Did my first little ride on the new bike - first time with drop bars since the 80’s! Average speed was over 16mph which I never managed on that route on my Hybrid.
Hour on the trainer today, average 160w at 90 cadence, this is a recovery ride ish, so not pushing too much, for context Bradley Wiggins pushed 440w for his 1hr record covering over 50k! Take a look at this fella, I think they should have supplied a sturdier bike
I've got a Vitus sentier mountain bike . Had it a couple of years and it's been great . I'd never heard of the brand, but my model won a bike of the year comp in a mag so took the plunge and it's been spot on .
This is a site that seems to offer a good range of bikes, perhaps not the latest models but prices are good: https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes/road-bikes/male/adult Retailers tend to start dropping prices on stock in the autumn - I bought my carbon Felt Z6 from Wiggle with £500 off list price without much knowledge; did read reviews first though. Wiggle & Chain Reaction offer good prices. Others: https://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/index.html (good sales prices for kit) https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/about-us/our-stores/wheelbase-lake-district/ (huge range of expensive bikes to droole over!!) Planetx - https://www.planetx.co.uk/ - good prices on certain bits of kits Enjoy!
Thanks gents I've been reading lots this last few days, I didn't realise that things had moved on so much in tyres and geometry From what I've gleaned I believe Vitus and Nukeproof have a commercial partnership somehow, both are what you'd class as a direct to consumer bike, thus either only sold via 1 or 2 specific retailers in each region globally, which is no bad thing. Bang for buck both have some great options in my target price range, the Nukeproof has the Scout 290 Comp and the Vitus the Sentier 29 VR or VRX http://vitusbikes.com/products/vitus-sentier-29-vr-trail-hardtail-mountain-bike/ https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-scout-290-comp-bike-sx-eagle-2020/rp-prod183324 Both 29ers I'm also quite keen on the Specialized fuse comp 29er https://www.specialized.com/gb/en/fuse-comp-29/p/171069?color=263308-171069 Having said all that, it's only today that I also realised that some 27.5 models I liked ran plus sized tyres and rims, therefore near as damn it 29er type size but wider tyres (everyday is a school day) So now the Trek Roscoe 8 and Whyte 905 v2 27.5+ are both also of interest https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/...trail-mountain-bikes/roscoe/roscoe-8/p/28487/ https://whyte.bike/products/905 v2 Guess what the common theme is with all of the above? None of them are in stock anywhere in a XL sized frame, none. Bloody typical that Covid-19 has bought bumper sales to the cycle industry just as I'm looking https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/news/bike-sales-soar-as-uk-takes-to-cycling/ What's more annoying is that I'm not buying because of coronavirus or a specific need to use as transport for work, I'm buying because my young daughter has recently progressed from using stabilisers bless her and wants dad to go out more regular, and since I sold my last Cube acid 29er some of my mates have returned to mtb's as well Just shit timing on my part it seems
I know a few people who have Canyon road bikes and are happy with them, again a direct to customer supplier. They seem to still have some 29” hard tails in L or XL around your budget. I think there may be a minor amount of assembly required (fit pedals, straighten handlebars, seat height etc ) but not sure. Might be worth a look.
Vitus were an old brand that were bought out by wiggle bikes and sold direct from wiggle or chain reaction cycles
Google maps ain't been down that top pic road for many years! - I could believe it was the same junction.
My first car was an Austin Cambridge but in battleship grey...nowhere near as fancy as a green n cream Oxford!
First ride since going back to work, not had a pedal for 12 days . A few paths this will be the last ride for months as they are too overgrown and will be impassable next week . Just short of 20 miles and very pleasant .
