Hey folks! Thanks for the add and welcome! I am new to the UK and Edinburgh coming from Ontario, Canada. I am looking to purchase a bike on arrival and am wondering what to get for the terrain and winter. In Canada I rode a MTB in warm clear weather and on either studs or a Fat Tyre in winter months due to heavy snow and ice on the roads. What should I expect from Edinburgh? I only have room for one bike so I am considering a cyclocross bike with good grabby tires or a lightweight fat bike. Curious to hear opinions as I have no idea what your winters are like or what to expect. I am an avid cyclist, love to ride and enjoy a challenge. I do plan on riding year round. Thanks!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Type of Bike for Edinburgh
(44 posts)- Started 6 years ago by WBCotton
- Latest reply from gembo
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Posted 6 years ago #
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Welcome! As ever, it depends on what type of cycling you plan on doing. Here are a few things you might want to consider for regular city riding/commuting:
Gear range: Edinburgh is both hilly and windy. Having a reasonable gear range is a good idea.
Tyres: Winters are generally wet and cold - the temperature figures don't look too bad, but it can feel freezing. Regular road tyres are generally fine, some people on here use spikes in mid-winter - but I have never used them in 20+ years of commuting and have only missed a handful of days in all that time. Something puncture-resistant is a good idea, as potholes and glass can be problems.
Robustness: Edinburgh roads can be pretty hard on bikes. Cyclo-cross or MTBs should be fine for most uses - while some people do commute on road bikes, the roads generally eat their lightweight wheels and other components pretty quickly.
I know of only one regular fat bike commuter in the city, but lots of MTB/hybrid/cyclocross commuters. Make of that what you will.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Winters. Well, it’s winter all year round (except this week).
Wet & windy. More important to have mudguards & gloves than type of bike
Posted 6 years ago # -
Welcome. Edinburgh is quite a small city and you might want to think about buying a bike that will let you get out of it to explore the East Lothian coast and visit cafes in the hills to the South and West of the city.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“Wet & windy“
All things are relative.
Edinburgh is on the east coast and doesn’t rain v much - and seldom at ‘normal’ commute times (unless you travel a long way).
Can be VERY windy, but not often.
All due to - http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16126
Predictions and live info (when necessary) here - http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=1115
Posted 6 years ago # -
Something like the Genesis Croix de fer will allow for commute and jaunts over the bridge to Fife or out to the lothians. spesh Tricross I commute on is similar and I did the Etape Caledonia closed roads sportive with it, just changed from Schwalbe marathon plus tyres to gatorskins
Posted 6 years ago # -
A decent steel framed hybrid will be a good all-purpose bike. Preferably with a decent range of gears. Add puncture resistant tyres and a rear rack and you can do most things: town runabout, commute, light shopping, Sunday rides, even light touring.
Only decision is flat, riser, north road or drop bars. I like drops for longer rides otherwise anything will do.
Posted 6 years ago # -
All of the above is great advice. I have a sturdy steel framed touring style bike - it has nothing fancy on it by way of components and is quite heavy, but I saved all the money I could for getting decent robust wheels and a hub dynamo and set of lights. When it starts to get dark again for the morning and evening commutes the hub dynamo has been my best purchase, and my wheels have stayed true. My previous bike's wheels buckled fairly badly after only a few hundred miles. Mudguards pretty much essential as are decent gloves.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Nice to have another Canadian on board. Get some of the merino under layers that MEC has on sale at the moment, and you'll be all set. You won't want a heavy winter jacket like you wore in Ontario (our winter temps rarely go much below 0), but you'll want layers and wind/water resist top layers.
I vote for marathon pluses for all-round tyres and marathon winters for November-February (or April this year...).
I've seen more fat bikes in the past few months than in all the previous year, but they're not that common. E-bikes getting more popular.
Also - mudguards, rack, decent lights.
Posted 6 years ago # -
The Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative website (http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/) has a good range of options that you can browse from afar before you get here. Other local bike shops can also offer local specialist advice and some of the owners are on this forum.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Variations on existing comments:
Dynamo hub and dynamo lights on sturdy wheels. Your lights are then bolted-on so you don't need to faff about unmounting them every time you lock up, or worry about them falling off, or worry about carrying spare cells, or ever worry about anything other than remembering to disconnect the dynamo when removing the front wheel.
Mudguards.
Rack, or at least basket or rack-pack, for avoiding a sweaty rucksack-back and enabling frequent small shops as part of normal journeys.
28mm or larger tyres, so that you don't have to hop over too many ruts or avoid too many cobbobbobbled streets or pump up too frequently or worry about the extra weight of a couple of panniers of shopping risking a pinch flat to the rear. Even when you're used to the streets and know your routes well there are still ruts which surprise you. I have Marathons Plus with anti-puncture tape inside them but still get the odd puncture, even when regularly inspecting the tyres' surfaces and picking out any visible slivers of glass.
Small wallpaper-paste brush, for sweeping bits of broken glass off cyclepaths.Posted 6 years ago # -
This report from Edinburgh Council reckon that based on averages from 1971-2000 it rains about 120 days a year. There are about 54 days with air frost, and about 10 days with lying snow although this figure is in decline.
Most people here would recommend mudguards :-)
Posted 6 years ago # -
I use a Pinnacle Arkose from Evans I bought a few years ago. One of the 1x10 ones. Served me very well, put flat pedals, full mudguards, 35c Marathons, a rear rack and a grocery style pannier that I use to put my rucksack in. Works very well for my North - South commute.
Definitely looking into getting a dynamo and steel frame next though...
Posted 6 years ago # -
Aside from lack of Dynamo lights my gravel bike is pretty much perfect for Edinburgh (although I do like my 700 lumen monster of a light for some of the quiet unlit paths). 42mm tyres are almost certainly bigger than needed, but then again potholes are barely an issue compared with road bikes (and we have a lot).
Posted 6 years ago # -
Sadly, the most important property of a bike for use in Edinburgh is its lack of attractiveness to thieves. Though how one calculates that is hard to say.
Posted 6 years ago # -
"how one calculates that is hard to say."
Solid axles. Unfashionable colour scheme. Not expensive looking. Not an MTB or a fancy road bike.
Basically unglamorous, preferably old and slightly tatty, commuter bikes with mudguards are unlikely to be nicked.
Posted 6 years ago # -
happy canada day! (almost)
i have been riding a hybrid (either 18 or 27 speed, i can never remember), and i like it.
good lights, good lock. i'm going to get a little padlock for the front wheel.
you can register your bike with 'immobilise' and get a little microchip (like on a pet) which doesn't track the bike, but does allow you to prove that it's yours if there's a dispute. apparently anything that makes the bike easy to identify is a deterrent, so mine has stickers. i may ask for more for christmas.panniers.
mudguards, unless you like the taste of road dirt.you won't consider edinburgh winters to be winters (in montreal, i had icicles from my eyelashes), but i've noticed that they are more humid than i'd expected. my commutes are pretty short, but i'm often sweating by the 5 minute mark in just a light long sleeved merino and a light windproof jacket. (but it's too cold at the start to go without jacket.)
Posted 6 years ago # -
"Solid axles. Unfashionable colour scheme. Not expensive looking. Not an MTB or a fancy road bike. Basically unglamorous, preferably old and slightly tatty, commuter bikes with mudguards are unlikely to be nicked."
High end mountain bikes definitely get nicked, not so sure about road bikes.
There was a post a while back about the most stolen bike - it didn't fit either of those categories, but I can't remember what it was. anyone?
I have a theory that a bike with a basket and/or a child seat is unlikely to be stolen...
Posted 6 years ago # -
Unfashionable colour scheme. Not expensive looking. Not an MTB or a fancy road bike. Basically unglamorous, preferably old and slightly tatty, commuter bike
The Scaffolding Bike™ there ladies and gentlemen.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Chap that wears the long socks is currently smashing along on his version of the scaffy bike. It is a skinny scaffy bike with upturned bars. He is bombing along on it
Posted 6 years ago # -
genesis croix de fer is hands down the best all-rounder
reasonably fast road bike on slicks, and in the winter it has sufficient clearance for mudguards and studded ice tyres
stick a pannier rack on the back and it handles a weighty weekly shop no bother
Posted 6 years ago # -
+1 for the cdf. Fantastic all round bike.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I looked at one of those in Edinburgh bike coop 6 months ago as they no longer make the revolution country explorer and mine is getting rusty. As far as I could see the Cdf did not offer any extra features the same soro gears steel frame and disc brakes but it costs double the price. I also looked at a Ridgeback Panorama in peddlepower but on that not sure why I would have to pay 300 extra to get discs making it 1350.
I would tend to think a Cdf or a Panorama is a bit too expensive for edinburgh a rusty country explorer is better as has same features but less likely to be stolen. A genesis croix de fer, to in fashion, would never know if would still be there when parked.
It may be best to get a bike built up by the bike smith, as could choose all the parts. The steel frame axles wheels built in lights wide tyres for pot holes, lots of gears, hydraulic brakes, built in lights rack guards and mat paint so looks undesirable.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@wbcotton before you buy, do check if your new employer or place of study offers any deals. it is often possible to get an interest-free loan or similar deal. there are also official 'cycle to work' deals that reduce your tax paid, but opinion is that these are no longer particularly attractive.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Ed1, "a rusty country explorer is better as has same features but less likely to be stolen".
Yep. Or if like me you don't mind some "vintage" components, a mid-1990s CrMo framed 18-speed Raleigh Pioneer (6-speed freewheel) in a fetching shade of metallic burgundy (okay it's kinda purple, but wine coloured purple, not Cadbury's dairy milk or Roman purple). About as unglamorous as they come, but I swapped to drop bars, added a rack, Marathon+ tyres and front dynamo wheel and it's a nice wee tourer. I rarely feel desperately worried about parking it outdoors, even with a relatively crap lock. Even in Glasgow. Oh and the chains last forever.
Posted 6 years ago # -
As far as I could see the Cdf did not offer any extra features
its all in the handling
remains graceful under pannier weight, no flex
and as others here have said before, its very forgiving when you're knackered at the end of a long day in the saddle
if i only had one bike, it would be a CdF
two bikes, and it would be CdF and the Tarmac sl5 comp
i'll go electric when i draw my pension, and not a day before
Posted 6 years ago # -
i got my specialised through the cycle to work scheme, don't think i could have afforded something as good otherwise.
(i know there are others nicer, but they were a bit much, and then custom building requires more thought than i was interested in...)
i once left a bike locked all day in montreal city centre, with the keys in the lock. no one took it.
my mate spent a weekend painting his new baby with fake rust, and it was gone within 3 hrs of him parking it at work.Posted 6 years ago # -
I'm not getting the CdF love-in tbh. Sure they're nice bikes but they're overpriced for the spec (£1K for Sora and cable disc brakes? Really??) and a touch on the heavy side. I do realise that a good steel frame does provide a good combination of stiffness and a comfortable ride.
Posted 6 years ago # -
"I'm not getting the CdF love-in tbh."
Me neither, but if someone gave me a brand new one as a pressie I I wouldn't say no.
"my mate spent a weekend painting his new baby with fake rust"
Clearly the thief was an expert in trompe l'oeil technique and could spot the forgery.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I should add I got one of these last year through bike-to-work:
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-cx-team-bike-50-53-55-5-57-5cm-frames
Reasonable spread of gears (though with it being 1x11 there are bigger jumps between gears), hydraulic disc brakes and carbon forks. It will take a set of raceblade mudguards and a pannier rack though the fitted tyres are definitely for offroad use- they've got a soft compound and I'd worn them out after 3 months of road cycling! I replaced them with Schwalbe Marathons and they're still going strong.
Posted 6 years ago #
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