lights, pedals and a nasty yellow jacket with the change. It rides like a dream - its got those disc brakes and an enclosed gear system and they make quite a difference. Unfortunately I can't ride it at the mo cos I have an ear infection which is making me feel all wobbly

 

[J77]

My bike looks something like this: e2a: tho much more rusty, with no posh beer crate carrier on the front... and a severely smashed up rear light - I think someone smashed into it cos the wheel's all wobbly at the moment too

You'd be a tool riding anything like that Cannondale round these parts

Plus, only 2 locks!

The guys round here are organised - they put acid on the locks and come back for the spoils later - either that or go straight for the angle grinders

 

[Orang Utan]

Where do you live?

 

[J77]

Where do you live?

Amsterdam - only the guys selling crack on the bridges have mountain bikes

The stuff I said about the locks is true - nicking bikes is big business over here.

The bike I posted above - with the front bit - would cost around 500euro. Ones with front basket things were you can put your kids go for over 1000euro - my rusty one cost 130euro.

 

[Structaural]

My bike looks something like this: e2a: tho much more rusty, with no posh beer crate carrier on the front... and a severely smashed up rear light - I think someone smashed into it cos the wheel's all wobbly at the moment too

Plus, only 2 locks!

The guys round here are organised - they put acid on the locks and come back for the spoils later - either that or go straight for the angle grinders

I'm on my 3rd in 3 years

 

[Crispy]

How's the hub gears? Noticeably different from a deraileur? They must add more friction, mustn't they? Or have things really improved? I have no idea.

 

[J77]

I'm on my 3rd in 3 years

If someone nicked mine, they'd probably be doing me a favour.

I expect the wheel to come off every time I ride to work - does the back wheel/brake thing have bearings in it which could've gone? - plus I have to pump the back tire up every day.


I need to get it serviced

 

[Orang Utan]

crispy - the gears are nice and smooth though the jump from one gear to another is much more noticeable

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

How's the hub gears? Noticeably different from a deraileur? They must add more friction, mustn't they? Or have things really improved? I have no idea.

I suppose this price of bike will have a SRAM or $himaNO hub gear, be interesting to hear more about them.

Of course the daddy of hub gears is this bastard, the Rohloff 14 speedhub

they've made over half a million and never had a single failure...not cheap though

 

[Crispy]

I suppose this price of bike will have a SRAM or $himaNO hub gear, be interesting to hear more about them.

Of course the daddy of hub gears is this bastard, the Rohloff 14 speedhub

they've made over half a million and never had a single failure...not cheap though

Bloody hell. Now that's engineering

 

[Orang Utan]

Yep, it's Shimano

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Bloody hell. Now that's engineering

innit - prime example of a small, family owned company who just wanted to make the best hub gear in the world, regardless of cost using the 'if you build it they will come' philosophy. Japan INC have nothing to touch it.

You could say our own Sturmey-Archer was a rival...maybe in 1935 or if you'd taken enough acid you could I spose...

 

[sir.clip]

I have a cannondale bad boy 01..
Its a great bicycle for london..
It looks all new & pretty the day you take it out the shop,
But after a couple of rides in the rain, It begins to look just like any other bicycle..
To my knowledge It never once has been tampered with..
I had the lowest end model £600 i think it was...Then i spec it up over the years..
But honestly a really great bike for commuting. kerb hopping & the genral cycle to work.. Ithe first thing i did was change the cassette for a road bike gearing... Not sure what the 06 model has but 01 was terrible for cycling in town..
a grand is a lot of money..
Its a shame it has to be Evans.. Cos you could get a really nice Surley frame & have it all built to your spec at Brixton cycles or cycle surgery..

 

[Structaural]

If someone nicked mine, they'd probably be doing me a favour.

I expect the wheel to come off every time I ride to work - does the back wheel/brake thing have bearings in it which could've gone? - plus I have to pump the back tire up every day.


I need to get it serviced

hahaha - I had that for 3 months - pump up the front tyre every morning till it went completely.
That's what annoyed me about my last steal - I'd just put puncture resistant tyres on it, had it serviced, fixed the dynamo and put new bearings in the wheels about a week before it was stolen. Still bought myself a second hand crossbike which is better for the distance I do (about 20k a day). With two locks...