Weight.

[recman]

I'm not a cyclist. I have been in the past but I haven't ridden for years.
I think a large portion of the reason why was the bike itself.
I remember it seeming quite heavy at the time, even going down hill it just didn't seem to want to roll.
I had the tyre pressures maxed out to minimize resistance but it was a mountain bike as opposed to a road machine.
I even changed the tyres to a road type.
Anyway, I've decided I'd like to give it another go and ride to work.
I won't go down the mountain bike route again so it will be a road or hybrid style with bigger wheels.
I realise that lighter is better but what's the heaviest bike you'd consider?
Components don't have to be top end, I'm looking at spending between £200/£300.

[M.C]

[Ste]

If it won't roll downhill then there's probably something not quite right.

Can you get the Cycle to Work Scheme from your employer?

I wouldn't pay much attention to the weight of bikes but equally cheap bikes that are fully suspension will have shitty suspension and weigh a ton so I wouldn't get one of those.

Rigid hybrid bikes that don't cost thousands are all going to all weigh about the same anyway.

I've got a shiny expensive bike which I don't know how much it weighs. After doing a bit of Googling, it's 13.5kg.

[techathy]

Weight is a load of inconsequential junk outside UCI sanctioned racing.

Fastest metric century ride on my lightest bike 8.5~9kg 4h 30m give or take a minute. Fastest metric century on my heaviest bike (over 20kg) 3h 0m 54s... it's all about comfort and aero.
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Bikes: '17 Zero FX ZF6.5, '16 BMW R1200 RS, '12 Triumph Daytona 675

[M.C]

[techathy]

[quote="M.C" but I like having my testicles intact [/quote]
And you're riding an up wrong ?!
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Bikes: '17 Zero FX ZF6.5, '16 BMW R1200 RS, '12 Triumph Daytona 675

[G]

The Hybrid I used to regularly ride was around 20kg if you include the panniers, tools, bits and pieces and the motorcycle chain that was kept on there.

I've then had 50kg ontop of that at least once (all on the back - not ideal when you get off the bike.)

However, a couple of years ago, I got a 2012 Giant Defy 2 for £170 second hand - decently light before I chucked stuff on it and a nice spec with 2x10 gearing.

So...
I wouldn't overly worry about weight, but you can get light weight if you want at that price point and don't mind waiting a bit for a good deal.

Narrow tyres and decent gearing definitely help.

[recman]

Right, so it's more about the configuration rather than the weight.
You can't deny some bikes are easier to ride than others and those that require more effort tend to put people off.
It just felt like I was getting nowhere on my old bike, just felt slow.
Keeping momentum, even on the flat, seemed to require unreasonable effort.
If I can find a bike I enjoy I'll ride regularly.

[G]

Thanks to dodgy shoulders, to try and reduce stress on them, I've been riding a heavy bouncy full suspension bike with bull bars pointing backwards for a more upright riding position.

It takes massively more effort to get the distance than the above Giant Defy.

I'd go for a proper road bike personally - it's not massively different to the Hybrid's I've got/had, but does seen ti be a little faster.
It's actually got a lower top gear - and higher bottom; that with having 20 rather than 18 gears on the hybrid(s) means you can be in the perfect gear more often.
Also, the forward/dropped bars lead you to be more aerodynamic more of the time, which helps as the speed gets up.

[duhawkz]

i'd give this a look if you wanting a decent entry level road bike https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-se-road-bike-id_8306187.html

weights in a 10.6kg in a medium frame.
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"The guy is a worthless cunt and I honestly believe I would be a slightly happier person if he died." - Chris-Red

[weasley]

I have a carbon fibre 29" hardtail MTB and an aluminium road bike (a Cannondale Synapse bought second hand for around £300). Over the few Strava segments that I cover on both, I am 15-20% quicker on the road bike for the same apparent effort.

The ultimate bike for a point to point commute for me would be a CX or gravel bike; road-like setup but with tyres that would take some gravel tracks. The main road from home to work for me is suicide on a bicycle, but some shortcuts across some tracks would yield a nice route, but still mostly road.
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Yamaha XJ600 | Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat | KTM 990 SMT | BMW F900XR TE

[recman]

[duhawkz]

depends on what sort of riding you want to do and where your going to ride it.

if your just going to ride to and from work, five miles each way then anything that resembles a bike will do.

if your doing it for fitness/weigh loss and your planning on riding on the road, and your planning on increasing the distance you ride then get the triban or something even better. because you'll soon grow in it and soon possibly even out grow it.
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"The guy is a worthless cunt and I honestly believe I would be a slightly happier person if he died." - Chris-Red

[bamt]

As others have said, weight doesn't make that much difference. My two "good" road bikes are a sub-7kg pro-level carbon and a 15kg steel fast tourer equipped with dynamo hub powered lighting, full mudguards, traditional cotton duck saddlebag, etc. Guess which one I rode on a personal best 10 mile club time trial?

However, things like slick tyres pumped up properly will make the bike roll a lot easier than half flat knobblies. I know that my road bikes will accelerate themselves down a slight hill that I have to pedal my mountain bike down.

Also, don't underestimate the difference that a reasonable quality bike makes to your enjoyment. A cheap bike may tick all the boxes (full suspension, 18+ gears, disk brakes etc), but none of them will work properly and the experience will be pretty miserable.

A more basic-looking bike but equipped with reasonable quality gears (Shimano Claris/2400 or better) will give you much more enjoyment as they will just work, rather than be clunky, horrible and never able to be adjusted properly. A bike that is nice to ride will get much more use than a "bargain" that isn't - the "bike shaped objects" sold by toy stores/supermarkets or the bottom end Halfords machines are not worth the money they ask for them.

I'd budget a minimum £300 for something new that is worth riding. For less money I'd be looking for a good second hand machine (think of it like buying a YBR that is a few years old rather than an off-brand Chinese 125 new for less money).

[defblade]

[BTTD]

My do it all hack bicycle is an old Trek mountain bike with a rigid frame.
Cost me £70 second hand and I probably spent £100 on it and used various parts I had from previous bikes to do it up. New touring tyres (with puncture resistance) that take 70psi, new saddle, rear rack, suspension seat post, mud guards, hand grips, cables all round, chainset, and a bloody good clean and service of what was left.
It's not a very pretty bike, but is suited to riding about town and longer gentle rides. Previously I've done a 4 day camping tour with it, supermarket shopping trips, commuted to work, and ferry my sprog on the back in one of those child seats.

A hybrid or road bike with 700c wheels and 120psi in the tyres will feel faster and easier to pedal at speed. May also feel more twitchy and have a harsher ride.

[G]

[Ste]

[skatefreak]

I'm riding 11 miles each way to work on a full on mountain bike (hard tail) and after having a dedicated ali road bike, microscopic tires at 110 psi etc the differences is really not that big between the two to be honest.

I now do about 2/3'rds on road and 1/3'rd paths through country side (rough, muddy, hilly, long grass etc). Makes for a really nice ride and the all road route is > 13 miles with a massive hill and a much busier/faster road.

I prefer the MTB hands down (accept in strong head on winds I guess).

£350 all in, 12 months 0% (why not *shrugs*). Only another 1000 miles and it will have paid for itself in fuel savings

[stinkwheel]

If you're not going on actual offroad, there is no need for a mountain bike.

A road bike on moderately wide road tyres is perfectly capable of coping with any reasonably smooth unmetalled surface. It won't like ruts, slabs or deep mud but most other things are fine. If you're doing a loit of it, some sort of flat bars is probably preferrable to drops.

My Puch single speed has 27" x 1 3/8" schwalbe road tyres on and I regularly take it along forestry tracks and dirt footpaths and have done a few blue MTB routes on it too (eg, I did the blue route at Coed-y-Brennin on it). I've ridden it round the perimeter road of Keilder Water before today too.

Mine isn't a light bike.

Depending on how far you have to go and how many hills there are, do consider single speed. I find them way easier to pedal, minimal wasted effort.

To me though, it's geometry that's key. For commuting (averaging less than 15mph), ignore aerodynamics. Get a bike where you're sat up, hands well up without having to reach too far forwards, feet below you. Big wheels (700c), moderately wide tyres with a bit of tread on say 700x 38 or so and the right gearing. Even consider hub gears.

This is the bike I just built for my brother for commuting to work on:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/download.php?id=99903
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[recman]

[spnorm]

Definitely go for used on your budget and forget about full suspension.

I have road, CX and mountain bikes (plus a tandem ) and its horses for courses. The CX is versatile, but I much prefer my road bike for the road as it's light and responsive and my MTB off road. The CX is too much of a compromise.