Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

That's a new name for it.

 

So went to my local bike shop and must have spent a good hour chatting to the staff and looking/playing with bikes, wish all shops were like that! I came away with lots to think about and a few recommendations, so I would like to see what people think

-Specialized Hardrock (2010) ~£300
-Trek 3700 (2010/11) ~£400
-Trek 4500 (2010) ~£500

So my budget was the mid point, but I must say the 4500 caught my eye and I'm tempted

Anyone got some opinions?

 

What are you going to use the bike for?

The 3700 has a slightly better fork and wheelset over the Hardrock (this is where some of the extra money will be), gears and brakes on the two bikes are very similar possibly the brakes are very slightly better though you probably won't feel the difference. Can you link me the 3700, the one I found on evans was 21speed which at £400 is alot.

The 4500 is a nice bike, we must have sold 20+ (most of which based on the looks) which isn't bad considering we are not a Trek dealer . Jumping to this one will get you an extra 3 gears over all (24 on this v 21 on both the others) with the inclusion of a Deore rear mech which is seen as dependable mid range Shimano, fork is better and includes a lockout. The biggest upgrade though is the hydraulic brakes which as a concequence (sp?) get's you better hubs (and usually wheels in general). But also the 4500 is now out of date, it was £550 so i'm guessing they dropped £50 because of this. If you go for this bike try to get some lights or a lock thrown in as a sweetner.

Really it depends on my first question.

EDIT: Have a look at the Giant Revel 1 - £400 - 24speed, lockout and Shimano discs or a GT Avalanche 3 Disc - £380 again 24 speed, lockout but with Tektro discs.

 

Single track mountain biking and the occasional trip to the shops

The local shop has a site but there aren't any bikes up, but I think the 3700 (2010) was £350 or so, whereas the 2011 model was ~£400. I believe the main difference was disk brakes.

 

Trek's prices have went up just this month with the release of the 2011 bikes. The 4500 is now £630 so I'm told which is alot of money for a 24speed bike. Is this the 3700 you looked at?

 

Certainly looks like it.

 

I recently bought this one : http://www.trekbikes.com/be/nl/bikes/urban/district/2nddistrict/

 

Question for you lot: i'm working at the same place as my brother in a small village about 8miles away, i currently just sponge a lift off him.

in roughly a fortnight, he's off on holiday for 2 weeks so i will need to cycle to work.

I'm aiming to avoid the lethal busy country roads where possible by sticking to public footpaths where available
the route i've mapped out is about 50/50 roads and gravel/dirt paths (with some hefty hilly bits)

do you reckon it's worth sticking with the default nobbly tires or picking up a more hybrid kind of tire as theres still some long road parts?

Not really done such long distance riding before, so it's worrying me a little ^^

bike is one of these

 

I've got these on the bike I commute on:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=18897

When I'm at uni I have to cycle up some muddy tracks and they've been fine. Nice and cheap too.

8 miles is nothing, my ride to work is further than that each way

 

Ive got exactly the same tyres, they're soo much better than nobblies on the road without being completely crap off road

If you have a 50/50 on/off road trip id highly recommend a hybrid over a full blown nobbly or slick tbh.

 

I'll echo the above: semi-slicks are the best for any type of commute. Despite their shaky performance off the beaten path, they'll more than make up for it in lower rolling resistance on the road that you'll never want to go back to anything else. If you're wanting something cheap to just dip your feet into the water a bit, try a set of Kenda Kwik's on for size, as they can be had for about a tenner (each).

Having said this, I've made a sport out of Fixiecross riding (taking my fixed-gear bicycle off road through stuff that most people don't like to take proper mountain bikes though), and find my little 700x25c tires (Halo Twin Rail Courier) work just perfectly fine, but require a bit of concentration through the gnar.

 

Like all ^^ said a semi slick is spot on, but you could also try something like a Kenda Small Block 8. They are not cheap (around £30 a tyre) but I love them and usually run them as long as possible until the winter weather gets here before I change to a knobbly tyre.

 

I decided on this bike instead


Just kidding we found a bunch of rusty old bikes in a skip and a coworker cut them up and made this. He called it a "chopper", I called it hilarious.

Anyway I actually stopped myself spending more than my original budget and got a Trek 3700 disk (2011). It won't set the world on fire but it's fun and seems rugged enough, only thing that I noticed after I walked out of the shop was that the rear brake caliper & brake disk didn't seem well aligned (I can hear the disk touching one of the pads lightly as it goes round). When I apply the brake I can see the disk getting pushed(bent) into the other pad

I wanted to have a good play but literally 30seconds after leaving the shop the bloody sea seemed to fall out of the sky, it's like monsoon time in wales

 

Good Parking

 

so to go back to tyres briefly, im also looking for a semi-slick style tyre for training/fitness riding around the park (so mostly tarmac and a little bit of grass) which is currently destroying my Maxxis Ignitors
but ill be wanting to swap knobblies back on for off-roading and all the semi slick style tyres seem to be wire bead, which are such a pain in the dick to get on/off

anyone know of any decent (and not ludicrously priced, < £30 is good) semi slicks with folding bead?

 

Who said roadies were no fun?

 

Haha that's awesome, just goes to show if you've got the skills.... +rep

 

I didn't think a carbon roadie would stand up to that kind of punishment! Mad skills though.

 

I'm surprised those rims didn't explode, with those skinny little tires.

 

Maxxis do a rather nifty folding slick. The Detonator is a little bit more expensive than some of the other, wire-bead options out there, but it is a very nice tire with a good life in it without being silly on the weight side of things. Plus it folds! Yay!

Aside from this, I know Specialized do quite a few near to full slicks that fold which you could look into. I'm not a fan of their poor manufacturing process (their never even from side to side, despite a properly seated bead), but they're a good seller at my shop, with very few complaints.

Cannot really think of any other options off-hand, but those two should do you! Good luck!


As to the roadie doing trials: I do single-track on track wheels all the time with my fixie! You wouldn't believe what a properly built up wheel can really do. Unless I get into a really rocky, rooty section, I'm about as fast on my fixie off the road as I am on my super light little 4" fully (with the fixie being even faster on fireroads). Most people just think that because road bikes stick to the road that they're weak as chips - not so. Think of how much vibration over a gigantic amount of time the bikes have to go through. They need to be exceptionally tough to last just a single training season, never mind the years upon years that they generally do!