What bike to get for my commute?

[Wryel]

I've ridden mountain bikes all my life and would like to start riding to work and will probably get there faster if I'm not on a 30+lb full suspension bike with 2.1" tyres. So I'm going to use my companies' cycle to work scheme and get a road bike, but what to get? Part of me wants a single speed for the simplicity and fun (most I've seen can be swapped round to be a fixed wheel :shocked: ). I've also considered entering a triathlon next summer so a proper road bike would be more appropriate and a bit easier going up a hill on a wet February morning. Then we get to the hybrids, probably not as quick but flat bars and a more relaxed geometry would be good for social riding at the weekend with my girlfriend and probably make it easier to get/weave/jump through the traffic.

Any recommendations? Has anyone ever ridden a fixed wheel?

[LeperousDust]

Cheap giant/scott/spec road bike around the £500 mark would do you fine almost certainly :)

My flatmate did 500 miles non stop on his "cheapo" giant roadie. The only difference really between cheap and expensive road bikes is weight, otherwise they perform pretty much the same.

This isn't from my experience because all i ride is MTB's but my two flatmates do a load of road riding too and they get on great with theirs :)

[Garp]

I loved my Carrera Subway 2. It's a nice light frame, but solid, good ratio of gears plus it comes with Kevlar tyres which never seemed to get punctured despite riding on London's messy roads, when other people that cycled seemed to get them on a regular basis. Only set me back about £300, and paid for itself very quickly with tube costs and time (it was quicker to cycle than the three changes necessary to get to the data centre)

[Desmo]

I'd still prefer a mountain bike just for comfort as it's what I'm used to but just chuck on some decent road tyres to reduce drag.

[Admiral Huddy]

Carrera are good bikes.. Mine has long since gone but it was by far the best bike I've owned. Well bilt buit light, easy to ride and very agile. I don't buy expensive bikes now, just one that I'll get at least two years out of so my budget is no more than £150 as it's left at the station all day.

[semi-pro waster]

Something like the Edinburgh Courier Classic (http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f%5FProductID=9449&f%5FFullProductVersion=1&f%5FSupersetQRY=C105&f%5FSortOrderID=1&f%5Fbct=c003155c002910) might fit the bill, they are well engineered pieces of kit and don't have anything unnecessary to them. They don't look flashy so shouldn't be attractive to thieves but they do the job and do it well. Do try before you buy though if at all possible.

That said a proper road bike is infinitely less effort and much quicker for distance, however I'd only really recommend one if you are going to be mainly on quite smooth roads, they can be very unforgiving on hands/forearms if the road is bumpy.

[luke]

i got a 07 carrera fury, it rocks :)

[LeperousDust]

Just spent another £100 on my bike (although this happens fairly few and far between).
Anyway, although the halfrauds bikes are alright for their money. Much, much, much better stuff can be found for the same money second hand. Even buying last years model through evanscycles/EBC/dalecycles etc... you can find some bargains, and they will always outperform the halfords stuff.

For generic day to day it doesn't matter, if you want to invest in something you can also use for your triathlons, i don't think there's any competition.