Bicycle quality Q and recommendation request

Hardrocks are still good....we have 2 of them, serving us well.


"G.T." wrote in message
...
Ride-A-Lot wrote:
Most of the time the answer is Specialized Hardrock for a base, cost
effective starter rig.


That says it all. I've had many friends buy Hardrocks over the last 20
years for their first mtn bikes. OTOH, I haven't looked at them in over 5
years so things may have changed.

Greg

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On Mar 10, 1:32 pm, "Ook" Ook Don't send me any freakin' spam at
zootal dot com delete the Don't send me any freakin' spam wrote:
"Ride-A-Lot" wrote in message

m...

Ook wrote:
I saw the "mongoose" bikes at both Wal-Mart and Costco. Any bike shop
recommendations?

What part of planet earth do you live in?
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I guess that might help LOL. I live in Lebanon Oregon. I'm in Portland,
Oregon, during the week, north east part of town - Glisan and 82nd. I
drive through Salem and Albany several times a week. I'm also in
Vancouver Washington several times a week.

There are plenty of shops in Portland. I think what you really need to
understand here is that a fairly decent bike is going to cost a bit more
than the $98 you spent at Wally World. In fact, probably 5 times that
amount for the lowest end of the fair bikes.

I'm not opposed to paying good money for a good bicycle. Any brands you
would recommend? Is Schwinn any good?

The new Schwinns, by and large are not good. At least, if your son
and daughters want to put the bikes under the stress of off-road use.

I always bought my kids Specialized bikes when they were young. My
current stable includes an old (good) Schwinn, Marin, Titus, Bianchi,
Bridgestone, and a couple others.

Entry level bikes are fairly similar, such as the Specialized, Trek,
Giant, GT, Gary Fisher, et al. I really like the cheap Specialized
and Marins. Just avoid the dept stores that sell bike-shaped
objects. And believe it or not, Mongoose used to make pretty good
mountainbikes before they took the Schwinn sell-out and exchanged
quality for quantity.

I just noticed below somebody recommending the Hardrock. Darn good
starter bike. My buddy Alex has about 4 yrears on his, and it does it
all.

CDB

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:41:46 -0800, Ook wrote:

I guess that might help LOL. I live in Lebanon Oregon. I'm in Portland,
Oregon, during the week, north east part of town - Glisan and 82nd. I drive
through Salem and Albany several times a week. I'm also in Vancouver
Washington several times a week.

Stop by Performance Bikes next time you're in Portland. There's one in
Mall 205 (I've never been there) and one in Beaverton that I've frequented
for years. Bike Gallery has a lot of bikes but they can be pricey. River
City bicycles is probably the other big retailer, but I haven't been
impressed with them. REI also has bikes which would probably be OK for
light use.

Some brands like Mongoose, Schwinn, and Diamondback were purchased by
makers of cheap bikes so they could slap once-good names on their
low-quality rigs.

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