Bikes - Urban/Hybrid

The 2011 Whyte Montpellier was a three grand exercise in brand awareness as much as it was a bike for sale, but the 2012 incarnation comes in at only just over half the price whilst keeping some of the aspirational componentry bolted to Whyte's MTB-derived urban frame. Overall it's a cracking bike, fun and versatile, although the existence of the £999 Stirling is for a lot of people going to provide the biggest disincentive to buying one.

Carrera's Gryphon is the kind of bike that sells in big numbers in the UK, and for good reason. It's a well-balanced urban machine that's sensibly built and very well specced for the price. £370 isn't pocket money but it's very affordable. This bike would cost you around £20 a month on a Cycle to Work scheme and it's built to last, so if you're looking for an urban workhorse it's definitely one to consider.

Hamilton and Alonso, Mancini and Tevez, Kate Moss and pretty much any pretty popstar of the last decade. Great on their own, but a bit of a disaster together. That pretty much sums up On-One's Pompetamine. Dropping Shimano's hot new Alfine 11 speed hub into the classic Pompino singlespeed frame promises so much but ends up being a sluggish and disappointing hybrid.

The Electra Townie 7D will appeal if you're looking for something a bit different for flattish cruising around town. At £375 you don't need a second mortgage to own one and it's good fun around town, but compromised climbing position and a tendency to ship its long chain mark it down a bit.

A new bike marque to the Road.cc office, this one. The unisex Halcyon Akita is billed as a 'hybrid trekking' bike, with the emphasis on value for money. At £300 it's pitched at the same market as Edinburgh Bicycles' Revolution hybrids, and the lower end offerings of some of the big brands. It has a lot to live up to.

Ask a bikey person how much you need to spend to get a decent steed and chances are they'll tell you that £300 is the baseline... you can drop that by 40 quid now, because the Vitus Vee-1 easily qualifies. It won't suit everyone but I loved it: it's genuinely capable of urban and off-road duties and it's an absolute hoot to ride.

There's a place in every cyclist's lock-up for an all-purpose, take-it-out-no-matter-what-the-weather type bike like the Whyte Caledonian, and with the past couple of winters being harsh enough to make Dickens shiver in his grave, this is now truer than ever.

This kind of bike usually gets allocated names like commuter, urban, hybrid and the like, and sometimes the term 'all-terrain' gets bandied about, but is rarely genuinely applicable. So, with an all-terrain label firmly affixed to the Caledonian from Whyte, what's it actually capable of?

Spencer Ivy are new on the e-bike scene - and the bike scene generally - and the Spencer is one of their two models for this year; no prizes for guessing what the ladies' bike is called. It's big on utility with a classically urban look, and it's a decent ride to boot.

Kona’s Dr Fine is one of the new breed of disc brake equipped, flat bar urban bikes. Kona say the twist here is that the Dr Fine offers the rare combination of internal hub gearing and powerful hydraulic braking. So how fine is this Kona?

In setting out to build a bike capable of taking the rigours of fixed freestyle riding with their new Persona, Identiti have also produced a bike that's a great, rugged round town urban machine.

Fixed gear freestyle is definitely gaining popularity, it has progressed somewhat from the circus balancing acts better suited to performers in leotards to something a little more burly although those skinny jeans could be mistaken for denim leggins or jeggins *shudder*.