Inspired by Brillo, my fitness training ....

[DimPrawn]

Seriously what do you do for a living?

I'm independently wealthy....

[sasguru]

I'm independently wealthy....

No one independently wealthy lives in Swindon.
So how did you make your fortune?

[DimPrawn]

No one independently wealthy lives in Swindon.
So how did you make your fortune?

Property speculation, built up and sold a business, investment of contracting income.

[sasguru]

Property speculation, built up and sold a business, investment of contracting income.

So why live in a tuliphole like Swindon?

[Old Hack]

So why live in a tuliphole like Swindon?

You live in Wandsworth you say?

[sasguru]

Annoys the crap out of me having to pay TV licence when I watch almost nothing from the BBC.

It's very satisfying batting away the TV-licencing people. They can't believe people wouldn't have a telly.

[Ketchup]

Road bike. The rolling resistance of a mountain bike makes longer distances almost impossible; it's altogether larger, heavier, and just not built for speed.

Depends what you want to do. If you want to get fit, quickly, I'd say road bike; start witha few weeks of 15 milers, then pop in 2*40 milers a week. Will kill you to start, but within 2-3 weeks, you'll be pissing them. Then start adding bigger hills in the rides. If you did 2*40 miles a week, you'd be fit, quickly, and could live normally, as such.

Tat's my take. But I have an MTB as well, and hooning down trails is a lot of fun, if slightly dangerous, from the not taking time off work injured front.

Sorry to bring this back on topic.

I used to do a lot of mountain biking when i was young and bit of downhill racing. This village i grew up in had an old gravel quarry in the woods which was quite famous with mountain bikers ("Treasure island" in Danbury). I wasn't sure whether the rolling resistance of a mountain bike and the more varied terrain could have meant it was better for calorie expenditure.

Any recommendations of an entry level road bike? I know very little about them, i have done a bit of research and the Specialized Allez seems a good place to start.

[Old Hack]

Sorry to bring this back on topic.

I used to do a lot of mountain biking when i was young and bit of downhill racing. This village i grew up in had an old gravel quarry in the woods which was quite famous with mountain bikers ("Treasure island" in Danbury). I wasn't sure whether the rolling resistance of a mountain bike and the more varied terrain could have meant it was better for calorie expenditure.

Any recommendations of an entry level road bike? I know very little about them, i have done a bit of research and the Specialized Allez seems a good place to start.

Trek have the best, imo, alloy frames, but if you go into carbon, you have smaller cottage industry German manufacturers building some great items for about £1500, but if you spend over £2k, you can claim 20% VAT back and make it a company purchase (it’s also a depreciating asset, so you can write it off after a short while).

If you had 700-800, I’d go for a trek. Any lower, and you’re looking at Boardmans, and Carrera’s from Halfords, to be honest and the quality of the components slip.

Personally, I go MTB for fun, and Road bike for exercise, and always have felt that way. You get places quicker on the road bike, so I guess some of it might be mentally i.e. you can punt out a 60 miler on a Sunday morning instead of a 30 miler.

[Old Hack]

It's very satisfying batting away the TV-licencing people. They can't believe people wouldn't have a telly.

To be frank sas, I haven’t once had to bat them away, so I am surprised you have had to.

[Ketchup]

Trek have the best, imo, alloy frames, but if you go into carbon, you have smaller cottage industry German manufacturers building some great items for about £1500, but if you spend over £2k, you can claim 20% VAT back and make it a company purchase (it’s also a depreciating asset, so you can write it off after a short while).

If you had 700-800, I’d go for a trek. Any lower, and you’re looking at Boardmans, and Carrera’s from Halfords, to be honest and the quality of the components slip.

Personally, I go MTB for fun, and Road bike for exercise, and always have felt that way. You get places quicker on the road bike, so I guess some of it might be mentally i.e. you can punt out a 60 miler on a Sunday morning instead of a 30 miler.

Thank you, my MTB is actually a trek (6000), about 10 years old and still a fantastic bike. There is also the cycle to work scheme i was looking at, but the bike would be purely for personal use as i wouldn't like to leave an expensive bike chained up in London.