UKH

I’m looking for a bike to use as a commuter, mainly to get about when I’m travelling in the van etc. 

I know sweet f a about bikes but figure I need something with no suspension and road tyres to make my life as easy as possible? 

What would £500 get me? Preferably after something that I could potentially do some longer tours on if I fancy. 

I’ve always liked the look of the whyte commuter and road bikes, eBay number 153569702403.  It or similar would be fun, fast and versatile and I think for 500 you could get something like it that would be ideal.

hope that gives you some ideas

cheers

Toby

I bought a Decathlon bike for this - Triban 500 IIRC, £400 and it's been great. Even went to the Isle of Man on it (we cheated and stayed in B&Bs though)

This (153569702403) looks like a great buy. I'd go for it (unless you're really short) and get it serviced and stick some decent brakes on it with the money I'd saved. And get some decent riding kit too.

I bought a specialised tricross for commuting 5 years ago and it’s the best thing i’ve bought...

second hand on *bay can get you one to try cheaply.

The specialised tricross looks good. A fair deal cheaper as well which would probably be w good thing as it’ll be kept outside my van half the time.

Giant Cross City 

If you can get the version with disk brakes then al the better. 

I commuted 48K a day for 18 months on my Giant, a mixture of flat and some long hills (not massively steep). Did the job great. 

For £500 you should be able to pick something decent up. 

Looks like the UK version is the Escape - https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/bikes-escape

You could easily cycle 100k on this, though if a regular thing you would want to splash out on a better specced bike. 

Good luck. 

The Whyte linked to on eBay is not bad - I've got a Portobello as my round town errand and pub bike.

Check if it's got carbon forks - the older ones (like mine) didn't, but the newer ones have and it takes quite a bit out of the road buzz, especially if you're planning longer tours.

Whyte tend to build their bikes on a mountain biking geometry with longer top tubes and shorter stems - even so, I found the stem on mine a bit short and put a slightly longer one on, but that's personal preference.

If you're travelling in a van a lot, I would have suggested a folding bike (a mate of mine has a special cupboard in his van for putting a folding bike in), but that wouldn't sit well with your longer tours plans.

You might consider a Brompton!

I have one as a commuter, and whilst not the quickest bike around it is certainly user-friendly to chuck in a car/van/bus/train. You will certainly get a used one within your budget.

People do tour on them too, but I never have.  The sit-up-and-beg position and the inherent flex of long tubes means that they're not the most efficient of bikes, but it does balance with their transportability.

N