On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 11:23:48 -0800, "kramer" wrote:

Thanks for the responses so far. I know $500 may not get much of a bike
in the eyes of an enthusiest, but it's no Huffy either I suppose I would
like to get a good, solid bike and if I really get into riding, I will know
exactly what I want before I drop considerably more cash. Another piece of
the puzzle is that I am primarily looking at 2 neighborhood bike shops (one
by my office and one by my house) and they carry mainly TREK, Gary Fisher,
K2, Harro, Fuji, Cannondale and Klein, but the best selection seems to be
either Trek or Harro, fwiw. Unless anyone has a specific dealer in
Portland, OR they would recommend. I would even consider used.

Trek is a good buy, though they may be slightly higher prices due to the
Armstrong hype. Gary Fisher is OK, but they mainly focus on MTB, iirc.
Cannondale and Klein are great bikes. You'll pay more for a Klein for the
fine workmanship.

The important thing is to go test ride several bikes. Next most important
is your sense of the bike shop. If they seem helpful and stay with you, and
promote test riding all is well. If they seem elitist or standoffish or
don't really seem to want to let you test ride more than two or three bikes
you might do better elsewhere.

jj