Advice sought on buying a bike.

Hi there.

I am thinking of buying a bike to commute around the inner east suburbs
of Melbourne, and am wanting to hear as many different opinions about
what I should look for as possible to help me get a better idea of what
sort of things I should look for, which brands, what materials, etc.

I think my budget is somewhere between $400 - $1000. It is a heck of
a lot of money for me, but I think only middle of the road for a bike.
I have a preference for a racer style bike rather than a mountain bike,
though I have no good reason for that, except a feeling that racers
weigh less and go faster. :-)

I also have a leaning towards a second hand bike, because I figure I
will get a better bike for my cash.

I imagine that I will take it for a ride once twice a week, doing
maybe fifteen or twenty k's on it. Probably not a lot of use compared
to many, but enough I think.

TIA!


googleboy

"googleboy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi there.

I am thinking of buying a bike to commute around the inner east suburbs
of Melbourne, and am wanting to hear as many different opinions about
what I should look for as possible to help me get a better idea of what
sort of things I should look for, which brands, what materials, etc.

I think my budget is somewhere between $400 - $1000. It is a heck of
a lot of money for me, but I think only middle of the road for a bike.
I have a preference for a racer style bike rather than a mountain bike,
though I have no good reason for that, except a feeling that racers
weigh less and go faster. :-)

I also have a leaning towards a second hand bike, because I figure I
will get a better bike for my cash.

I imagine that I will take it for a ride once twice a week, doing
maybe fifteen or twenty k's on it. Probably not a lot of use compared
to many, but enough I think.

TIA!


googleboy

G'day googleboy,

I think perhaps looking for a good used road bike is not a bad idea as there
are quite a few around on ebay, trading post and even some reputable
secondhand dealers (beleive it or not they still exist but getting rare)
Some bike shops do hold used bikes but due to costing about $10,000 for a
2nd hand dealers licence, many of them don't think it's worthwhile but they
do exist.

You propably won't need to spend much over $250-500 for a decent used road
bike (racer) and considering how much you intend to ride it, a good repco
steel framed bike are not too bad,basic but strong, just stay away from the
supermarket jobs like huffy & dunlops although they are usually
mountainbikes.

Don't enirely dismiss mountainbikes either as they are more plentyfull, only
a bit heavier (suspension makes them heavy), very strong and with some good
slick tires on it, you'll find that they are not that slow and the gearing
better for hills.I have a road touring bike that i can only average 4-5kph
quicker than my Mountainbike with road tyres so not a big diff.I guess it
depends on your overall fitness......any decent bike is a good bike for
fitness providing it's the right size and you feel comfortable.

In my experience, you don't want to go spending up too big untill you really
know what you want in a bike, what type of riding you will do and you can
always upgrade later which is better than having a $1,000 bike collecting
dust in the shed after you've decided it isn't for you.

By the time you buy a helmet, some riding clothes (optional but recommended)
and some accessories like a bike computer,lights, pump and a few basic tools
for puncture repair and bike adjustments, a $500 bike will cost you about
$250+ extra.

I'd say some of the others guys and girls in this group will have lots of
other opinions for you and they ride a lot more than me so have a good read
of what they will advise.(hopefully). Many of them live in Melb. so they can
steer you in the right direction.

hope ya buy a beauty!!

Cheers

DJ

DJ wrote:
Don't enirely dismiss mountainbikes either as they are more plentyfull, only
a bit heavier (suspension makes them heavy), very strong and with some good
slick tires on it, you'll find that they are not that slow and the gearing
better for hills.I have a road touring bike that i can only average 4-5kph
quicker than my Mountainbike with road tyres so not a big diff.I guess it
depends on your overall fitness......any decent bike is a good bike for
fitness providing it's the right size and you feel comfortable.

I'd say steer clear of anything with rear suspension for commuting.
You'll find life a lot easier if you have a rear rack and panniers. You
have far fewer rack options with rear suspension. Otherwise flat
handlebars work pretty well in traffic where you don't want to be down
all the time craning your neck to watch what's happening in front.

The crappier looking your bike is the less chance it has of being
stolen. Make sure you have a good place to lock it up at work and then
buy a decent lock (you can even get a heavy chain and lock, cover the
chain with an old inner tube, and leave it at work).

Peter
--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA

On 3 Jul 2005 03:48:21 -0700, "googleboy" wrote:

Hi there.

I am thinking of buying a bike to commute around the inner east suburbs
of Melbourne...

I think my budget is somewhere between $400 - $1000. It is a heck of
a lot of money for me, but I think only middle of the road for a bike.
I have a preference for a racer style bike rather than a mountain bike,
though I have no good reason for that, except a feeling that racers
weigh less and go faster. :-)

The faq runs through the options available.
http://dns1.maddogsbreakfast.com.au/ABFAQ/#Sect3.1.3

Talk to a bike shop and have a look on the net, Giant alone have
hundreds of different bikes to confuse you.

I was looking for some thing similar recently. The thing I found was
that Mountain bikes have taken over the bottom of the market. Since
they sell in high volume they are cheaper, more likely to be stocked
in the right size and you are more likely to find one on special.
For road bikes you are looking at $1000 and you need something that
fits right and feels comfortable to you.

I didn't really want something with silly suspension and knobbly tires
but ended up getting it anyway because on special it was $250 cheaper
than the equivalent hybrid (which still has suspension anyway) and
half the cost of a proper road bike.

Going fast isn't that important to me and I have found the low gears
very useful: getting fit enough to ride up all the hills around my
place is not as easy now I am pushing 40 as it was when I was 20 (and
all you could buy were road bikes).

dewatf.