Bicycle notes

[dryfter]

I wandered around to a few bicycle stores today, as well as a few pawnbrokers in Fitzroy in case my old bike had been sold to them (it hadn't).

I came up with a shortlist of bikes:
(Edit: Found a few places online that did them cheaper than the stores I visited)

Kona Dew $500 $449:
Well made entry level road bike.. Seems a bit highly priced for the specifications though, compared to others around without the Kona brand name.

Kona Dew Plus $650 $619:
Similar to the above bike, except with better rims/tyres, and disc brakes. Seems a bit pricey for the specs, compared to other bikes I've seen. (Was the only bike with disc brakes in this list.. but they're overrated)

Scott SUB 30 $749 $629:
Good road bike, seemed equivalent to the Kona Dew+, but thus seems overpriced. Maybe have been marginally lighter. *shrug*

Avanti Blade 1.0 $429
About the same as the Kona Dew+ in terms of rims, tyres, seat, weight, etc. but without disc brakes. Also significantly cheaper and comes in a nice shade of blue.

Shogun Mach1 $599 $499:
Flat-handlebar racer - very light, seemed to have very high specification gear on it; seems the best of the "high performance" bicycles for the price, but I'm not sure I want something that's this much of a racer.. I wouldn't see myself going on gravel tracks with those tyres! (But I suppose one could change them)

Shogun Metro xx $329:
Can't remember the exact model name. Was a rather cheap bike, and seemed heavier than others I've looked at, and the rims/tyres weren't great.. Aside from that, seemed acceptable, and it IS cheap. However the Avanti Blade seemed to have better specs for an extra $100.

Fuji (various)
I found a store that was entirely stocked by hundreds of Fuji bikes. They didn't strike me as being amazingly well built though, but eh, I don't know that much about bicycles. The models that interested me were around $500 or so, and thus seem unfavourably priced compared to other brands that seem to be better quality.

Other brands
Most other brands were either much cheaper ($200ish) or more expensive ($800-2000); the cheaper ones tended to weigh a lot more, and the expensive ones were nice, but over my budget.. I'm looking to spend $400-$700 really.

Second hand bikes
There doesn't seem to be a very large 2nd hand market here, except for the really high-end bikes. And sadly I don't want something /really/ basic, and I do want something that is the right size, and by the time you factor those in, there's next to none available. I'm keeping an eye on an ebay auction for an avanti blade, but it's already up to almost the cost of a new one, which makes it seem a bit pointless to bid for it.

Conclusion
So currently I'm leaving towards the Avanti Blade; it seemed to have a good level of parts for a reasonable price. I think the Shogun Mach1 represents the best price/performance ratio, but isn't really what I'm looking for. The Kona bikes seem overpriced, but several friends have recommended them to me, so I might do a little more research.

Sadly I don't know enough about bike components to be able to tell the differences in running gear between models; So I tend to judge based on weight of the bike, and how easily the tyres spin (ie. rolling mass), and whether they have gear shifters that click or twist or are friction-based. (I like the clicky up/down button sort).. and just generally on whether they look like they're well-built. I try to avoid ones with fork suspension; seems more like a heavy novelty rather than being that useful on the road.

Can anyone offer their suggestions?

Comments

[gypseymission.livejournal.com]

First off, what kind of cycling ar eyou going to be doing? Do you need off road, a proper mountain bike or city riding on roads. I went for a Hibrid which has many of the design specifications of a mountain bike but also gives you thin slick tyres for riding on the road. My personal choice would be either a Trek FX, which is what i've got (7.3). The starting specification comes in at around £350 but I've put a load of upgrades on it since then, or a Specialised Hibrid. They are made from carbon fibre and are just wonderful but very pricey.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Cycling - majority of it is on the road or pavement/paved tracks, but I do go onto dirt tracks a bit too when cycling along the tracks by the river.
I'm looking for a flat-handlebar road bike without the absolutely thin tyres, really. A hybrid, but leaning more towards the road than the track.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Given that I tend to leave my bike locked up on the street near pubs or train stations, I'm loath to pay too much for one; don't want to tempt those thieves..

(I'm still surprised my old bike was stolen! It was OLD and crappy.. it also had an old and crappy lock on it, but still.. it's normally pretty safe to leave bikes lying around this suburb)

[mr_magicfingers]

Are you talking regular road bikes or mountain bikes here. If it's mountain bikes, then the place to go for info is http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/ For road bikes, they're pretty much all going to come with shimano groupsets (chain/cassette/sprocket). For road bikes the quality order is Sora/Tiagra/501/Ultegra/dura-ace.

If you're after something of mid-range go for 501, it's as much as you'll likely ever need. Going up to Ultegra can be done a piece at a time as things wear, if needed. You don't need Dura-Ace and it's well expensive. As a guideline, my triathlon race bike is a $2500 custom build. I went with 501 components for most things with Dura-Ace shifters (bar end shifters, not made in the other ranges). As sprockets and cassettes wear out I'll replace them with ultegra parts, purely because I can and I'm a bike geek. 501 gives the best quality/price ratio, can't go wrong with them.

On the mtb front, I really don't know much, been out of that world for a while, my bike's a 10 year old trek 6500, but the mtbr.com page should give you plenty of background to work from.

Have fun,

J.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

I'm looking for a flat-handlebar road bike. A hybrid, but leaning more towards the road than the track.
(I mainly cycle on pavement, but there are parts of the tracks where it goes hard dirt, so I want to be able to deal with that too.)

Thanks for the info re Shimano range; I've seen a lot of mention of those words, without knowing where they ranked.

[mr_magicfingers]

I also HIGHLY recommend brooks saddles. They're the old fashioned leather ones, but they'll be the most comfortable thing you've sat on when riding a bicycle. The sprung ones are a great alternative to a suspension setup.

I'm just about to put a sprung one on my commuter mtb.

[gypseymission.livejournal.com]

The Brooks saddles are good but my arse went through a revelation when I discovered the Royale Gel saddles. They are so incredibly comfortable and means that I can quite easilly undertake two or three hours in the saddle straight and not feel as though I have just been arse fucked by a rhino, which was the case before hand.

[arachne.livejournal.com]

No suggestions really, but I'm amazed at the prices of bikes over there! Wish I was in the market there rather than here.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I remember bikes costing easily 300 pounds in London, whereas that's almost $800 aussie dollars, which appears to buy you quite a lot here.

[hazyjayne.livejournal.com]

Will show this to damerell later as he is Man Of Bikes...

[juliet]

Definitely don't get anything with suspension forks - total waste of time (& of your energy!) unless you're doing real actual mountain bikes. Suspension seatpost is reasonable if you're buying an alu bike.

If you were in the market for a cheapish hybrid over here I'd recommend one of the Trek ones with mudguards & a rack. Dunno if they're readily available over there? I highly rate racks as it makes luggage-carrying much easier, especially if it's hot (riding with a rucksack makes my back sweat, ewww). Over here, mudguards = essential if you're riding in winter IMO, unless you want to be covered in mud all up your back when you reach work. Again, dunno what your weather's like.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Hmm yeah I think Trek (and Giant and Specialised) are available fairly readily here too (although I haven't seen any Marin bikes).. but they seemed more expensive than the Fuji, Shogun, etc bikes; unfortunately they may be better quality, but I'm not too sure how to recognise that.

I suppose if I was happy with an 8 year old slightly defective bicycle, then anything will be good, really! However, when spending a very good portion of my disposable income for a month, I like to be sure I'm not wasting it!

[juliet]

Can you try a test ride? You may be able to tell the difference between the more/less expensive bikes that way.