Absolute tosh. For those who need a sturdy commuting bike then a hybrid is just the ticket

Wish it was in stock nexus are great

bikeboy seems to be a troll but I'm guessing 2005 is his DOB so it's not really surprising.

Bike boy it's a sub 300 quid bike what do you expect it's not gunna be great! All you do is thread crap on here on cheap bikes saying how **** they are! They're obviously not gunna be great that's why they are so cheap. Muppet

Rubbish dont bother mechanical brake lol, joke get to know what a good bike is. jokers

speaking here as someone who has worked for both companies (halfords - carrera/boardman, evans - norco) as a cycle mechanic i'd say dont bother with a carrera or boardman unless your willing to drop more money (the low end bikes are useless and use extremely cheap components) the norco is a good call, but i would def agree with a CX being better suited as an aggressive 'all-rounder'.

And that comment regarding gatorskins & marathon plus do yourself and EVERY cycle mechanic a favour and leave the gatorskins alone they are a nightmare to change/fit due to the real stiff beading, plus the marathons last sooo long

It may not be any good for downhill racing. But it would be perfect for tearing up the pavement on the way to the off licence to get a few tins of lager.

Personally I don't like riding in traffic with drop bars. My ideal city bike is a flat bar road bike with road geometry but an ability to have full control over the brakes and gears and see ahead. Witness the many YouTube videos of head down racers crashing into the back of cars on road bikes.
Fit a pair of gatorskins, marathon plus or armadillo types on this bike and you have a fantastic reliable winter/summer bike.
I just don't have the space for another bike......

Then maybe the problem is with you and/or a badly fitting hybrid due to your experimenting- There is only really ONE hand position unless you have bar ends or place you hands closer to the center of the bar (or stem) - but one quite often has lights and other gadgets attached there so its not always possible.

Hybrids arent really designed to be ridden 'aggressively' due to the way the frames are designed.

Maybe you dont understand how a hybrid should be ridden? I certainly dont have that problem, and my hybrid was perfectly fine for me the moment i picked it up at evanscycles and rode it home.

the only time i had wrist pain was when i took my first ride on my road bike with drop bars but i have read in most forums that this can be an issue for many newcomers to road bikes but people only need time to adjust to the bike and it goes away... I have been on a fair few commutes on my road bike and since i have adjusted the seating, I no longer suffer from wrist pains.

Maybe you should have invested in a CX bike rather than a hybrid rather then wasting time trying to make your hybrid into something its not?

CX bikes are good though, but you can still take hybrids the same places CX bikes can go apart from races. You can race on them but then again it depends on your own personal fitness as the frame isnt designed to make most efficient use of your pedalling power. Changing to lighter wheels & slick road tyres would help a huge amount though if you honestly wanted to use a hybrid to race. Ive seen hybrids absolutely bombing it past people on road and CX bikes while cycling around london and some of them can be pretty fast but again, they are putting more effort in to go at that pace then the cyclists on the road or CX bikes would to hit and maintain those speeds.

Ive taken my hybrid off road, did light trail riding, used it for some of my longest rides (50+ miles) but mainly for an 8-10 mile commute and it never skipped a beat.


Stop trying to make your Toyota Yaris into a Ferrari and maybe you might start to enjoy it.

I've got a mountain bike. With Schwalbe Big Apple Plus tires which are grrat for off and on road

http://www.bicycleslondon.co.uk/schwalbe-big-apple-for-commuting-long-term-review/

With hub gears. And a great geometry. You can have a bike that does everything very well if you take the time (and money) to create one.

​I completely disagree. Having used a hybrid for a few months I was constantly trying to find new hand positions due to wrist pain. Not only that but I was always experimenting with the set up of the bars and stem etc in order to make the position more aggressive.
I didn't have much success off road with a hybrid. Personally if you wanted a "do-everything" bike then a CX bike is the one to go for. So much flexibilotym

blimey. that is a steal for a reliable commuter. the Alfine hub (E.g. the sealed internal gears) are £160 on their own). norco is a great brand as well. you wouldn't lose any money on this bike if you rode it for three years I reckon!

Lol. I remember the old Sturmey Archer days when 3 gears was all you got from the hub...

I have a bike with these gears, I think the range is 1:3.14.

Its a pity they never used the hub integrating the rear brakes, as they are a pleasure to use & have not needed adjusted in years.

The only issue I found with mine was I decided to drop the cog from 21 to 16 teeth when using it entirely on the road with slicks as the gears then perfectly matched anywhere I cycle.

They are very relaxing to use in traffic, as you can freewheel up to traffic lights, then just flick into first or second etc to start when the lights change.

Its close to zero maintenance & if someone makes an entire chain enclosure like you see on some Dutch city bikes, then I would buy one, even though the chain obviously is never jumping, it would cancel most remaining servicing having an enclosed chain.

Not really much of a deal in my opinion.
You often get Carreras that are similar at this price during sales.
The difference though is the double front chainset and front mech and rear cassette with a normal rear mech rather than hub gears which are not exactly a cup of tea for many.

Low maintenance agreed, but personally the riding experience on a Carrera would be superior. In fact the Boardman Road Sport has been at a lower price.

Other comment is that I don't recommend hybrid bikes because I don't think they are good at much.

Would've purchased if 20" was available.

Only 18" in stock.

Hot deal if you are a midget I guess.

And only on the front. I looked at this earlier in the summer, looked really great for the price, but ended up going for a Btwin in the end, but if it was this price I would have brought it.

Only 18" available (now?)
"Suitable for heights:
165 to 175 cm, 65 to 69 inches"

Mechanical discs though :confused:

wow i have a hub gear electric bike and only want to buy a hub gear again due to low maintenance. thanks. will take a look

Hub gears are the BEST choice for commuting...

From my limited experience, it seems a decent bike of bits for the price. But is it only me that thinks a commuter bike should have mudguards?

Absolute tosh. For those who need a sturdy commuting bike then a hybrid is just the ticket

Heat added

They even managed to get disc brakes on, well impressed. Wouldn't hesitate to go for one of these if looking for getting in to cycling to work :smiley:

simple, hassle free biking, bit limited on gearing, but great as a city commuter/light trail so if you are in the market for something like this, great deal

Cracking for the price, hot from me.. Will go cold though I'm sure, way too many people voting who believe this comparable to a £79 eBay special..