Bike types

Which type for you?

When choosing a bike, the first thing is to identify what kind of cycling you want to do and how often you want to ride. Road bikes with drop handlebars and skinny tyres for road use, mountain bikes with knobbly tyres for off-road riding, hybrids which are a mixture of both road and mountain bikes, are the three main types of bike.

Your first question that you shoud ask is “Will I be riding off-road, on the road or a bit of both”

Road bikes

Drop handlebar bikes often used in the big the road Races like the Tour de France a

nd they are quick and exciting. The position of the rider is lower to the ground and faster than on a mountain bike. They are designed for smooth handling, climbing and will accelerate and corner with speed.  Road bikes can be categorized even further.  Touring bikes are designed to carry loads and for comfort. These bikes are ideal for cycling holidays and family days out.  Race bikes are designed for speed and the positioning is a little more stretched than the one a cyclist would use on a touring bike.  Race bikes are extremely light in order to climb more easily and extra stiff to allow for the maximum amount of power from the rider to be transferred to the wheels.  Road bikes come with either a double or triple chain ring at the front.  Race bikes sometimes have only the double chain ring, but if you are wanting to carry loads or ride a lot of hills, a triple allows you a fuller range of gears with easy gears for climbing.

Mountain bikes

Mountain bikes are designed to handle towpaths and to get down big rocky descents. Mountain bikes are divided into two main groups: hard tails, which have suspension at the front only and full-suspension bikes that have suspension at the rear also. Mountain bike suspension is designed for absorbing shocks over uneven terrain. It helps with traction over awkward  surfaces and aids your control of the bike. If you aren’t attempting anything too adventurous a hard-tail bike will provide sufficient suspension. If you want to venture into more challenging rides with more extreme trail riding then full-suspension can make the journey more comfortable and even more exciting. It aids you in pushing your technical skills to the limits.  Cross-country mountain bike cyclists require the lightest bike possible for maximum gains when climbing. These bikes have slightly less travel than the trail bikes because the emphasis is on speed and not comfort.  Yet another style of riding is downhill. The rider uses ski lifts or pushs their bikes to the top of a mountain for a fast, challenging descent. These bikes are smaller for the rider to manoeuvre, with lots of travel to take in the big drops and heavy as weight is not an issue.  Another type of mountain bike is the jump bike.  This is a hard-tail bike with stronger wheels and long travel suspension forks designed for dirt jumping and riding in urban areas.

Hybrid bikes

A cross between road bikes and mountain bikes – you have the hybrid. This has flat handle bars, a bigger range of gears, wheels designed for the road and wider tyres which allow the rider to feel just as comfortable on the road as on a cycle trail. While this bike would not be sturdy enough to take on rocky paths and trails,  it will be more than able to ride down a towpath or around a local park.  In addition, they are also great around town .  If you require a bike for cycling to work, hybrids are the perfect choice. They sport an upright sitting position allowing the rider to carry a rucksack with ease and provides a clear view of what lies ahead. The characteristic flat bars provide confidence in traffic, and helps with proficient bike control. Hybrids are also ideal for leisure and fitness with low gears allowing you to tackle climbs at your own pace.  The position also provides additional comfort for the rider.

Electically assisted bikes

We’ll give these an horourable mention too because in many ways they are an ideal Cycle to Work bike. Prices mostly start a bit over the £1000 mark that many C2W schemes are limited to, but they are otherwise such an interesting option that they need to be included here. Basically these are pretty normal looking commuter bikes that have a battery and a battery power drive to one of the wheels. This works in a similar way to power steering in a car in that when you pedal a little, the power assistance multiplies your efforts. So pedalling requires less effort for the same speed. You can vary the amount of assistance from a simple handlebar control. So you may use little assistance in flat or downhill sections, up to significant assistance for e.g. uphill or headwind sections, or just to get maximum speed for least effort.

Traditionalists may argue that it doesn’t provide the same level of exercise that an unpowered cycle does. And that’s true over comparable distances – that is after all the point. However, if you want to get to work with the minimum of fuss (i.e. sweat!) you’ll find it’s almost effortless. Plus of course it gives you some more options if you do want the exercise. You can simply ride further, seeing more for the same effort as a shorter run on a traditional bike. You can turn the power assistance down or even off if you don’t need it or want more exercise, say when you aren’t riding to work and don’t mind working up a bit of a sweat.

We have a Raleigh Velo Cite in stock, and you can try it out in our car park. Just start to pedal as with any bike, and you’ll immediately feel a slight boost to the way the bike starts off. Then you’ll find it rides like any commuter bike, except you need significantly less effort than you’d normally expect. It’s an absolute delight to ride, especially as the ride position and saddle are extremely comfortable. If you’ve never riden one we think you’ll be impressed. It has a range of up to 35 miles (any distance without using power assistance obviously). The battery is light and slides out easily to recharge at home or in work (employer permitting). In the picture of this bike below left you’ll see the battery above the real wheel. The motor is in the front wheel hub – as you’ll see it’s very discreet.