I am going to buy a bike, price max £1250, I know its a lot but I need a proper bike that will last me and I can think to myself, I have a decent bike now. I miss having a bike and I need to exercise, I am always sitting down. I dont smoke or drink, my only vices are audio books reading and my fav logic games, you got to have a bike for the summer. My history is, mountain bike with slicks, got rid of that, went to a halfords £500 road bike, got rid of that due to excessive punchers, seriously it was a joke every time I went out I got a puncher. I thought I now wanted a Hybrid bike but after some research discovered the Cyclo Cross Bike, its like a road bike, but able to take a bit of a beating and with slightly more decent tyres, it should defend against punchers better. Clicky Clicky Clicky Clicky Are there any bike masters here, im 6foot2, will be used for commuting and exercise, im not training for a comp.
At that price all the bikes have the same kit on them and the frames are about the same quality. The main thing is how well it fits, so find a nice LBS (local bike shop), sit on a few and take them for a spin, preferably after having a fitting. Then buy the one which fits the best. Getting rid of a £500 bike because of punctures sounds pretty extreme as it was either the tire's fault (£30), wheel's fault (£120 for a nice set) or your fault for not pumping them up enough. Do you have a track pump? What pressure did you pump them up to? You need to have them at 90-120psi depending on your weight to stop punctures.
I like Lynx's suggestion! Sounds like all you need is to up the psi, and maybe get some better quality tyres and wheels. You could save yourself about £1000, and you will have a nice bike. Maybe you could put the £1000 towards something bigger and better?
I was using a small hand pump and pumping it untill it was very hard, at a guess 45 maybe 55 psi, ive never pumped a tire up to 90psi in my life, 65psi is soild to me when I used to do it on the mb. are you sure about the 90-120 psi, I would fear an explosion, Previously I spoke at great length at Halfords about my issues, and was not asked or told about such a high pressure. I dont have a track pump but I think ive learnt some thing important this morning about tyre pressure, thank you very much mate The second one down with the brown I got to see that one, its younger brother with only the front carbon forks, (vs both forks and wheel arch on more expensive one) it had some thing really cool. On the handle bars, it did not just have the racer type brakes, but also mini moutain bike type brakes in the centre of the handle bars, so you could ride the bike like a mb and use those brakes and then if you wanted to use the outside proper racer brakes and for steering. On the more expensive model it did not have it, I guess I could ask for it?
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3802 obviously it depends on what the maximum pressure of your tyres is, but 90 psi is perfectly reasonable for a road bike.
There is an "I ride a bicycle" thread for thing like this, full of people who ride everyday, some of us in there even run/own bike shops. As it has been suggested you need to up your pressure on your tyres. Before you go and spend big £'s on a new bike why not invest in a decent track pump as this will always be handy no matter what bike you have. If you look on the side wall of your tyre there will be a min/max PSI rating. I usually go with 2/3 - 3/4 of the rating, you can always add or remove air to get the right ride. Don't be scared, though you will crap your pants when the bead of the tyre seats itself into the rim with a loud pop. Also you can try either puncture proof tyres (these have a thick strip (usually kevlar) running down the centre of the tyre) costing anywhere from about £20 per tyre or you could try just buying the puncture strip (this will fit into your current tyres, just make sure you get the right size as mountain bike puncture tape is wider than the road bike version), I have sold a few but not all makes over the years of running a bike shop and have found the best one to be made by Weldtite (sp?). I tell my customers there are no sure fire ways never to get a puncture other than solid tyres, but a few preventions may cut down the number you get.
