Recomment a new hybrid sub £500

[ishaw]

A friend is looking, not up to speed on this type of bike. Looking for bang for buck, disc brakes and possibly suspension up front but not essential.

Use is likely to be road and rides with his young son.

Any thoughts on what might suit?

I've seen a virus with Claris drivetrain that might work, rigid alloy frame and forks, and canker brakes, but hoping to find better.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mob ... prod173025

 

[Andy B]

A Merida crossway fits the bill nicely

Lifetime warranty on the frame

Only the entry level one has v brakes, the rest are cable or hydraulic disc

 

[hamster]

Decathlon always has some great bikes which are good value.

 

[ishaw]

Re:

Cheers, suggestions passed on. Hes looking at a spesh crosstrail hydro at the moment. Is the merida better?

 

[Andy B]

Merida make the specialized

Without having time to look into it right now, generally as a rule the Merida bikes always are good value

Good build quality (2nd largest frame producer in the world) & a lifetime frame warranty

I service a pair of 16,000 mile crossways regularly (16,000 miles, that’s not a typo!) and the frames are still going strong

Decent spec level too

The only downside is the boring frame colours they do on the crossway range

 

[xerxes]

Re:

My twopence worth. If you're buying an entry level-ish bike and not riding agressively off road, get a bike with rigid forks. No suspension is better than cheap suspension.

A friend recently bought a barely used Boardman CXR 9.0 for £500, like this one:

Boardman make a number of flat bar hybrids, they always seem to be fairly well regarded in reviews and because they sell them in Halfords by the truck load there's always lots to choose from on Ebay.

 

[ishaw]

Re:

Cheers. I think hes looking for new, but 2nd hand value sells for me. Will scour and see what turns up.

 

[xerxes]

Re:

Nice: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boardman-Urb ... SwBPldE8et

My brother picked up an older model that was very tidy with very little use for £180.00. Of the Boardman bikes I've seen up close I've been quite impressed, the aluminium frames have smoothed welds and look nicely finished.

 

[Andy B]

Avoid any with avid juicy or elixir brakes, they need bleeding every year or so to keep them from pumping up with air in the system, I have bled loads of them in our workshop & some have come back multiple times before being swapped out for shimano brakes