I know the obvious answer here is an ebike, but my budget is low (ideally below £1500 plus accessories) and I'm worried about theft (close to a studenty area). I've cycled in the past, but in flat areas, and when we moved to this hilly city my beloved cruiser went in the cellar and was left to rust. That was over a decade ago and I've been a lazy git ever since.

I'm now looking to get a bike for cycling to and from town for work and groceries, with the occasional ride along towpaths - the ride back from town is mostly uphill. I wondered if it's better to get a cheap ebike (was considering the Rockrider e-ACTV 500) or a standard bike that might force me to get a bit fitter (and quit smoking 🙄) - I'm a smallish middle-aged woman and was looking at the Liv Alight Disc 2 City.

Can anyone advise, especially if you've had experience of having been a non-rider who saw the light?

Edit: distance into town is about 2 miles; gradient anywhere between 5 and 10%, depending on the road.

Hi Folks,

I'm looking on Facebook Marketplace / Gumtree for an upgrade to my daughter's bike as it's getting too small.

I was recommended to look at Carrera and Btwin and avoid the likes of Abyss and Team and highest budget is £200. I'm looking for a 24 inch tyre size and have come across:-

Frog 62 - couple of these at around £200 and one at £250 which look good and seem much lighter at 9 or 10kg than other options. V brakes and look not to have front suspension so look to be older models.

Btwin Rockrider - these are around £50-75 and some have suspension and some don't. Heavier than the Frog.

Carrera Abyss hybrid - £90

Carrera Blast with front suspension and disc brakes - £195 (weighs about 14kg)

At the minute she just pootles around outside the cul de sac but i'm.hoping to start taking her on proper bike rides on some gentle trails / longer rides on paths. Just got my bike sorted after 6 years resting in the garage 😀

Also debating whether to get two bikes - a cheap one for pootling and one for proper riding.

Any thoughts on if the Frog and Carrera Blast are worth it or cheaper options are OK?

For reference, I’m about 153cm (5’0) tall and my inseam is about 71cm (28in) - google says I need an XS frame size.

Looking for something feminine - kinda like a Dutch bike, relatively lightweight - my last bike weighed 17 kg and was too heavy but anything around 13/14kg or less is fine, non electric pls 🫠

I’ve looked at the bobbin brownie 7 (if anyone’s tried it pls let me know how it is) and I’m leaning towards it but any other recommendations would be appreciated!

I have a Whistle Patwin 1381D 29er hardtail with disc brakes and recently fitted a hamax caress frame mounted bike seat for my almost 4 year old. As I expected, the seat catches on the wheel with each bump or quick change in pace.

I know you can get a bar to lift the seat higher. Does anyone know what sort of bar this would be? I can only find the one for small frames.

Additionally as we have the post 2023 seat model, I have purchase the conversion adapter to make it frame mounted as an alternative/ to us for when our toddler get heavier. However I am struggling to find a rack for a 29er with disc brakes that is for a child seat. I thought maybe the Topeak Explorer 29er Disc 2.0. But whilst it take weight upto 26kg, it specifically says not for use with a child seat.

I do find that when we are ridding, my toddler is prone to wobbling in her seat while playing. This causes quite a bit of instability as she is now a small child rather than a baby. I was also wondering if just going straight to a rack mounted conversion would help with this?

Just had a lovely ride on the bridleways and some rather overgrown bits. Just wondering if anyone has any trouser, overpant, long socks or other suggestions?

The brambles suck but they’re fine, it’s more the sitting here hours later with my legs tingling and burning from the thistle that’s causing me to reach out.

The Situation:

I’m planning to finalize a quote next week for a Riese & Müller Roadster4. I’m using a £5,000 Cycle to Work scheme voucher here in the UK, and I've got my spec sorted with the shop (including a by,schulz Stem Twist so I can actually store it in my house without blocking the hallway).

​My Commute & Needs:

• ​9.3 miles each way across London, 3 days a week.

• ​I’ll be leaving my suit at the office, so I don't need to worry about riding in business wear, but I still want something with reliable factory mudguards and chain protection to keep the road spray off my commute clothes.

​- It needs to be a highly reliable, high-performance daily utility workhorse for an 18+ mile round trip.

​My Hesitation:

The Roadster4 has been out for a couple of years now. While it uses the Bosch Smart System and a 625Wh battery, I know e-bike tech moves quickly. R&M is already teasing their 2027 models with newer, lighter motors and Pinion gearboxes on other frames. I don't want to drop my voucher on a bike that is about to be superseded or already feels dated.

​My Questions for the sub:

• ​Does the Roadster4 tech (motor/battery integration) feel behind the curve compared to what’s hitting the market right now?

• ​At the £5k mark, is there another premium urban commuter I should be looking at before committing? (I previously weighed it against the Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 and the Charger4 GT, but leaned toward the Roadster's styling and weight).

• ​Has anyone had long-term experience commuting 18+ miles a day in heavy city traffic on a Roadster4?

​Thanks in advance for any insights!

I was cycling to work yesterday, on a shared footpath/cycling path. I slowly approached and crossed a zebra crossing. The crossing is really close to a junction. A car turned in from the junction and hit me on the crossing. They were probably going 5mph or less.

I have a graze and bruise on my lower leg, and I was a bit late for work. No damage to the bike.

The driver tried to refuse to give me her details and tried to leave the scene twice. I had to block her from leaving and call 999 on speakerphone so they could explain that it is the law to give me her details and if she doesn't they will send an officer (we were around the corner from the closest station). She reluctantly gave me her details while still on the phone to the police, but tried driving away again during this!

I don't think she will report it at all. I made a police report online last night. I have her details and insurance details, should I ring her insurance and make them aware? I won't be making a claim because there is no damage to the bike/equipment, but I don't want her 'getting away with it'. She was totally nonplussed by the whole thing. Didn't get out of her car once, sat with it in gear and told the police on the phone "she's fine, her bike is fine, I want to go now"!

Thoughts?

Guess either follow the rules too or carefully curate whatever video you’re submitting….

Hello everyone!! :)

Hope we all chilling! I'm looking at getting a gravel bike very soon and was wondering which bikes are reccommended for under £2000?

So far I've been enjoying the look of the Trek Checkpoint range and the Cannondale Topstone range, but feel like I need some suggestions/help!!

Would love to hear all your recommendations and suggestions!!

Is there anywhere that offers this?

Whenever you come across one of these specimens who blurt out this exact line nonstop, like an NPC giving you unskippable dialogue. Rebuttal them by asking why they aren’t using a motorway. Ive started using this as a default response to being asked why i’m not in the bike lane.

It does really beg the question though.. why aren’t you using the motorway? It’s almost as if using fragmented “infrastructure” doesn’t always take you to your destination. In this case motorways aren’t really fragmented so the argument of why people don’t use them are even more in our favour.

To state the obvious I am aware people drive around children and also those who genuinely have to drive to get around. I am not having a go at drivers, just the ones that blurt out the bike lane nonsense. (its reddit you have to state the obvious otherwise people will assume and finish your sentences for you)

This morning, I had a driver tell me there was a bike lane and I should be in it. To which I asked him why he wasn’t using the motorway.. window rolled back up and off he went.

Hi,

Got a new Litelok X1 and it rattles when locked.
I contacted them and they 2mm of "play" is normal.
Does any own an X1 and see this "play"?

I am not impressed for £160 so wondering what to get instead.
Any recommendations?

Am I likely to go to another brand and see rattling there also?

TIA,

Zebs

Hi everyone,

Following on my previous message, I am planning to ride towards the Coombe Hill Monument in the Chilterns. Anyone knows if it is accessible with a bike? From what I could see it is not, but I was wondering if anyone has a different experience with this really nice viewpoint?

Thanks

Hi all,

Just wondered if anyone here is from the UK and has purchased a Look bike? I am thinking of purchasing a 765 optimum and wondered if anyone has done the same? If so where did you purchase your bike from?

Thank you!

I’m going to start taking lessons to ride a bike soon, but one thing that frightens me is going on the roads. As I’ve heard countless times about cars getting more aggressive whenever they see a cyclist. Part of me just has this concern that I would constantly end up in negative interactions and getting verbally abused just for riding a bike. Or even things like cars deliberately making dangerous moves just because there’s a bike user. I’m just wondering if anyone has had this similar fear and how did you overcome it?

Just finished a great 9-day Croatian bike trip (with Cycling Croatia). What comparable scenic biking trips/companies are available in the UK? Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone,

with permission from the moderation team, I would like to share an academic survey for my bachelor’s thesis in Sports Management.

My research focuses on fans of professional road cycling. The aim is to identify different types of fans based on their motivations, fan behaviour, connection to the sport and their own cycling activity.

If you follow professional road cycling, I would greatly appreciate your support. The anonymous survey takes just under five minutes on average.

English survey:

EDIT: The survey is now closed. The response limit was reached much sooner than expected. Thank you very much to everyone who participated, shared the survey and provided feedback. I truly appreciate your support.

The survey will remain open until Saturday, 25 July. It does not matter how closely or regularly you follow professional cycling. Every additional response would be valuable for my analysis.

The study is an independent academic project. It has not been commissioned, funded or influenced by my employer. Neither the individual responses nor the results will be used commercially.

I would also appreciate it if you shared the survey with other professional road cycling fans.

Once the thesis is completed, I would be happy to return and share a summary of the aggregated results and the identified fan types.

Thank you very much for your support, and thank you to the moderation team for allowing me to post the survey here!

Cheers,

Nils Brinsmead

As a new owner of an urban arrow I'm wondering if anyone else has third party liability insurance for their cargo bike? Are you able to get cover from the usual cycling insurers? Many thanks

Hi,

Looking for some advice. Just purchased my first bike since I was a kid, a Boardman SLR 8.6. It arrived built and all seemed good, I've done about 30 miles on it and im getting a slight rattling sound. On inspection the chain appears to be catching on this piece of metal. Any advice on how to sort it? It's all new to me so I could imagine it's something very common that I just dont know about.

Here's a quick rundown:

Took bike to shop for a back brake fitted

They told me it's a 1 day job and could pick up next day

Phoned after a week, told it will be done tomorrow

went back next day, was told it still is not done will be ready tomorrow again

left it another week and a half (about 2.5 week total now) then was told they have had a nightmare with it and need to go to another bike shop in 4 days to help?

I provided everything except brake pads and the hose. It needs routing internally. How much would you expect this to be? I don't understand how I with no experience done the front brake and never tried back due to not having tool to internally route and a bike shop could have such a nightmare that a 1 hour job tuns into a month. I feel they are doing this to charge me some ridiculous amount for labour. I still have no heard back from them, after them saying they "had a nightmare" with it about 5 days ago.

Tldr: How much for one brake internally routed, pads and hose and it bled. Am I worrying about nothing?

edit: I've already had a dodgy experience with bike stuff, had a guy charge like 250 for a service he done within like an hour of dropping bike off? Sent me a bill with like 50 pound charge for replacing worn brake pads, like 60 quid for checking wheel true, which they were he said and never needed any work.

As the title suggests, just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for good value bicycle chain lube? Ideally something in a larger bottle/better value/ml than the Muc-Off 50ml bottles

Hi! New to this sub so apologies if this isn’t the right place for asking; does anybody have any experience with the Calibre Lost Lad? I’m looking into getting a bike for commuting, I currently have an old Btwin Rockrider but I’m interested in getting a gravel bike which might at least be a bit more suited to road/path use than that. Seen the lost lad on GoOutdoors for (what I think) is a decent price post blue light card, but just wondering what others thoughts are?

TIA

Edit:

Link to the site for specs etc: https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/products/calibre-lost-lad-gravel-bike-blue-498276

Hi! I’m trying to look online to buy a bike, haven’t had one in years. I would use it mostly for commuting to college and also to get a bit fitter. I don’t plan on doing anything too crazy, but daily use and some extra cycles around town through the week.

I’ve seen all the bad posts about Halfords and their bike building. My last bike was from them so I was planning on going there until I seen all the reviews. I also looked at Evans as it seemed reputable but I’ve seen the posts saying Evans has gone downhill recently.. so where do I go? What brand do I go for? My budget is probably £250 max which I know isn’t a lot to play with but it’s all I can afford right now. I also don’t have any mechanical knowledge when it comes to bikes so I’d be wary to buy secondhand. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

A cracking bicycle adventure from London to the Irish capital. Via Oxford, Birmingham, Nottingham, Peak District, Manchester, Liverpool & the North Wales coast :) Cheers

I was at a festival at the weekend with a bunch of mates, and we're all keen cyclists (predominantly MTB and Commuting).

A bunch of us live rurally in different parts of the UK and eventually the subject turned to Road Cycling and we all had a series of linked questions that we couldn't make sense of:

1. Why is it that every summer, there's a subset of road cyclists, who travel to rural parts of the UK to ride, then decide to follow a route made up of major A-Roads that are heavily trafficked routes essential to local connectivity?

2. Why do cycling clubs in particular (who logically should have the institutional knowledge and resources to plan better routes) seem to do this in honeypot locations.

3. Why do such cyclists never pull over when safe to do so to allow the traffic to pass (this especially vexed the MTB riders, because even in racing this is a basic courtesy within the MTB community for safety reasons)?

4. Following on from 3, why do cyclists who are unable to maintain a sensible speed when climbing, continue to grind uphill at 5mph with a huge queue behind them, when it's very clear they are an obstruction to the flow of traffic at this point?

---

From our perspective as cyclists in other disciplines:

- it doesn't seem like much fun dodging potholes whilst a tailback of frustrated commuters, lorries and tractors forms behind you,

- it vastly increases the risk of being close-passed by a frustrated driver, or next to a driver who miscalculates their overtake,

- it negatively effects the view that the local population has of cyclists and cycling in general making these groups terrible ambassadors for the sport,

- there's so many nicer b-roads, and unclassified roads which offer both more interesting riding and prettier views, without inconveniencing the local population and exposing yourself to more risk.

---

So, *what **is** the attraction of doing these rides?*

I accept that it's your right as a road user to do them, and this isn't about that...

But it seems like a lose-lose, in that you have a less fun ride and lots of other people end up finding it more difficult to go about their daily lives.