Help! Any cyclists about?

[Eddielzzard]

Urgh so DH took DD to buy a hybrid bike so she could ride on gravel paths on the common and also on the road. She had her heart set on a certain bike. Salesman said the bike she wanted was a hybrid, and absolutely fine for where she wanted to ride.

She went for a ride last night and said it was really hard to ride on gravel paths. Her bike was slipping all over the place. It's got smooth, quite narrow tyres.

I'm freaking out. Can we return this bike since she's ridden it? Can we change the tyres for nobbly ones? Have we been miss-sold this really expensive bike? I'm pissed off that we've spent all this money and don't have a bike fit for purpose. DD's upset, I'm pissed off and DH is pretending all is fine. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

what kind of bike is it?
'hybrid bike' is a bit if a weird term. I have one myself. it would definitely not be suitable for offroad/gravel. it's great to get from a to b on different riad surfaces.

gravel is tough to ride on with any bike. it's very eary to slip.

No need to freak out, just buy some gravel tyres and keep the other tyres for future road use.

What make of bike did you buy and how much did you spend ? How old is dd? My dh is a keen cyclist. He has both a mountain bike and a road bike. I’ll ask him.

Sometimes hybrid bikes come with a set of smooth tyres and a set of nobbly ones. Change for nobbly ones and it will be fine.

can you pop a photograph of just the bike up - its hard to answer questions without some information

Cycling on gravel is a learned skill.

I can do it on my tourer which is a semi road bike with fairly narrow tyres but not proper road tyres. I can cycle bridleways on it, though to be actually comfortable it would need better suspension. My 11 year old daughter also has semi-road tyres and has learnt to cycle on gravel. We do a lot of cycling, it is our main mode of transport.

Thanks for the replies. The bike is this one:

www.evanscycles.com/batavus-stratos-limited-2020-women-s-hybrid-bike-EV381593

The tyres it has are in the photo, hard to see, but quite thin and smooth. It only came with these smooth jobs. And you'll see from the price why I'm pissed off as hell. Are nobbly tyres expensive? I'm clueless, as you can tell.

DD is 14 and taller than me. I'd say she's 5'5 and still growing.

ok, the tyres aren't thin - not in the cycling world. The bike is a hybrid and certainly suitable for both road cycling and off road on tracks, canal paths. I would certainly be looking at riding this on a path

www.keswick.org/what-to-do/walking-routes/catbellswalkingroute path pictured far right - but no bumpier

Nibble tyres aren't expensive, no, and will make it a lot easier to ride. Those smooth tyres are road tyres; definitely not appropriate for riding on gravel!

I agree with a PP that gravel is never very nice to ride on, though, unless you're fat biking or something.

www.evanscycles.com/continental-x-king-29-folding-performance-pure-grip-EV356412

*nobbly

With Evans you can ride the bike for up to 30 days and the return if you would prefer to just return it.

first off: that's a really good brand of bike. very sturdy and should last her a long time.

it's a standard frame size, so you could get a new set of wheels and replace them relatively easily, or for the cheaper option, buy new tyres and put them on yourself. it's fiddly, but it's a good skill to learn.

What do you mean by gravel? Loose or compacted and was there also mud?

If there was mud and loose gravel, that's quite hard to ride on, unless you are confident and have the right tyres.

The bike in the link has two sets of tyres in different pictures, some with no tread at all, and some with tread. I would have thought that the latter was fine for your average compacted gravel, not too muddy surface, eg a canal towpath.

but as has been pointed out - if you change the tyres you may not fit them under the mudguards. though you don't have to have mudguards - its just dirty when wet or you can get quick attach mudguards, for wet weather

Can we return this bike since she's ridden it? Can we change the tyres for nobbly ones? Have we been miss-sold this really expensive bike?

doubtful they'd let you return as its now second hand and a used bike
yes - but may mean mudguards need to come off the bike this could be used www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/mudguards/halfords-quick-fit-rear-mudguard-534344.html
no, you've asked for this bike and the bike is for whats been requested by yourselves

given that it is a good brand from reputable retailer I would go back to them and ask them to change the tyre or wheel to better suit your dd needs.

OK thank you!! This all makes sense.

After interrogating DH it turns out it was mostly like the path in ivykaty44's far right pic, with a small section where there were broken up concrete bits with lots of gravel, no mud. I think DD got a fright and went into full on drama mode, which she's prone to ATM. I think she was also feeling guilty at the high price tag, she's been desperate for this bike for so long and then felt she couldn't ride it.

So, given that nobbly tyres won't fit under the mud guard, I'll explain that that terrain will never feel comfortable and she's got to take it in her stride and get used to it. She's been on one ride FGS. We'll spend the week riding and see where we are at the end. If she's still unhappy I'll look at buying the nobbly tyres. I'm unwilling to spend more money at this stage...

Thanks for the help everyone, so appreciated. Thank god for mumsnet.

The surface may be a bit much for the bike, but not for a short distance. Gravel is hard to ride over and its a learnt technique, not applying brakes etc. Was it the gravel section where dd had a drama moment? If so I d treasure her that its not an easy section

get her out on the bike and covering a few easy miles so she gets comfortable with the bike and feels how it moves etc. once she can handle the bike look at some tips for riding off road on a cyclocross (gravel bike) which is similar - cyclocross is like a road bike

I think you could remove the mudguards and put tyres with more tread on and she'd be fine, though she'd notice a her bike will ride slightly differently on a smooth road with knobblier tyres. There seems to be enough clearance between the wheel and the forks so ask Evans what they've got that'll suit her.

Thanks ivykaty44. I took her out this afternoon and also had a go myself. It was the gravel section that freaked her out, but she was also worried about the normal dirt path. I said that no one would enjoy that gravel section and it's only a small area. I think she does just have to get used to it, and we spent the rest of the afternoon on roads. She's agreed to see how she feels at the end of the week.

I've never even heard of cyclocross. Maybe that's what we should have gone for in the first place?

Agree with the consensus above, im a both a mountain biker and road rider). I’ve ridden all sorts of inappropriate bikes over shit surfaces.

It’s all,about technique. And getting very used to to the bike before you take it over anything dubious. Sounds obvious or daft depending on your viewpoint , but it isn’t The bike that rides over the surface, its the rider, iyswim, so a decent cyclist will manage ok on averagely ok surfaces on most bikes, it’s just Harder to damage a big fat mountain bike. Anyone sensible wouldn’t take a skinny road bike over the fun singletrack MTB trails obviously, but it’s amazing what you can do. watch this at about a minute in... m.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmJtYaUTa0

And here’s some cyclocross

m.youtube.com/watch?v=8EZJIzeLSqY

Tbh, if she likes that ladies style hybrid she probably wouldn’t like the cyclocross style. What she has is fine. And you are more likely to ride a bike you love, even if it isn’t quite right for all terrain.

To be honest, its not what I would have chosen for the job. It is described as a city bike and looks like more of a commuter than an off road bike.
As others have said, riding anything on gravel is difficult and normal dirt tracks will be easier. I ride my normal road bike on a fairly nasty off road section when I commute as it cuts 2 miles off and the rest of my journey is tarmac so I don't want to ride my mountain bike. So you can ride bikes that aren't designed for off road use on dirt with a bit of practice, but if its a regular thing you need something designed for the purpose.
Big issue here is this bike has roller brakes which make it very easy for the back wheel to skid.
Nobbly tyres will help a bit, but wont solve the brake issues.
I would return it and either buy a hard tail MTB or a hybrid with lockable front suspension and disc brakes.
You can always swap for slicker tyres if she wants to be on the road a lot.
If she is ok with drop handlebars you could look at gravel bikes or cyclocross bikes (they are not exactly the same). Cross bikes are really designed for racing so might not be ideal.
A hybrid should be fine for what you want, but there are loads of different kinds and it sounds like she needs something closer to the MTB end of the spectrum. Oh, and something lighter might help. 16kg is a hefty bike for a teenage girl.

I ride a cross bike for touring with disk brakes, I have slick tyres for road and my cross tyres are in the garage. Dd tried cyclocross and loved the training - went every week without fail but didn’t like mud... not really handy for cyclocross

So I have her cross bike which is ideal for me 😆

Cycli cross was invented to keep road racing cyclists fit in the winter with training and racing, but just like road bikes you don’t need to race on them.
What are roller breakers?

I’m sure if she really takes to cycling you can find a local club and explore options to encourage her with or without racing options.
A lot of youngsters do cyclocross as it’s off rd so parents feel safe with it