Any advice? Worth converting a hybrid to road bike
My Trek hybrid got stole recently and so I’ve been rethinking what I want from a bike.
I’ve decided I want a road bike style to take advantage of the greater range of hand positions and using it for fitness rather than just commuting.
Anyway, I’m wondering whether it’s worth switching the frame and handlebars from my (recovered) hybrid, or should I just sell the bike at a loss and buy a whole road bike?
If anyone’s got experience of this conundrum, I’d be interested in hearing from you.
(this isn’t really Hackney specific, but if you know of a decent local bike shop that could do the conversion at a fair price, that would bring it back on topic 😉 )
alexpink
Hybrids are ok for commuting but if you want a proper bike then go for a racer. You can put some straight bars on it so that its comfortable for going to work on, but you’ll still be able to use it for weekend cycles. Weight is a major factor in the difference between racer and hybrid. There are great racers on eBay, don’t use Halfords or anywhere like that. Sunil got his Eddy Merckx from eBay, and thats a fecking beauty!
philsheard
Cheers Alex.
I’m sold on the racer idea. Just wondering if I’ve got enough compatible parts (good wheels, gearing, seat, etc) on the Trek hybrid to make the new frame route viable, or whether to just dump the hybrid at a loss and buy a whole bike.
alexpink
Depending on space you could keep the hybrid and buy a racer. Personally I’d go for a replacement bike (new or second hand). I’m watching a few on eBay at the moment.
leyn
I’m seconding the notion that racers and hybrids are quite different bikes – I switched from a hybrid to a racer for within-London use last year, and it’s been wonderful.
Beyond eBay, you could also look at Going Going Bike, a bike specific auction site. Their USP is that they require you to type in the frame number, which it then scans against existing databases of stolen bikes.
There’s also dedicated second hand bike shops in London where you could try different bikes to get a better sense of the different set-ups possible–the one I built my bike with let me borrow different bikes for nearly a month til I found the perfect frame for me. (But it’s not in Hackney…)