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buying a new bike, need advice

A

AEnigmaWI

Senior member
Last year I got my 1 year old Raleigh cross bike stolen..

So this spring it's time to buy a new one, and 2-3 cable locks to keep it tied to the fence in my backyard.

What I would like to know is, what are the real differences between brands of bikes? Not including the crap from Walmart, what brands, if any, are actually better than others?

I know the equipment on the bike makes a difference, bu I guess I don't understand the effect of various "levels" of it. I liked the Raleigh because it had what was deemed "decent" equipment, and had a nice smooth-weld body. I found the smooth weld was less likely to have paint chipping near the joins after time...

I am thinking of getting a cross bike again, because I don't do much of any off road, except to occasionally cross a field or something. I don't want to go full road bike because I sometimes ride on dirt trails and I worry about traction etc.. plus I like having partial suspension on the front fork.

Any opinions are appreciated. I am just a casual biker, but I don't wanna get ripped off, or get stuff I don't need. Nor do I want to not get things I would actually appreciate if I knew about them.
 
most of the big name brands, Specialized, Cannondale, Giant, Gary Fisher,.... are all very similar and all make great bikes, teh best thing to do is go to your local bike shop, if they are at least 1/2 compotant they will be able to answer your questions and let you tes a few biikes out to see what fits you best
 
IMHO, once you get beyond the Wal-mart bikes, there's not a tremendous amount of difference from bike to bike to the relatively casual cyclist. You can pretty much assume the thing's not going to snap in half on you, so it comes down to how much you want to pay, how much it weighs, how well each manu's geometry fits you, etc. 90% of the time you're going to get Shimano components, so that's one more variable taken out of the equation. Any of the off-the-shelf cross bikes should make you pretty happy.
 
cool.. that's kind of what one salesperson told me, but I just wasn't sure..

here's another ?.. are cross bikes "pussy" in the biking world? It seems like if you ask for them, people sort of look at you like "oh you don't want a road bike"..
 
Originally posted by: AEnigmaWI
cool.. that's kind of what one salesperson told me, but I just wasn't sure..

here's another ?.. are cross bikes "pussy" in the biking world? It seems like if you ask for them, people sort of look at you like "oh you don't want a road bike"..
Click to expand...
Are you talking cross as in cyclocross or as in hybrid bikes?

Not that it matters really; if the bike works for you, who cares what other people think.
 
Originally posted by: Fausto
Originally posted by: AEnigmaWI
cool.. that's kind of what one salesperson told me, but I just wasn't sure..

here's another ?.. are cross bikes "pussy" in the biking world? It seems like if you ask for them, people sort of look at you like "oh you don't want a road bike"..
Click to expand...
Are you talking cross as in cyclocross or as in hybrid bikes?

Not that it matters really; if the bike works for you, who cares what other people think.
Click to expand...

I think I mean hybrid.. 😱

I mean the kind where the wheels are narrower than a mountain, but not as narrow as a road.. and larger diameter than mountain..

I think it's silly to buy a mountain bike to ride around the city, but I like the idea of being able to have a little more traction to use if I want to run on some dirt or somethin'..

good point about the shouldn't care.. I just was curious.
 
I agree with Fausto about one bike compared to another.

I will say this though. Cross Bikes or hybrids use 700c wheels. Because of the larger diameter they are faster to get around on, however as wheels get larger around, they loose lateral strength. In other words they go out of true easier and it's easier to "Taco" one. For this reason I don't recommend riding them off road unless you are VERY light weight or the off road riding you DO do is very light. Also A bike is like anything else, you get what you pay for! The more you spend, the better it will perform and the longer it will hold up!

Edit: Check out the new KHS Flite 200. It's a GREAT bike to commute on. No Front suspension however.

If you DO plan on doing any serious off road riding, I would suggest buying a MTB and putting slicks on it for road riding and then switching back to for off road!
 
Originally posted by: AEnigmaWI
Originally posted by: Fausto
Originally posted by: AEnigmaWI
cool.. that's kind of what one salesperson told me, but I just wasn't sure..

here's another ?.. are cross bikes "pussy" in the biking world? It seems like if you ask for them, people sort of look at you like "oh you don't want a road bike"..
Click to expand...
Are you talking cross as in cyclocross or as in hybrid bikes?

Not that it matters really; if the bike works for you, who cares what other people think.
Click to expand...

I think I mean hybrid.. 😱

I mean the kind where the wheels are narrower than a mountain, but not as narrow as a road.. and larger diameter than mountain..

I think it's silly to buy a mountain bike to ride around the city, but I like the idea of being able to have a little more traction to use if I want to run on some dirt or somethin'..

good point about the shouldn't care.. I just was curious.
Click to expand...
Gotcha. 😉

Anyway, the best thing to do (if you can afford it) is to buy a mountain bike and an extra set of wheels to go with it. Have slicks on one wheelset and knobbies on the other so you just swap (takes about a minute) depending on the kind of riding you're planning for that day.

 
Originally posted by: Fausto
IMHO, once you get beyond the Wal-mart bikes, there's not a tremendous amount of difference from bike to bike to the relatively casual cyclist. You can pretty much assume the thing's not going to snap in half on you, so it comes down to how much you want to pay, how much it weighs, how well each manu's geometry fits you, etc. 90% of the time you're going to get Shimano components, so that's one more variable taken out of the equation. Any of the off-the-shelf cross bikes should make you pretty happy.
Click to expand...
So what's wrong with wal-mart bikes? 🙁

They use Shimano!!!!11oneone

heh. Seriously, I was going to buy one for my girlfriend so we can go riding this summer. The price is very attractive, and as long as it lasts 2-3 years.. that's fine.

What goes awry with them?
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: Fausto
IMHO, once you get beyond the Wal-mart bikes, there's not a tremendous amount of difference from bike to bike to the relatively casual cyclist. You can pretty much assume the thing's not going to snap in half on you, so it comes down to how much you want to pay, how much it weighs, how well each manu's geometry fits you, etc. 90% of the time you're going to get Shimano components, so that's one more variable taken out of the equation. Any of the off-the-shelf cross bikes should make you pretty happy.
Click to expand...
So what's wrong with wal-mart bikes? 🙁

They use Shimano!!!!11oneone

heh. Seriously, I was going to buy one for my girlfriend so we can go riding this summer. The price is very attractive, and as long as it lasts 2-3 years.. that's fine.

What goes awry with them?
Click to expand...
Crappy welds, crappy components, crappy wheels, etc. Try to use them like a real bike and you'll be breaking stuff. On top of that, most shops won't work on them because they cost of repairs is usually more than the bike so people bitch.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: Fausto
IMHO, once you get beyond the Wal-mart bikes, there's not a tremendous amount of difference from bike to bike to the relatively casual cyclist. You can pretty much assume the thing's not going to snap in half on you, so it comes down to how much you want to pay, how much it weighs, how well each manu's geometry fits you, etc. 90% of the time you're going to get Shimano components, so that's one more variable taken out of the equation. Any of the off-the-shelf cross bikes should make you pretty happy.
Click to expand...
So what's wrong with wal-mart bikes? 🙁

They use Shimano!!!!11oneone

heh. Seriously, I was going to buy one for my girlfriend so we can go riding this summer. The price is very attractive, and as long as it lasts 2-3 years.. that's fine.

What goes awry with them?
Click to expand...

they beak very eaisily,

i dont know where it came from but it was one of thoes walmart full susp bikes and somehow we had it and coud do with it what we wanted, needless to say 3 5ft drpos later the frame was in 2 peaces
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: Fausto
IMHO, once you get beyond the Wal-mart bikes, there's not a tremendous amount of difference from bike to bike to the relatively casual cyclist. You can pretty much assume the thing's not going to snap in half on you, so it comes down to how much you want to pay, how much it weighs, how well each manu's geometry fits you, etc. 90% of the time you're going to get Shimano components, so that's one more variable taken out of the equation. Any of the off-the-shelf cross bikes should make you pretty happy.
Click to expand...
So what's wrong with wal-mart bikes? 🙁

They use Shimano!!!!11oneone

heh. Seriously, I was going to buy one for my girlfriend so we can go riding this summer. The price is very attractive, and as long as it lasts 2-3 years.. that's fine.

What goes awry with them?
Click to expand...

The biggest problem with them is that the guys putting them together are clueless. And even if they DID know how to build them properly, they get so much per bike to build them. The more they get built, the more they make, YOU do the math! 😉
 
Wal-mart bikes use Shimano components, but they are the lowest of the low as far as quality. Stick with a non-Wal-mart bike if you plan on doing any riding further than 100 feet at a time. I will second what pretty much everyone else here has said. As long as you stick with a decent bike no matter what brand you'll still be getting quality components. I personally ride a Raleigh because the frames are made in the USA (at least they were when I bought the bike) and it was a tad cheaper than similar bikes that had the same exact components.

 
even hybrids vary in how 'roadie' or how 'off-trail' they are.

i just bought a bike. This one


i decided i wanted more speed from on my commute (i was riding a 1994- trek 930 with slick tires) and so I ruled out everything except for hybrids that were built for speed. I ended up riding a Specialized and the LeMond. The specialized was nice and a bit lighter, but I felt more comfortable on the LeMond.


fyi, i paid about 700.
 
Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
even hybrids vary in how 'roadie' or how 'off-trail' they are.

i just bought a bike. This one


i decided i wanted more speed from on my commute (i was riding a 1994- trek 930 with slick tires) and so I ruled out everything except for hybrids that were built for speed. I ended up riding a Specialized and the LeMond. The specialized was nice and a bit lighter, but I felt more comfortable on the LeMond.


fyi, i paid about 700.
Click to expand...
Will you shut up about your pussy hybrid already? Sheesh. :roll:








I kid, I kid....you're correct that the off-roadability does vary quite a bit. You could plunk yours into a cyclocross race, no problem. 😀

 
I just got the Sun EZ Sport. Its my first recumbent and I love it. The position is really comfortable and going up hills is not a problem as many ppl said it would be. I always wanted a recumbent and couldn't pass up the deal on eBay. They blow away regular bikes IMHO.
 
Originally posted by: Fausto
Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
even hybrids vary in how 'roadie' or how 'off-trail' they are.

i just bought a bike. This one


i decided i wanted more speed from on my commute (i was riding a 1994- trek 930 with slick tires) and so I ruled out everything except for hybrids that were built for speed. I ended up riding a Specialized and the LeMond. The specialized was nice and a bit lighter, but I felt more comfortable on the LeMond.


fyi, i paid about 700.
Click to expand...
Will you shut up about your pussy hybrid already? Sheesh. :roll:








I kid, I kid....you're correct that the off-roadability does vary quite a bit. You could plunk yours into a cyclocross race, no problem. 😀
Click to expand...


sorry i can't help it. 😀:beer:
 
Originally posted by: Eli
So what bikes would you recommend for no more than 150$?

Used?
Click to expand...
Definitely. You can get some pretty nice stuff that's a few years old, just depends on how well it was taken care of by the original owner. I got my wife a nice aluminum Trek road bike for about $200 that had been traded in to a local shop.

 
Originally posted by: Stifko
I just got the Sun EZ Sport. Its my first recumbent and I love it. The position is really comfortable and going up hills is not a problem as many ppl said it would be. I always wanted a recumbent and couldn't pass up the deal on eBay. They blow away regular bikes IMHO.
Click to expand...

They're nice HUH?

(I sell those 😉 )

Cheap as far as recumbent's go!
 
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Originally posted by: Stifko
I just got the Sun EZ Sport. Its my first recumbent and I love it. The position is really comfortable and going up hills is not a problem as many ppl said it would be. I always wanted a recumbent and couldn't pass up the deal on eBay. They blow away regular bikes IMHO.
Click to expand...

They're nice HUH?

(I sell those 😉 )

Cheap as far as recumbent's go!
Click to expand...

Yeah I love it, so comfy. I know its the low end recumbent, but I did not wanna spend too much. Now I would like to check out the higher end Tour Easy.
 
hmm..

I will have to check out a couple local bike stores and see who carries Gary Fisher etc.. I liked my Raleigh, so I might try and find one of those again.

I am pondering the mountain bike w/ 2 sets of tires idea, altho I think a hybrid still will be the best thing for me.

Thank you all for your very good comments. I knew there were some bikerz out there. 😀
 
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